Chapter 8 - THE PERSON INSIDE THE CLINIC
Dr. Adrian Cole was furious when Lena confronted him.
Not defensive.
Furious.
“My clinic did not create that report.”
“Your network did,” Lena said.
He called in the clinic administrator, IT director, and compliance counsel.
They traced the upload.
A nurse practitioner named Melissa Vane.
I knew the name.
Melissa handled one of my blood draws after our second miscarriage.
She had been kind.
Too kind, maybe.
Her personnel file showed she left the clinic two months after Rowan threw me out.
New employer: Vale-Hart Corporate Wellness.
Tessa hired her.
Melissa’s bank records required a subpoena.
The deposits were clear.
Five thousand dollars.
Then fifteen.
Then thirty.
Payments through a consulting LLC linked to Tessa.
Melissa eventually talked.
She did not know the entire plan.
She knew enough.
Tessa told her Rowan was emotionally unstable after infertility losses and needed “medical clarification” before making decisions about his marriage.
Melissa created the false PDF using old lab formatting and inserted it into a secondary portal folder.
“Why?” I asked.
Melissa cried.
“My husband had cancer. We were behind on everything.”
Everyone had a reason.
That did not make the act smaller.
She admitted she also sent Tessa notifications when my pregnancy labs appeared.
The threat text came one day after that.
Then Lena asked the question that changed the case.
“Did Tessa ever ask you to alter Maren’s pregnancy result?”
Melissa shook her head.
“No.”
“Any paternity records?”
“No.”
“Any embryo records?”
“No.”
Adrian stepped in.
“There’s something you all should know.”
The embryos from my earlier IVF cycle were stored at the clinic.
Two remained.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What about them?”
“They were transferred out.”
I stared.
“When?”
“Four months after you left Rowan.”
“That’s impossible. I never authorized that.”
The transfer form bore my electronic signature.
Destination: a private reproductive storage facility in Nevada.
Lena’s face hardened.
“Why would anyone move her embryos?”
Adrian looked at me.
“They contain Rowan’s genetic material too.”
I felt sick.
Tessa had already proven willing to manipulate paternity perception.
But stealing embryos was another level entirely.
Rowan stood up.
“Who authorized the transfer on my side?”
Adrian checked.
A spousal consent file.
Rowan Hart.
Signature attached.
Rowan looked at it.
“That’s not mine.”
Melissa began crying harder.
“I didn’t do that part.”
Maybe not.
The transfer request had been submitted after she left.
Someone else continued the scheme.
Adrian called the Nevada facility.
The embryos were no longer there.
Transferred again six weeks earlier.
Destination redacted pending privacy verification.
I looked at Rowan.
Tessa was not merely trying to erase his existing children.
Someone had taken genetic material that could create more.
Then Evan’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, and went completely still.
“What?” Rowan asked.
Evan looked at us.
“The wedding account.”
“What about it?”
“Tessa withdrew everything this morning.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred eighty thousand.”
Rowan stared.
May you like
Then Evan added:
“And her company jet reservation is active for tonight.”
