Chapter 11 - The Clinic
The fertility clinic had closed two years earlier.
That did not stop Rachel.
By 8:00 the next morning, she had located the former medical director, Dr. Samuel Klein, living outside Milwaukee.
By 9:15, Daniel was in the back seat of a car headed north with a detective beside him.
Rosa stayed home with Noah under temporary protective arrangements approved by the caseworker. Daniel had wanted them with him, but Rachel was right: Noah needed safety, not another day of adults tearing his world apart.
Dr. Klein looked twenty years older than Daniel remembered.
He opened the door, saw the detective, and said, “I wondered when this would happen.”
Daniel nearly grabbed him.
Instead he said, “Tell me what happened to my son.”
Klein let them inside.
The story came out slowly.
Vanessa had undergone two failed egg retrievals. The embryos she and Daniel thought they had were not viable.
Marcus, who handled the contracts, knew.
A donor cycle was arranged without Daniel’s knowledge.
Then another problem occurred. The lab mislabeled the donor material during preparation. Rosa’s own ovum was fertilized with Daniel’s sperm through an unauthorized procedure performed after a technician realized the scheduled donor sample was compromised.
Daniel stared at Klein. “You’re saying someone decided to create a child without consent from either parent?”
Klein looked sick. “Yes.”
“And then you covered it up.”
“I reported it internally.”
“You took money.”
Klein’s silence said enough.
The detective placed a recorder on the table.
“Who paid you?”
Klein looked at Daniel.
“Marcus Reed.”
“Why?”
“Because Mrs. Hale was terrified you would leave her if you learned she could not have a biological child.”
Daniel felt no pity.
“Where is Marcus now?”
“I don’t know.”
The detective leaned forward. “Think harder.”
Klein rubbed both hands over his face.
“There is one place.”
He gave them an address near Lake Geneva.
A private cabin registered to a shell company.
Daniel recognized the company name.
It had appeared in financial reports from his own firm.
He pulled out his phone and called the chief financial officer.
“Run every payment to Reed Holdings and any related shell company for the past five years.”
The CFO hesitated. “Daniel, there’s something you should know.”
“What?”
“We found a transfer this morning.”
“How much?”
“Eight million dollars.”
“To where?”
May you like
The answer made Daniel stand up.
“An account in Rosa Martinez’s name.”
