Chapter 7 - THE MAN BEHIND B-19The paternal encryption used an old DeLuca corporate algorithm.
Nathan could not break it without triggering deletion.
Vittorio knew who might.
“Evelyn designed the original biometric architecture.”
She had been twenty-three when she built the first DeLuca medical-encryption platform. Grant later joined the company as outside counsel during a patent dispute.
That was how they met.
Evelyn’s smart contacts contained a private decryption key.
Dana connected them to the tablet through a shielded interface.
A sequence of images appeared before Evelyn’s eyes. She confirmed access through controlled blinks.
The paternal file opened halfway.
A photograph loaded line by line.
Dark hair.
A narrow jaw.
A scar near the left temple.
Grant stared from behind the glass.
The image resembled him.
Celeste began shouting.
“You said the DNA test was wrong!”
Grant demanded that the screen be turned off.
The final name appeared.
MATTHEW MERCER.
Grant’s older brother.
Matthew had died eleven years earlier in a mountain-climbing accident.
Grant’s DNA would not match a child fathered by his brother, but the family resemblance explained why he believed he could eventually challenge the results.
Vittorio faced Grant.
“You knew the embryo belonged to your brother.”
Grant said nothing.
Celeste slammed both hands against the glass.
“You used my eggs as a cover.”
Grant turned toward her.
“Be quiet.”
“You told me the child was ours.”
“She would have been legally ours.”
“You promised me a daughter.”
“I promised you security.”
Celeste finally understood that Grant had never planned a family with her. He planned an inheritance structure.
Matthew Mercer had worked at Vale Reproductive Institute before his death. According to the newly opened file, he provided genetic material for a confidential embryo project involving Bianca.
The consent forms were incomplete.
It remained unclear whether Matthew understood how his sample would be used.
Grant discovered B-19 while reviewing his brother’s estate.
He learned the embryo could produce a child genetically related to the DeLuca family through Bianca and to him through Matthew.
A child he could present publicly as his niece, daughter, or ward depending on which legal route benefited him.
If Evelyn carried the baby and became incapacitated, Grant could claim spousal control over her trust while holding a biological family connection to the infant.
The plan was grotesquely adaptable.
Celeste’s fake embryo story served only to secure her cooperation.
Dr. Vale provided medical access.
Grant provided legal forgery.
Celeste provided distraction and a future public mother.
But someone else had authorized the actual transfer.
Grant denied knowing who.
Dana did not believe him.
The transfer log showed B-19 was removed from the vault during a hospital-wide power test. The authorization came from Isabella’s tablet.
Grant could not open it without the code.
Someone who knew Isabella’s secrets helped him.
Vittorio asked Dr. Vale directly.
The physician looked exhausted.
“I received the embryo in a sealed carrier. Grant told me Evelyn had consented to a confidential family transfer.”
“You knew the genetic mother was Bianca.”
“I knew the vault code.”
“You chemically paralyzed Evelyn.”
“I approved ordinary anesthesia.”
“The drug order came from your account.”
“Someone used it.”
“You replaced the bracelet.”
“Because Grant threatened to expose my father’s records.”
Dana leaned closer.
“What records?”
Dr. Vale looked toward the underground elevator.
“My father did not only preserve embryos. He preserved identities.”
The old institute accepted women whose families wanted their pregnancies hidden. Birth certificates were altered. Genetic records were divided. Children were reassigned through private adoptions.
Bianca had discovered the system.
Isabella used B-19 as evidence.
Before her death, she embedded documents inside the embryo’s record to expose the institute if anyone ever attempted transfer.
The baby’s birth had activated that release.
The underground servers began opening sealed archives automatically.
One folder appeared on Dana’s tablet.
EVELYN DELUCA—ORIGINAL MATERNAL FILE.
Vittorio whispered, “There should be no such file.”
Evelyn had been born at another hospital.
Or so she had been told.
Dana opened the first page.
Birth location:
Vale Reproductive Institute.
Delivering patient:
May you like
Bianca Voss.
👉 The same hidden system that produced B-19 now claimed Bianca—not Isabella—had given birth to Evelyn.
