Chapter 11 - Elena Price
Elena did not run when Ethan confronted her.
She sat at the kitchen table and said:
“I wondered when Claire's letter would reach you.”
Ethan felt anger rising.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Elena Price had been Elena Reeves.
Daniel and Melissa's cousin.
Her father was Samuel Reeves's younger brother.
She had changed her surname after marriage.
Claire hired her secretly.
Not as a spy.
As insurance.
When Claire discovered the embryo mismatch, she feared Morrow and Samuel would manipulate Ethan.
She asked Elena to apply for a household position if Ethan ever took Maisie home.
Elena did.
Ethan hired her without knowing.
“So for six years you've been lying to me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you hurt Maisie?”
“No.”
“Did you forge my fertility consent?”
“No.”
Evidence supported her.
“Did you sew the drive into the teddy bear?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Corinne asked me to.”
Ethan stared.
Corinne had recorded the video and hidden it with Elena's help.
Why?
Because Corinne had started fearing Morrow.
She wanted evidence outside his control.
But if Corinne was trying to expose him, why continue taking money?
Because she wanted both.
Safety.
Money.
Her own child.
Control over Ethan.
Human motives rarely arrived one at a time.
Then Elena revealed a final thing Claire had asked her to protect.
A safe-deposit key.
The box contained:
Claire's original DNA report.
Ava's first identified location.
Melissa's guardianship note naming Ethan.
And Larkspur board minutes.
Those minutes changed the case.
Morrow did not act alone.
Five board members knew storage records were corrupted.
One pushed for disclosure.
Four voted to handle cases “internally.”
Samuel Reeves.
Andrew Morrow.
Robert Carter.
Helen Carter Morrow.
And a fifth:
James Carter.
Ethan's older brother.
Ethan stared.
“I don't have a brother.”
Elena looked down.
“Your father did.”
Robert Carter had a son before marrying Ethan's mother.
James.
Raised by Robert's first wife.
Estranged.
Ethan had been told the boy died from leukemia.
No.
James survived.
Why tell Ethan he died?
Because Robert's second wife—Ethan's mother—didn't want contact with Robert's “old family.”
Robert complied.
Another erased sibling.
James Carter was alive.
Forty-six.
Occupation:
hospital attorney.
Employer:
Larkspur Women's Health.
Ethan felt something inside him go cold.
James had been inside the entire system.
He knew Robert was Ethan's father.
Knew Helen.
Knew Morrow.
Knew Claire's records.
Why never contact Ethan?
Elena answered:
“He hates you.”
“For what?”
“For being the son Robert kept.”
That hurt because it was painfully simple.
James had watched Robert create a new family.
Attend Ethan's games.
Pay Ethan's tuition.
Leave Ethan business shares.
James received money too, but almost no relationship.
He joined Larkspur partly because Robert was involved.
He wanted access to the father who abandoned him.
Instead, he became part of Robert's silence.
Then Ethan saw James's name on one board resolution.
Motion:
Transfer disputed Carter embryo records to external custody.
Approved by:
James Carter.
Where were the records moved?
A private archive in Pennsylvania.
James had preserved originals.
He wasn't only complicit.
He also saved evidence.
Again, people refused to fit simple categories.
Ethan contacted him.
James answered.
May you like
His first words:
“So Dad's favorite finally found me.”
