Chapter 15 - The Wrong Blood
The dead man was Dr. Nathan Cole, director of Northlake Genetics.
Evelyn had shot him in a parking garage after he refused to alter the second DNA test.
Daniel had found the body before police did.
Instead of calling 911, he took Cole’s phone.
Another choice.
Another crime.
He used the phone to delete messages connecting him to the fake prenatal paternity report.
Then he ran.
In interrogation, Daniel admitted to conspiracy, evidence tampering, fraud, and cutting the curtain.
He insisted he never meant for Mara to die.
Hale repeated the sentence back to him.
“You cut the only thing holding her.”
Daniel cried.
This time Mara watched through one-way glass.
She felt tired.
Not victorious. Not healed.
Just tired.
“Where’s Evelyn?” she asked.
Hale shook his head.
They had found blood in her car but no Evelyn.
Samuel survived surgery. He was placed under guard.
Teresa finally gave a formal statement.
The trust documents from Unit 214 were incomplete, but the original brass key opened a private safe-deposit box Charles Cross had rented under Teresa’s name.
Inside was the signed trust.
And twelve years of ledgers.
Enough to trigger federal interest.
Cross Meridian’s board suspended Daniel.
Trading halted.
Reporters camped outside the hospital.
Mara hated them almost as much as she hated the Crosses.
One yelled, “Mrs. Cross, did you marry Daniel for the inheritance?”
Mara stopped.
Claire grabbed her arm. “Don’t.”
Mara turned toward the cameras.
“I didn’t know there was an inheritance.”
The reporter shouted another question.
Mara said, “My daughter is six days old. Go home.”
Then she walked inside.
That clip went viral.
Mara wished it had not.
Attention brought support, but it also brought strangers who felt entitled to every ugly detail.
Three days later, June was strong enough to come out of the incubator for skin-to-skin contact.
Mara held her against her chest and cried silently.
Teresa sat nearby in a wheelchair.
“She has your ears,” Teresa said.
“Poor kid.”
Teresa smiled.
Then the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The NICU backup power engaged.
A nurse frowned. “That shouldn’t happen.”
The security alarm began to chirp.
Mara’s whole body went cold.
Hale called her at that exact moment.
“Mara, listen to me. Evelyn’s car was found at the hospital garage.”
Mara stood, holding June.
Across the glass doors, a woman in a nurse’s coat removed her surgical mask.
May you like
Evelyn smiled.
