Chapter 10 - Elise’s ChoiceElise called within twenty minutes.
Lila sat beside her in a moving vehicle, alert and unrestrained.
“Mara, do not send police.”
“You removed a sick child from transplant care.”
“The hospital had scheduled a procedure without telling her.”
Dr. Grant checked Lila’s chart.
An exploratory liver biopsy had been added under Dr. Sayer’s credential despite his detention.
The order was unauthorized.
Elise may have prevented another medical violation.
She had also taken the child without consent.
“Bring her back to independent care,” Mara said.
“Not while Richard controls the court and Beatrice controls the hospital board.”
“Then bring her to another hospital.”
“I am taking her to the river house.”
Mara remembered Lila’s warning.
The recovery house near the river was where Richard took the children when angry.
Elise claimed it also contained the original continuity archive and the children’s true birth records.
She intended to retrieve them before Richard destroyed everything.
Lila leaned toward the phone.
“I asked her to take me.”
Mara looked at the girl.
“You were allowed to ask. She was not allowed to decide alone.”
Elise’s face tightened.
“You speak as though institutions will protect her.”
“I speak as though secrecy has failed every child in this family.”
Police tracked the vehicle despite Elise’s warning.
Mara requested they follow without forcing a dangerous stop.
Richard contacted Beatrice after learning Lila was missing.
Their recorded call revealed the old alliance had fractured years earlier.
“You said Elise was contained,” Richard said.
“You said the children would never leave the nursery,” Beatrice replied.
“You lost Mara.”
“You poisoned Adrian too quickly.”
“You wanted the transplant before Selene delivered.”
Each accused the other of operational failures.
Neither spoke about the pain inflicted.
They spoke like executives discussing damaged inventory.
Nina obtained authority to freeze every continuity-linked account.
Richard responded by moving Sophie and Evan from the recovery house.
Security cameras showed them boarding a helicopter.
The flight plan listed a private island in the Caribbean.
If they left the country, the custody battle would become nearly impossible.
Mara contacted Graham? No Graham in this story. She contacted Adrian.
“Richard is moving your half-brother and our biological daughter.”
Adrian closed his eyes at the phrase.
“What do you need?”
“His private airfield codes.”
“My mother controls them.”
“You spent your life in that family. Find them.”
Adrian contacted an old estate pilot and obtained an emergency grounding code. The helicopter’s navigation system locked before takeoff.
Richard’s guards attempted a manual override.
State police reached the airfield first.
Evan and Sophie were recovered unharmed.
Richard escaped through a service tunnel.
Sophie refused to leave the helicopter until a child advocate promised Richard would not be punished because of anything she said.
He had trained her to protect him.
Mara watched the girl through a secure feed.
Sophie had her eyes.
That resemblance hurt and drew her in simultaneously.
She resisted the instinct to claim the child.
“Sophie,” Mara said, “you do not have to decide who your family is today.”
Richard had told her Mara would take her away forever.
Mara offered the opposite.
Choice.
Time.
Independent help.
Sophie climbed from the helicopter.
Meanwhile, Elise and Lila reached the river house.
Police remained outside while they entered.
The archive room was empty.
Richard had removed the physical files.
Only one medical cabinet remained.
Inside was a frozen embryo labeled:
MARA VALE—CONTINUITY GENERATION TWO.
Mara thought the stolen eggs had produced Lila and Sophie.
The date on the label was recent.
Someone had collected new reproductive material during her liver surgery.
The transplant team had taken more than liver tissue.
Dr. Grant checked the operative notes.
A gynecological procedure appeared in the anesthesia log but not the surgical report.
Mara stared at the screen.
While she was unconscious, Sayer had performed an unauthorized egg retrieval.
The program had prepared another generation.
Elise whispered, “They planned to keep making children from you.”
Then Lila found a second container.
It was empty.
The transfer record showed an embryo had already been implanted.
Recipient:
Selene Ward.
Selene was already pregnant with Richard’s child.
According to the date, a second embryo may have been added during a recent prenatal procedure.
She might be carrying twins from different genetic pairings.
One child belonged biologically to Richard and Marina.
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The other could belong to Mara.
👉 Mara learned the transplant surgery included an unauthorized fertility procedure, and Selene might be carrying another child created from Mara’s stolen cells.
