Chapter 26 - The Son Beverly Chose
Miriam’s earliest records identified Edwin as Subject E-4.
He had not been born to Beverly.
He had been placed with her when he was six months old.
Robert was his biological father.
The egg donor was listed as Subject M-9.
Catherine.
I read the report twice.
Catherine stood across the conference room.
Her face revealed nothing.
“You are Edwin’s biological mother.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Not until he was twelve.”
“Why didn’t you take him?”
“Victor would never have allowed it.”
“You could have told Robert.”
“Beverly threatened to kill Edwin if I approached.”
Robert sat beside Eleanor, his burned hands wrapped in bandages.
He looked toward Catherine.
“You carried him?”
“No. Another surrogate did.”
“Did you ever see him as a baby?”
“Once.”
Robert’s face collapsed.
For decades, he believed Beverly gave birth to Edwin.
He never questioned the medical records.
Miriam had placed Catherine’s child inside Beverly’s arms to test whether environment could shape a selected genetic profile.
Edwin was another experiment.
That did not erase what he did.
But it exposed the first theft committed against him.
“He worshiped Beverly,” I said.
“She trained him to,” Catherine replied.
“She made affection conditional. Obedience brought praise. Doubt brought punishment.”
Edwin later repeated the same pattern with me.
Cruelty learned.
Cruelty chosen.
Both were true.
Catherine requested permission to meet him before trial.
Agent Ramirez arranged a monitored conversation.
I watched from behind the observation glass.
Edwin entered wearing a prison uniform.
He saw Catherine and stopped.
“You look like Claire.”
“She looks like Elizabeth.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Catherine Whitmore.”
He sat slowly.
She placed the DNA report on the table.
“I am your biological mother.”
Edwin laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because disbelief was the only defense he had left.
“Beverly warned me you would try this.”
“She knows?”
“She told me a woman from the project wanted to claim me.”
“When?”
“After Claire took the company.”
Catherine leaned forward.
“Beverly did not give birth to you.”
“She raised me.”
“Yes.”
“She is my mother.”
Catherine absorbed the answer.
“Biology does not erase that.”
“You expect me to call you Mom?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To tell you that your first abandonment was not a rejection.”
His jaw tightened.
“I don’t care.”
“You do.”
He struck the table.
“You watched her turn me into this!”
Catherine’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
No defense.
No speech about danger.
Only yes.
Edwin stood.
The guard moved closer.
Catherine remained seated.
“I was afraid,” she said.
“So was Claire.”
He looked toward the observation glass, though he could not see me.
“She still walked away.”
“I know.”
“You want forgiveness because you finally found courage when it was safe.”
“No.”
“Everyone wants something.”
“I want you to testify against Beverly.”
He laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
“She convinced you Daniel threatened the family. She used you to destroy files. She ordered you to marry Claire.”
“You think I didn’t know why I married her?”
My breath caught.
Catherine stared at him.
“What did you know?”
“That Claire activated both trusts.”
“You knew before the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever love her?”
Edwin looked toward the glass again.
“I tried.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one I have.”
He sat down.
“I knew the marriage was arranged. I planned to take control. Then she laughed in the kitchen one night because I burned dinner.”
His voice softened.
“For a while, I wanted the lie to become real.”
I remembered that night.
We ate cereal on the kitchen floor.
He told me he had never felt so peaceful.
Maybe that moment had been real.
Real moments did not excuse years of calculated harm.
Catherine asked him to testify.
He agreed under one condition.
“What?”
“I want Beverly to hear me call you my mother.”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“That is revenge.”
“Yes.”
“Then do not do it for me.”
Edwin studied her.
“You don’t want to hurt her?”
“I do.”
She leaned closer.
“But I will not use you as the weapon.”
The words reached him.
Beverly had used him his entire life.
Catherine refused, even when revenge was offered freely.
Edwin’s expression changed.
“What should I call you?”
“Catherine.”
He nodded.
Then told federal investigators everything.
He described Beverly’s instructions before Daniel’s death.
Her payments to Henry.
The plan to marry me.
The false pregnancy records.
The embryo transfers.
The order to imprison Robert.
The attempt to move Annika overseas.
He admitted he knew children existed in the network.
He claimed he never knew the full number.
His testimony helped prosecutors connect Beverly directly to three deaths and seventeen illegal placements.
At the end, he asked Catherine one question.
“If you had taken me, would I have become different?”
She answered quietly.
“I don’t know.”
He looked down.
May you like
For once, no one offered him a comforting lie.
👉 Edwin finally turned against Beverly after learning he was another stolen child, but his testimony could not erase the crimes he committed once he became powerful enough to choose differently.
