Chapter 4 - The Whistleblower
The diner smelled of stale coffee, burnt bacon, and pine cleaner. Rain drummed heavily against the glass windows as I walked inside, my heart hammering against my ribs. A lone woman sat in the corner booth, wearing a dark trench coat and holding a silver thermos.
I sat down across from her, my muscles tense. "Who are you?"
She took off her sunglasses, revealing heavy dark circles beneath her pale blue eyes. "My name is Dr. Evelyn Reed. I was the head geneticist at the clinic in Boston six years ago."
"The one who worked with Caleb?" I asked, my fists clenching beneath the table.
"The one who was forced to falsify the records," Evelyn corrected, her voice barely a whisper. She slid a thick manila folder across the Formica table toward me. "Clara, what Caleb told you on that porch was only half the truth. He didn't just sign a contract to pay off his debts. He actively selected the Sterling donor profile because of the massive financial payout."
I felt a cold drop of sweat trickle down my spine. "What?"
"Caleb knew exactly what he was doing," Evelyn said bitterly. "He was in gambling debt to some very dangerous people in South Boston. He sold his daughter's genetic future before you even started the hormone injections. But what he doesn't know—and what Victoria Sterling is trying to cover up—is that Nora isn't just an heir."
"What do you mean?"
Evelyn leaned closer over the table. "Arthur Sterling didn't die of natural causes. He died of an ultra-rare degenerative blood disease. The Vanguard Foundation isn't trying to raise Nora as a wealthy socialite. They want her bone marrow and biological tissues to synthesize a gene therapy for Arthur Sterling’s eldest living son, Julian Sterling, who is currently dying in a private medical facility in Switzerland."
May you like
I felt sick. A violent wave of nausea washed over me. "They want to use my baby as a medical farm?"
"Precisely," Evelyn said. "They need her legally under their custody so they can perform experimental, highly invasive extraction procedures without parental interference or oversight. If you give her up, Clara, she won't survive past her fifth birthday."
