Chapter 8 - THE EMBRYO FILE
Haven’s clinic records were a mess of legitimate medicine and hidden fraud.
But the embryo file was clear.
Alexander and Margaret had created six embryos during fertility treatment four years earlier.
Four embryos were recorded as nonviable and two as frozen. After Margaret vanished, Rowan falsely certified the remaining embryos destroyed. One was implanted in Margaret six months ago.
The authorization listed:
PATIENT CONSENT — MARGARET WHITMORE.
SPOUSAL CONSENT — ALEXANDER WHITMORE.
Both signatures appeared genuine.
Alexander swore he had signed nothing.
Samuel brought in a document examiner.
Alexander’s signature was lifted from a corporate directive and Margaret’s from old fertility forms.
Vanessa’s fake pregnancy began two weeks after the embryo transfer.
Perfect timing.
Then detectives found a second embryo-transfer reservation.
Patient name:
VANESSA WHITMORE.
Scheduled for two months after Margaret’s expected delivery.
Alexander stared.
“Why?”
Samuel understood first.
“Insurance.”
If Margaret’s pregnancy failed, Vanessa was scheduled to receive another Whitmore embryo.
She claimed the plan was Cynthia’s.
Cynthia claimed it was Rowan’s.
Rowan blamed Vanessa.
Then Vanessa said something useful.
“The trust was never the final target.”
Asked for the real target, Vanessa answered: “Alexander’s voting control.”
If Alexander died or became incapacitated while the child was a minor, the trust’s voting proxy moved to the child’s guardian.
Cynthia.
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The fake pregnancy was not just inheritance fraud.
It was preparation for succession.
