Chapter 16 - Elijah’s Real Name
Elijah’s genetic records matched neither Charles nor the woman he believed was his mother.
His biological parents were listed only by codes.
M-01 and B-04.
Miriam decoded them during interrogation.
M-01 was her.
B-04 was Dr. Benjamin Carter.
My father.
Elijah was my biological half-brother.
The truth made our past unbearable.
Our relationship had produced Noah.
Neither of us knew.
Miriam did.
Charles did.
They designed it.
Their goal was to combine two branches of the same rare genetic line and create a child with amplified compatibility.
Noah.
The realization devastated Elijah.
He stopped eating.
Stopped speaking to attorneys.
Refused pain medication.
I understood horror.
But I did not comfort him like a partner.
That life was over.
We met once in a secure hospital room.
“I didn’t know,” he said.
“Neither did I.”
“I would never have touched you.”
“I know.”
The words did not heal anything.
They only separated guilt from intent.
Our relationship had been manipulated through a crime neither of us could have imagined.
But Elijah’s later choices remained his.
The custody theft.
The lies.
The refusal to question Cassandra.
Those belonged to him.
“I am sorry for everything I chose,” he said.
“That is the apology I needed.”
Not for our beginning.
For what came after.
Genetic counselors explained the risks for Noah.
He would need long-term monitoring.
But he was healthy.
No immediate condition threatened him.
I told him the truth in language a six-year-old could understand.
“Some grown-ups made very wrong choices before you were born.”
“Is Dad still my dad?”
“Yes.”
“Is he your brother?”
“Biologically, yes.”
Noah frowned.
“That’s weird.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
He hugged me.
Children sometimes accept truth more cleanly than adults.
Ava learned Elijah was also her half-brother.
The network had turned our family tree into a laboratory chart.
We refused to let it define us.
Miriam offered prosecutors the names of the missing children in exchange for avoiding life imprisonment.
They refused immunity.
But they offered limited sentencing consideration if every child was found alive.
She gave them four locations.
Thirteen children were rescued.
Four remained missing.
Charles knew where they were.
He demanded to speak with me.
When I entered the prison interview room, he smiled.
“You have Miriam’s eyes.”
“I have nothing of hers that she owns.”
“You want the last four children?”
“Yes.”
“Then help me prove she ordered your father’s death.”
My father’s laboratory death had never been questioned.
Charles placed a photograph against the glass.
It showed Miriam leaving the building minutes before the explosion.
May you like
Carrying my father’s research case.
👉 Charles knew who killed Naomi’s father, but his price for revealing the truth threatened to divide the case that could save four missing children.
