Chapter 2 - The Double Life of Vincent Moretti
The medical charts lay beneath the desk lamp in the attending physician's private office. Marcus closed the door behind us, turning the bolt to ensure Vincent remained stranded in the waiting room under the watchful eye of hospital security and my legal counsel.
""Claire, are you alright?"" Marcus asked softly, pulling a rolling stool toward me. We had completed our residency together at Northwestern; he knew the quiet strength I took pride in, but he also knew the deep grief I had buried after my miscarriage.
""I’m functioning, Marcus,"" I said, leaning back against the cool vinyl of the examination chair. ""Tell me about the patient.""
Marcus flipped open Vanessa Reed's physical chart. ""The ultrasound confirmed a viable intrauterine pregnancy at eight weeks and two days. Fetal cardiac activity is present at one hundred and forty beats per minute. The subchorionic hematoma we observed is minor, but there's an anomaly in her blood panel that doesn't make sense if Vincent is the sole provider of her history.""
I frowned, the physician inside me taking over the grieving wife. ""What anomaly?""
""Her beta-hCG levels are consistent with an eight-week gestation, but her autoimmune markers and blood typing show something significant,"" Marcus explained, pointing to a highlighted row of numbers. ""Miss Reed is Rh-negative, with high titers of circulating antibodies. More importantly, her medication reconciliation includes ongoing prescriptions for human menopausal gonadotropins and high-dose progesterone pessaries from a private fertility clinic in Gold Coast.""
I stared at the paper. ""A fertility clinic?""
""Claire, this wasn't an accidental pregnancy from an illicit tryst in an expensive hotel,"" Marcus said with clinical gravity. ""She’s been undergoing intensive IVF cycles for nine months. The protocol she is on requires signed partner consents, sperm donor profiles, and extensive genetic screening. Vincent couldn't have just 'slipped up' once or twice. He would have had to provide legal samples, attend frozen embryo transfers, and sign off as the legal intended father.""
A wave of nausea swept through me, far more intense than any morning sickness could provoke.
For five years, Vincent had claimed he was too exhausted for intimacy after sixty-hour work weeks. He had insisted we wait to try again after my miscarriage, telling me my body was too stressed, that our careers as an ER physician and a logistics CEO demanded our complete focus. Yet, all along, he had been walking into a Gold Coast fertility suite, providing specimens, and signing legal acknowledgments to build a family with another woman.
""Thank you, Marcus,"" I whispered, standing up with difficulty. My legs felt like lead.
""Claire, let someone else cover your remaining four hours,"" Marcus urged, reaching for my shoulder. ""You shouldn't be here right now. You're white as chalk.""
""I have two more patients in triage,"" I said, my voice hardening into steel. ""I will not let Vincent Moretti take my professionalism alongside my dignity. Finish her admission paperwork. I have business to settle.""
I walked out of the office and found Rebecca standing near the nurse’s station, sipping bitter coffee from a paper cup. Her sharp eyes followed my approach.
""He's still outside in the courtyard, Claire,"" Rebecca murmured. ""He called his corporate lawyer, Donald Pierce. Pierce is trying to argue that the asset freeze shouldn't apply to the joint bank accounts because of pending payroll transfers for Moretti Logistics.""
""Tell Pierce that every cent remains frozen until a forensic accountant crawls through every invoice from the last three years,"" I replied. ""And Rebecca?""
""Yes?""
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""I want a subpoena issued for the Gold Coast Reproductive Institute first thing tomorrow morning. Every consent form, every financial transfer, and every donor agreement bearing the name Vincent Moretti or Vanessa Reed.""
Rebecca’s lips curved into a predatory smile. ""Consider it done, Claire. Let’s see how much his oath to Thomas Reed cost him on the corporate ledger.""
