Chapter 7 - THE CONTRACT PRESTON SIGNED
Police recovered the transfer documents from the research floor.
The forms stated that Emily’s baby would receive specialized treatment overseas.
Her signature appeared on every page.
She had signed none of them.
Preston’s signature appeared beneath hers.
He had declared that his wife was mentally incapable of understanding medical decisions.
A psychiatrist named Dr. Alan Price certified the claim.
Emily had never met him.
The records described emotional instability, paranoid delusions, and irrational jealousy.
The dates matched evenings when Preston told Emily he was attending business dinners.
He had spent those nights creating a fictional medical history.
Raymond ordered the psychiatrist’s hospital privileges suspended.
Police searched his office.
Dr. Price attempted to leave through a loading dock.
He was arrested carrying cash and a passport.
The pattern became clear.
Preston planned to portray Emily as unstable.
Malcolm would control the delivery.
The child would disappear into a foreign research program.
If Emily protested, her objections would be dismissed as delusions.
Vanessa would step into the role of Preston’s public partner.
The insurance policy would protect him if Emily developed a fatal complication.
Natalie had discovered the transfer plan.
That was why Malcolm attacked her.
Emily lay beneath the hospital lights while her marriage was dismantled page by page.
The contractions continued.
The doctor administered medication to slow them.
Raymond remained outside the room during the examination.
When he returned, Emily looked at him.
“Why did Preston marry me?”
Raymond hesitated.
“Tell me.”
“Whitmore Biotech learned about your genetic condition through records from your mother’s pregnancy.”
“When?”
“Before you met Preston.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Preston first approached her at a charity event six years earlier.
He claimed he admired her work with children.
He brought tulips.
He remembered every detail she shared.
He proposed after eleven months.
Had all of it been planned?
Raymond opened a recovered email.
Malcolm had sent it to Preston seven years earlier.
The message contained Emily’s photograph.
Beneath it were four words.
She carries her mother’s marker.
Another email followed.
Gain her trust.
Marriage ensures access.
Emily stared at the screen until the letters blurred.
Preston had been assigned to her.
The romance had been an acquisition strategy.
She remembered every moment he seemed unexpectedly interested in her medical history.
Every time he insisted on attending appointments.
Every time he asked about her mother’s death.
The baby kicked.
Emily placed both hands over him.
“You are not their research.”
Raymond sat beside her.
“What do you need from me?”
“The truth.”
“All of it.”
Raymond nodded.
Then he revealed the secret he had hidden since Emily was born.
Malcolm’s illegal study did not begin with Emily’s mother.
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It began with Raymond’s wife.
And she had disappeared after trying to expose it.
