Chapter 4 - The Triple Deception
I stared at Rachel, unable to process her words. ""What do you mean, he lied to the buyers?""
""Peter took upfront payments amounting to nearly two million dollars from each of the three parties,"" Rachel explained, pointing to bank routing summaries obtained through a subpoena request filed under an emergency fraud injunction. ""Tech billionaire Harrison Vance, a prominent foreign diplomat named Elena Rostova, and Evelyn Sterling, Arthur's grieving widow. Each paid a massive deposit for Marcus to create and implant their specific genetic embryos into a surrogate.""
""Yes, and Peter put all three into me!"" I said, my voice rising in distress. ""That's why I'm carrying triplets!""
""No, Nora,"" Rachel said, leaning forward, her eyes wide with shock. ""Dr. Marcus didn't implant three different client embryos. When Arthur Sterling died in that plane crash last year, his biological material was destroyed in the estate dispute. And Harrison Vance’s daughter had low ovarian reserves; none of her harvested eggs were viable. Peter was facing massive legal exposure and breach-of-contract lawsuits from people with unlimited resources and dangerous connections. He couldn't deliver what he promised.""
My head spun. ""Then whose embryos are these, Rachel? Where did Marcus get them?""
Rachel opened the final file. Inside was a confidential laboratory log from the morning of my transfer procedure. Highlighted in yellow was a single, startling notation: Batch 09-N: Biological Mother - Nora Campbell. Biological Father - Peter Campbell.
I stopped breathing. The room seemed to tilt sideways.
""They're ours?"" I gasped, clutching Rachel’s arm so hard my nails dug into her coat. ""They aren't strangers' babies? They are mine?""
""They are one hundred percent your biological children,"" Rachel declared, tears finally spilling from her eyes. ""During your preliminary fertility workup, Marcus harvested twenty-four of your eggs under the guise of running ovarian reserve tests. Peter provided his sample. Marcus successfully fertilized them and created high-grade embryos. But Peter told the three clients that your womb held their genetic children. He doctored three separate sets of laboratory certificates, assigned one child to Vance, one to Rostova, and one to Sterling, and promised each of them exclusive delivery of their legal heir!""
A cold, terrifying chill washed over my skin. The monstrous scope of Peter's scheme was laid bare before me. He hadn't just used me as a surrogate for strangers; he had used my own natural children as fraudulent merchandise.
""He was going to sell our own babies,"" I whispered, horror choking my throat. ""He was going to tear my own flesh and blood from my arms the moment they were born, hand them over to strangers for cash, and tell me they died in delivery or were never mine to begin with!""
""Exactly,"" Rachel said, her voice shaking with rage. ""He had already drafted stillborn death certificates through an offshore medical broker to present to you in case you asked questions. He was going to tell you the triplets didn't survive labor, collect seven million dollars from the three buyers, and let you mourn in an empty nursery while he walked away rich.""
The profound, agonizing weight of what Peter had planned shattered whatever remaining fraction of grief I held. The sadness that had paralyzed me for days burned away in an instant, replaced by a volcanic, primal fury. A mother's protective instinct is an ancient, terrifying force, and inside me, that force awoke with absolute clarity.
""He thinks I'm weak,"" I said, wiping the tears from my face, my voice suddenly steely and devoid of trembling. ""He thinks I'm a broken, naive woman who will hide in a corner and do what she's told.""
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""What do you want to do, Nora?"" Rachel asked, watching me carefully.
""I want to ruin him,"" I replied, meeting her gaze with an unyielding glare. ""I want the money, I want his freedom taken away, and I want those three wealthy families to find out exactly what kind of snake they went into business with. But most of all, I am keeping my babies.""
