Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Studied Me
I slapped Claire Vale.
Hard.
The sound echoed through the abandoned church.
She staggered but did not retaliate.
“Good,” she said quietly. “I deserved that.”
“You pretended to be my doctor.”
“Yes.”
“You took my blood.”
“Yes.”
“You touched my baby.”
“I monitored your pregnancy.”
“You violated me.”
Her face tightened. “Yes.”
I wanted to hit her again.
Instead, I turned to Catherine.
“You knew?”
“Not until recently.”
“How recently?”
“Three months.”
I laughed bitterly. “Everyone keeps having months to tell me things.”
Claire stepped forward. “I did not know you were my daughter until I ran the genetic analysis.”
“Convenient.”
“I’m not asking you to believe me.”
“Excellent.”
I looked around the church.
“Where’s Thomas?”
“He doesn’t know we’re here.”
“You expect me to believe that too?”
“No.”
At least she was honest.
Catherine came closer. “Claire helped me escape.”
“From Dad?”
“Yes.”
“He forced you into the car?”
“He said if I didn’t cooperate, he would take you before the birth.”
Claire nodded. “He wanted Catherine to convince you to leave New York.”
“For where?”
“Switzerland.”
“Why?”
“A private facility.”
My skin crawled.
“What kind?”
“The kind no one leaves with paperwork.”
I looked at Claire.
“You worked for him.”
“For years.”
“Doing what?”
“Trying to understand what he had already done.”
“That sounds noble.”
“It wasn’t.”
Her voice broke for the first time.
“I told myself research could repair the harm. Instead, I helped preserve the system.”
Catherine whispered, “Tell her about the ledger.”
Claire looked at me. “Providence wasn’t a single experiment. It was a network of families.”
“How many?”
“Twenty-three bloodlines.”
“All in New York?”
“No. London. Rome. Zurich. Boston.”
“Why?”
“Powerful families wanted healthier heirs. Smarter heirs. Stronger heirs.”
“That’s eugenics.”
“Yes.”
The word hung beneath the church dome like smoke.
I felt my baby move.
“He isn’t an experiment.”
“No,” Claire said. “He is a child.”
“He?”
Claire froze.
I stared at her.
“I never told you the sex.”
Catherine gasped.
Claire closed her eyes. “I already tested it.”
Anger surged.
“How dare you?”
“I was under orders.”
“Whose?”
“Thomas.”
I stepped toward her. “What else did you test?”
She hesitated.
“Everything.”
“Say it.”
“Neurological risk markers. immune profile. metabolic traits.”
“Say all of it.”
“Predicted height. eye color. certain behavioral probabilities.”
I felt sick.
“You built a profile of my unborn son.”
“Yes.”
“For my father.”
“Yes.”
“What did he want to know?”
Claire stared at me. “Whether Providence worked.”
“And?”
She said nothing.
“Did it?”
Tears filled her eyes. “The profile showed combinations of markers they never achieved before.”
I covered my belly.
“Stop talking about him like a product.”
“I’m trying to tell you why Thomas will never stop.”
“Then tell me how to stop him.”
Claire reached into her coat and removed a small notebook.
“The original Providence ledger.”
Catherine gasped. “You took it?”
Claire nodded.
“Names. accounts. facilities. surviving samples.”
I stared at it.
“If we give this to federal investigators—”
“They’d seize everything.”
“Good.”
“And powerful people would kill to prevent that.”
“Also good.”
Claire almost smiled.
Then she opened the notebook.
“One name matters most.”
RICHARD SINCLAIR.
Victoria’s father.
“He finances the current operation.”
I scanned the page.
Then another name caught my eye.
DANIEL ROSS.
My blood went cold.
“No.”
Claire said nothing.
“What is Daniel doing in this book?”
“Security.”
“For Providence?”
“Yes.”
I thought of Daniel across the street from my townhouse. Daniel bringing groceries when I was sick. Daniel checking locks. Daniel knowing about the bloodwork.
“He works for them?”
“He used to.”
“Used to?”
“He was assigned to watch you before you left Ethan.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who hired him?”
“Thomas.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“So my father planted him before I even ran.”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel help me escape?”
Claire nodded.
“Why?”
“He changed sides.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he stopped reporting.”
I didn’t know whether that made things better or worse.
A faint sound came from behind the church doors.
Claire went still.
“Did you bring someone?”
“No.”
Catherine whispered, “Thomas.”
Claire closed the ledger.
“Back exit.”
I did not move.
“I’m tired of running.”
“You are carrying a child.”
“I know.”
“Then run.”
The church doors exploded inward.
Ethan entered.
Behind him, Marco and four armed men.
I stared.
“You said I could come alone.”
“You did.”
“That’s not how alone works.”
He looked at Claire.
His gun came up.
“Step away from my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” I said automatically.
Claire raised her hands. “I’m unarmed.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened. “You impersonated her doctor.”
“I did.”
“You took genetic material from my child.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan,” I warned.
He lowered the weapon slightly.
“Talk fast.”
Claire held out the ledger. “This can destroy Providence.”
Ethan took it and opened to a random page.
His face changed.
“What?” I asked.
He turned the notebook toward me.
A list of names.
Next to one was written:
ETHAN ROMANO - STATUS: TERMINATION APPROVED.
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Claire went pale. “That wasn’t there before.”
Ethan looked at her. “You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear.”
Catherine stepped closer. “Thomas must have added it.”
A shot cracked through stained glass.
Ethan threw me to the floor.
Glass rained down.
Another shot.
Marco returned fire.
Claire screamed.
Catherine fell.
“Mom!”
I crawled toward her. Blood spread across her shoulder.
“Not fatal,” Daniel’s voice said.
I turned.
He stood near the side entrance, gun raised.
Ethan aimed at him.
“Don’t.”
Daniel froze.
“Ethan—”
“You’re in the ledger.”
Daniel’s face changed. “So Claire told you.”
“You have five seconds.”
“I worked for Thomas.”
“One.”
“I left.”
“Two.”
“I helped Isabella escape you.”
“Three.”
“Because Thomas ordered me to bring her to Providence.”
I stared at him. “What?”
Daniel looked at me. “I was supposed to intercept you the night you left Ethan.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you were terrified.”
His eyes softened.
“And I realized I had become exactly the man I hated.”
Ethan’s gun remained raised.
“Four.”
Daniel looked toward the shattered window.
“Thomas is outside.”
That changed everything.
Ethan turned. “What?”
“He brought twelve men.”
The church fell silent.
Then a loudspeaker crackled outside.
My father’s voice.
“Isabella.”
I closed my eyes.
“Come outside, sweetheart.”
Ethan moved to the window.
“No.”
Thomas continued.
“If you come willingly, everyone lives.”
Ethan laughed softly. “I hate predictable men.”
I looked at him. “What are you doing?”
He handed Marco the ledger.
“Taking away his leverage.”
Then he walked toward the front door.
I grabbed his sleeve. “Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“If he wants the heir,” Ethan said, “he needs the father too.”
My heart stopped.
“Don’t.”
May you like
He touched my face. “For once, let me choose what I risk.”
Then he opened the church doors and walked outside alone.
