Chapter 8 - LEAH MORENO

Leah did not blame me.

I almost wished she did.

Anger would have been easier than the way she stared at the clinic floor.

She had undergone four retrievals.

The final cycle produced two viable embryos.

The clinic told her both failed during thawing.

One may not have.

Ryan's consent form showed the technician switched storage positions after a barcode alert.

The record was incomplete.

Leah asked Ryan, "Did they tell you whose vial they were opening?"

"No."

"Did you ask?"

"No."

She nodded.

Not forgiving.

Just recording the fact.

I wanted to defend him.

The instinct disgusted me.

Then I wanted to condemn him for everything.

That was not fair either.

The clinic offered Leah a confidential settlement.

She refused.

"I don't want hush money."

She wanted an independent investigation.

I joined her.

Ryan opposed it.

"Claire, think about the twins. Their names could get dragged into this."

"They won't be named."

"You can't guarantee that."

"No."

"Then why risk it?"

Leah answered before I could.

"Because your children being safe doesn't make what happened to mine disappear."

Ryan looked ashamed.

Good.

So did I.

The investigation began.

Three former employees agreed to speak.

One said the clinic had been rushing thaw procedures because a refrigeration unit was failing.

Another said managers altered timestamps.

The third refused to speak unless granted legal protection.

Then Naomi found a familiar name in the clinic's investor records.

Vivian Bennett.

My mother-in-law had invested money in the fertility group eight years earlier.

I stared at her name.

Ryan whispered, "I didn't know."

This time, I believed him.

That frightened me more.

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