Chapter 12 - Ernesto Disappears
Adrian thought he had misheard.
“Before Ernesto was born?”
Sofia nodded.
Mateo’s face tightened.
“How?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Start with what you know.”
Sofia took a breath.
“Eleanor helped me with medical care when Mateo and I were trying to have a baby.”
Mateo went still.
“What?”
“You were working two jobs. We had no insurance.”
“You told me a clinic covered it.”
“It did.”
“Which clinic?”
Sofia looked at Adrian.
“Cole Women’s Health Foundation.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
A charity funded by Helena.
Mateo stood.
“No.”
Sofia grabbed his hand.
“We did normal fertility testing. That’s all.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me Eleanor was involved?”
“Because she asked me not to.”
Mateo laughed bitterly.
“Again.”
Ernesto sat nearby drawing on a legal pad.
He could hear too much.
Adrian moved the conversation to another room.
Marcus brought in the foundation’s archived fertility records.
Most had been destroyed.
One patient code survived.
S.R.
One procedure entry.
Donor material verification.
Mateo stopped breathing.
“What donor material?”
Sofia stared.
“I don’t know.”
Marcus looked up.
“We need independent records.”
Before they could continue, a federal agent entered.
“Helena’s lawyers filed an emergency motion.”
“For what?”
“Board control and medical incapacity evaluation for Adrian.”
He laughed.
Of course.
Paper war.
Again.
The agent continued.
“And there’s a media leak.”
Adrian’s phone exploded with notifications.
BILLIONAIRE CEO HIDES SECRET CHILD HEIR.
Photos of Ernesto.
His school.
His shelter history.
Sofia grabbed the phone.
“They exposed him.”
Mateo slammed his palm into the wall.
Adrian’s chest tightened.
Helena’s last weapon was not kidnapping anymore.
It was visibility.
If the world believed Ernesto was Adrian’s secret heir, everyone hunting Cole money now knew his face.
Marcus moved security immediately.
New safe house.
Different vehicles.
Ernesto looked at Adrian while they packed.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No.”
“Why are people saying I’m rich?”
“Because people say things when they want something.”
“Am I?”
Adrian looked at him.
“Right now you’re nine.”
Ernesto nodded like that was enough.
At the new location, Sofia opened Eleanor’s old medical envelope.
One final page had been stuck beneath the lining.
Fetal genetic screening authorization.
Patient: Sofia Reyes.
Secondary reference sample:
M.H.
Mateo stared.
“M.H.?”
Marcus Hale stood across the room.
May you like
His face drained.
CUT.
