Chapter 10 - THE BIRTH PROGRAMI thought I had reached the bottom.
I hadn't.
Marcus explained everything as if he were giving a business presentation.
For twenty years, the Vance family had secretly funded genetic research.
They believed certain bloodlines carried rare mutations.
My mother had been one of them.
Richard Cole had been another.
Flynn inherited Richard's markers.
I inherited my mother's.
And our children would have inherited both.
That was the point.
“You married her because of the study,” Jonathan said.
Marcus corrected him.
“Flynn married her because he was told to.”
Flynn stared at me.
“I loved you.”
Marcus laughed.
“You loved the outcome.”
“No.”
“You were given instructions before you ever met her.”
Flynn's fists tightened.
“I didn't know.”
“You didn't need to.”
Marcus turned toward me.
“Your pregnancy confirmed the compatibility.”
“And Selina?”
“She was assigned to monitor the process.”
My stomach turned.
“She watched me?”
“Yes.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
Selina finally stepped forward.
“You should understand something, Mabel.”
I glared at her.
“You've ruined my life.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“You were never supposed to have one.”
Flynn moved toward her.
“Get out.”
Selina laughed.
“You finally choose her?”
Flynn stopped.
“I don't choose anyone.”
“You always choose her.”
“No.”
His voice became cold.
“I choose against you.”
Selina's smile disappeared.
Marcus raised the pistol.
“Enough.”
Then Jonathan attacked him.
A shot exploded.
Everyone screamed.
The bullet missed.
Jonathan slammed Marcus into the wall.
Flynn dragged me away.
Selina ran.
I heard another gunshot.
Then silence.
When I looked back, Jonathan was on the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Jonathan!”
He looked at me.
“Run.”
We ran.
Outside, police cars were waiting.
Detective Mason had tracked my location.
Marcus disappeared before they arrived.
Selina disappeared too.
But Jonathan survived.
And in his pocket, police found a USB drive.
The contents were devastating.
Medical records.
Bank transfers.
Surveillance photos.
My entire life.
Everything had been monitored.
For years.
But there was one final document.
A genetic research agreement.
Signed by Marcus Vale.
Signed by Richard Cole.
Signed by Dr. Reed.
And signed by someone else.
Flynn.
Flynn stared at the signature.
“I never signed this.”
I looked closer.
The signature was identical to his.
But Flynn's face had changed.
“Mabel.”
“What?”
“I was nineteen when that document was dated.”
“So?”
“I wasn't allowed to sign contracts.”
I stared at him.
“Then who forged it?”
He looked at the final page.
There was a name.
Not Marcus.
Not Richard.
Not Selina.
A name I recognized immediately.
My father's.
My dead father.
Flynn whispered:
“Your family was part of it too.”
My heart stopped.
My father had helped them.
He had known.
And somehow, he had allowed me to marry Flynn.
The man I thought had destroyed my family.
Had been only one piece of a much larger machine.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph.
My father's old study.
And someone sitting behind his desk.
Alive.
May you like
The message said:
COME HOME, MABEL.
