Chapter 4 - the embryos that were supposed to be gone
Julia had not spoken the name Voss Reproductive Institute in more than a decade.
She had gone there with her husband, Peter, after two years of trying unsuccessfully to have a child.
The memories had once been hopeful.
Sterile rooms.
Blood tests.
Peter making terrible jokes because Julia hated needles.
Dr. Malcolm Voss telling them they had produced three viable embryos.
One became Clara.
The other two were frozen.
After Clara’s birth, Julia and Peter debated what to do with the remaining embryos. They eventually signed documents authorizing their destruction.
Or so Julia had believed.
Detective Brooks requested the records.
The original Voss clinic no longer existed. It had been purchased by a medical holding company after Dr. Voss retired.
The records were stored by its successor.
Riverton Medical Research.
Director: Lydia Crane.
Julia read the name twice.
“She has my fertility records.”
“She has access to archived records,” Brooks corrected.
“She had access to Clara.”
“Yes.”
“And she was outside Clara’s room tonight.”
“Yes.”
Julia’s anger became frighteningly calm.
“Find her.”
Brooks left two officers near the emergency room and requested an immediate interview with Lydia.
Dr. Hale returned to Clara’s bedside.
The pain had improved with treatment, but Clara remained under observation because the pregnancy was medically high-risk.
Julia sat beside her.
“I’m sorry.”
Clara frowned.
“For what?”
“For not noticing.”
“You couldn’t see it.”
“I should have known something was wrong after the clinic.”
“You believed them.”
“So did you.”
Clara looked toward the ultrasound machine.
“Is it really a baby?”
Julia’s throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
Julia had no answer.
Neither did Dr. Hale.
But he had requested urgent genetic testing after hearing about Julia’s fertility history.
The results would take time.
Meanwhile, Detective Brooks obtained the archived embryo ledger.
At 2:14 a.m., she returned to the ER carrying a printed file.
Julia recognized Peter’s signature on the original forms.
M-01 — transferred.
M-02 — cryopreserved.
M-03 — cryopreserved.
Four years later:
M-02 — authorized destruction.
M-03 — authorized destruction.
Julia stared at the final entries.
“They were destroyed.”
Brooks placed another sheet beside them.
“According to the summary.”
“What does that mean?”
“The storage movement logs say something different.”
M-02 had been removed from long-term storage nineteen weeks and four days earlier.
Destination:
Riverton Adolescent Wellness Laboratory.
Julia stopped breathing.
“That’s the clinic Clara went to.”
“Yes.”
“That cannot be coincidence.”
“No.”
“Where is M-03?”
Brooks pointed.
Its final storage entry was twelve years earlier.
TRANSFERRED TO EXTERNAL GESTATIONAL PROGRAM.
No destination was listed.
Julia stared.
“Gestational program?”
“We don’t know what that means yet.”
“But M-02…”
“Was removed the week Clara went to the clinic.”
Julia pushed away from the table.
She became dizzy.
Dr. Hale steadied her.
“No.”
The chronology fit too perfectly.
But Julia still could not accept what it implied.
“If somebody took one of my embryos…”
She looked at Clara.
Dr. Hale said nothing.
Julia’s voice became a whisper.
“They put it inside her.”
The words hung in the room.
Clara had heard.
Her face went blank.
“Inside me?”
Julia rushed to her.
“We don’t know yet.”
“You just said—”
“We are waiting for testing.”
Clara began crying.
“I want it out.”
Dr. Hale approached carefully.
“We’re going to discuss every medical option with you and your mother. Right now, our job is to keep you safe.”
“I didn’t choose this.”
“I know.”
Julia held her daughter.
“No one gets to make another decision about your body without you.”
Detective Brooks quietly stepped into the hallway.
Her phone rang.
Lydia Crane had agreed to come to the hospital voluntarily.
Twenty minutes later, Julia saw her approaching between two detectives.
She wore a gray coat.
Silver bird earrings hung from her ears.
The same woman from the hallway.
Lydia looked directly at Julia.
“Mrs. Moore.”
Julia stood.
“You were watching my daughter.”
Lydia’s expression remained composed.
“I heard Clara had been admitted.”
“How?”
“I oversee several adolescent-care programs.”
“Why did you run when I saw you?”
“I didn’t run.”
“You disappeared through a restricted door.”
“I was called upstairs.”
Brooks stepped between them.
“We’ll discuss this in an interview room.”
Lydia looked toward Clara’s closed door.
Something passed over her face.
Not guilt.
Concern.
“Has the genetic panel come back?”
Dr. Hale stopped.
Julia stared at Lydia.
“I never told you there was a genetic panel.”
For the first time, Lydia lost control of her expression.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
Later that morning, Dr. Hale received the first preliminary result.
The fetal DNA was being compared against Clara, Julia, and the late Peter Moore.
He read the report twice before asking Detective Brooks to return.
Julia stood beside him.
“What does it say?”
Dr. Hale looked at Clara.
Then at Julia.
“The fetus is not genetically Clara’s child.”
Julia’s knees weakened.
“What?”
“The DNA pattern is consistent with something else.”
He turned the report toward her.
May you like
“It appears to be her full genetic sibling.”
👉 The pregnancy was not the result anyone had assumed—the fetus appeared to be Clara’s unborn brother or sister from an embryo Julia believed had been destroyed years ago.
