Chapter 14 - Helena Cross
Helena laughed when Adrian placed the sealed obstetric file on the interview table.
Federal agents watched through the glass.
Her hands were cuffed.
Her posture remained perfect.
“You finally found Eleanor’s cruelest secret.”
Adrian sat across from her.
“What did she do?”
“Ask Sofia.”
“She didn’t know.”
“That was the point.”
“Was Marcus used as a donor?”
Helena’s eyes moved to the camera.
“You want me to save you from your mother’s choices?”
“No.”
“I want you to incriminate yourself.”
She smiled.
“At least you learned something.”
Adrian placed the Black Ledger beside the file.
“You ordered Eleanor’s medical contractor.”
No response.
“You paid the contingency before she died.”
No response.
“You authorized surveillance on Ernesto.”
No response.
“You knew EC-SAFE was used to place him under the bridge.”
Helena leaned back.
“You keep saying I ordered the crash.”
“Didn’t you?”
“No.”
This time Adrian believed her.
“Who did?”
She smiled.
“Ask why the route override used Sofia’s identity.”
“Cloned credentials.”
“Cloned by whom?”
Adrian said nothing.
Helena leaned forward.
“Victor thought he ran Project Meridian.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“Sometimes.”
“Who else?”
Helena’s smile thinned.
“Your father. Eleanor. Men who are dead. People you still trust.”
“Marcus?”
Her eyes flickered.
Tiny.
Enough.
Adrian’s chest tightened.
“Marcus knew about Ernesto?”
Helena looked amused.
“You should ask him why Eleanor chose his sample.”
Adrian stood.
Helena called after him.
“The bridge was elegant, Adrian.”
He stopped.
“One accident solved two bloodlines.”
He turned.
“And yet both survived.”
Her smile vanished.
That felt good.
Outside, Marcus waited with Mateo and Sofia.
Adrian told them everything.
Marcus looked sick.
“I never agreed to any fertility donation.”
Sofia stared at him.
“Did Eleanor ever ask you for anything medical?”
“No.”
Then his face changed.
“What?” Adrian asked.
Marcus sat.
“After a security incident, Eleanor asked whether I would register as an emergency blood donor for the family.”
Mateo’s jaw tightened.
“When?”
“Ten months before Ernesto was born.”
Sofia covered her mouth.
Marcus continued.
“I signed forms.”
“What forms?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Then we find them.”
A federal tech entered fast.
“We broke the obstetric archive encryption.”
He handed Adrian a printout.
One line.
PATERNAL MATERIAL SOURCE: M. HALE.
Mateo grabbed the page.
Sofia began crying.
Marcus stood frozen.
Then the tech added:
“That’s not the strangest part.”
Adrian looked up.
“The fertilization date predates Sofia’s treatment authorization by six weeks.”
Silence.
Mateo whispered, “How is that possible?”
The tech swallowed.
May you like
“Because the embryo already existed.”
CUT.
