Chapter 6 - THE ACCIDENT TWENTY YEARS EARLIER
Aunt Evelyn denied causing my mother’s death.
She admitted driving the second car.
Catherine had asked her to follow.
She believed Northstar executives were watching her.
On the highway, Catherine’s brakes failed.
She swerved.
Aunt Evelyn tried to block traffic and was struck from behind.
Her car spun away.
Catherine went through the barrier.
The police report listed only one involved vehicle because Northstar’s security team removed Aunt Evelyn’s car before local officers completed the scene.
Dad never knew his sister was there.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.
Aunt Evelyn looked at him.
“Because Catherine told me what the company was doing. Then she died. You still signed deals with them.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
She carried guilt.
He carried ignorance.
Northstar used both.
Catherine had preserved evidence inside a safe-deposit box under Aunt Evelyn’s name.
The key remained hidden in an old jewelry case.
Inside were research files, recordings, and a letter to me.
Chloe,
If you ever find this, remember that family wealth attracts people who confuse inheritance with love. Do not let anyone decide that protecting you means choosing for you.
I was twelve when she wrote it.
She had known the danger would outlive her.
The files showed Northstar had collected genetic material from wealthy families for decades.
Not only Harrisons.
They created medical profiles.
Succession risk models.
Insurance products.
Eventually embryos.
Marcus was one client among many.
The program had a name.
Legacy Continuity.
Children were not children in the documents.
They were continuity instruments.
Then the investigators identified Dr. Cross.
He had worked at Northstar for twenty-five years.
He treated my mother after the accident.
He signed the death record.
He later managed Dad’s stored sample.
He supervised my fertility procedure.
One physician connected every generation.
Cross was found at a private clinic in Maine.
He attempted suicide before arrest.
Doctors saved him.
He agreed to cooperate.
Not from remorse.
To avoid life without parole.
He confirmed Catherine’s brakes were sabotaged by a Northstar contractor.
Aunt Evelyn was not involved.
Adrian’s predecessor ordered it.
Dad’s company later entered a research partnership without knowing the full crime.
Then Cross admitted something worse.
My embryo transfer was not the first unauthorized Harrison pregnancy.
Years earlier, Northstar used Dad’s sperm and another donor egg to create a child.
A surrogate delivered.
The infant was placed through a private adoption.
Marcus knew.
He found the record while investigating the trust.
That child was now twenty-two.
A direct biological child of my father.
My half-sibling.
Another potential heir.
Name: Ethan Cole.
Adrian Cole’s adopted son.
Adrian had raised Dad’s biological child while serving inside Harrison Capital.
The insider was not only chasing money.
He had built his own succession claim.
Ethan had no idea.
He studied architecture in California.
He believed Adrian was his father.
The court protected his privacy while investigators approached him.
DNA confirmed it.
Dad asked to meet.
Ethan refused.
That was his right.
Biology did not create access.
Adrian had used the child’s existence as hidden leverage.
If Northstar’s acquisition failed, he planned to reveal Ethan and challenge the trust.
Another human being converted into a legal threat.
The board froze all succession decisions.
The Harrison Family Trust entered independent administration.
Dad lost unilateral authority.
I supported it.
So did he.
Then my labor began five weeks early.
Dr. Ellis admitted me immediately.
My blood pressure rose.
The baby’s heart rate fluctuated.
No obvious poisoning.
No loose stair rail.
No hidden transfer team.
Still, the old plan activated automatically.
Northstar filed a notice claiming contractual authority over the delivery because the embryo originated in its clinic.
Priya fought it from the hospital.
The judge rejected the claim.
Then the power failed.
Only the maternity wing lost electricity.
Backup generators should have started.
May you like
They did not.
Someone inside the hospital was still working for Northstar.
