Chapter 7 - Mara Finally Asked Who The Biological Father Was
For nearly a week, Mara refused to ask.
She cared about the baby.
Not the DNA.
Every kick beneath her ribs belonged to the child she had carried for months.
Every ultrasound.
Every sleepless night.
Every tiny outfit folded into a drawer.
Whatever Adrian had done, he could not make the baby less hers.
But eventually the question became unavoidable.
Who had provided the specimen?
The clinic traced the source code.
Not anonymous donor sperm.
That surprised everyone.
The replacement sample had been entered as:
directed donor — known to intended parent.
Mara had never met any directed donor.
The clinic’s original paper packet had been archived off-site.
When it arrived, there was a name.
Julian Vale.
Mara stared at it.
Vale.
Sienna Vale.
Massimo’s expression became stone.
They investigated.
Julian was Sienna’s older brother.
Thirty-nine.
Married.
Father of two.
He had undergone fertility testing years earlier and had cryopreserved samples at another facility before cancer treatment.
One of those samples had later been transferred.
Documentation showed Adrian authorized the transfer.
Julian claimed he believed the material was being used in an approved donor arrangement and that Mara had consented.
He produced messages Adrian sent him.
Mara knows. We’re keeping it private because she’s embarrassed about my fertility issues.
Julian had believed him.
There was no evidence Julian had participated in deceiving Mara.
He was horrified when he learned the truth.
Mara sat in silence after the call.
The baby was biologically connected to Sienna’s family.
Not Adrian’s.
Suddenly Sienna’s obsession with Mara’s pregnancy carried another dimension.
Her own brother’s genetic child was growing inside the wife of the man she was sleeping with.
May you like
And she had known.
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