Chapter 14 - Victoria's Second Heir
Victoria was found sitting beside Elise in an abandoned roadside office.
She claimed she had gone there to rescue her.
Elise told a different story.
At the hospital, she asked to speak to me alone.
Her face was bruised.
Her baby was stable.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I did not tell her it was okay.
It wasn’t.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Victoria called me before sunrise. She said Ryan wanted me moved somewhere safe.”
“You believed her?”
“I had just watched police search the house.”
Fair enough.
“She drove me to the property. Caleb was there.”
“What did they want?”
“The trust form.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
Elise started crying.
“Because my baby isn’t Ryan’s.”
I sat very still.
“What?”
She covered her face.
“Ryan and I were together. But the timing was wrong. I knew before Arizona.”
“Whose child?”
“I don’t know.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Victoria arranged a fertility procedure.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“She told me Ryan had low fertility and this was the safest way to guarantee an heir. She said the donor was anonymous.”
My hand moved to my stomach.
Victoria had built an heir.
Not a family.
A legal instrument.
“Did Ryan know?”
“No.”
I believed her.
That did not make him innocent.
Elise wiped her face.
“Caleb said if I signed the trust papers, the baby would still be recognized as a Vance beneficiary.”
“Even without Ryan as the biological father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the door.
“Because the donor wasn’t anonymous.”
My skin went cold.
“Who was it?”
She whispered one name.
“George.”
Ryan’s dead father.
I stood so fast the chair scraped.
Frozen genetic material.
A child created to become Victoria’s perfect Vance heir.
Then Elise grabbed my wrist.
“Madeline, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
May you like
“Victoria said your baby was never supposed to happen.”
Before I could ask what she meant, the hospital fire alarm began screaming.
