“Half-sister,” Rachel said. “Most likely.”
He looked sick.
“But why would she do this?”
Rachel closed the folder.
At that exact moment, her office phone rang.
She glanced at the caller ID.
Then her eyes sharpened.
“It’s Vivian Cole.”
No one spoke.
Rachel pressed the speaker button.
“Rachel Bennett speaking.”
A woman’s smooth voice filled the room.
“I assume you have the test results by now.”
Mark stood so fast his chair scraped the floor.
“Vivian?”
There was a pause.
Then a soft laugh.
“Hello, little brother.”
Carol made a choking sound.
Mark’s face twisted in horror.
“What did you do?”
“What I had to do,” Vivian replied. “You St. Clairs have been living comfortably on buried names, sealed files, and stolen children for too long.”
David stepped toward the phone.
“What do you want?”
Vivian ignored him.
“Tell Mark to check his email.”
Mark pulled out his phone with shaking hands.
A new message appeared.
No subject.
One attachment.
He opened it.
His face went gray.
Rachel moved beside him and looked at the screen.
“What is it?” I asked.
Mark didn’t answer.
Rachel did.
“It’s a list.”
“A list of what?”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“Children born through Grayson’s clinic.”
Vivian’s voice purred through the speaker.
“Not children,” she said. “Evidence.”
I stood, one hand on Lily’s carrier.
Vivian continued, calm and pleased.
“And Lily is the first baby in thirty-five years who can prove exactly what he did.”
The line went dead.
Mark stared at his phone.
Then a second email arrived.
This one had only five words.