Chapter 6 - The Other Baby
The hospital bracelet belonged to Noah Grant.
Born the same week as Ethan.
We learned the name from Ethan’s memory, then verified it in Natalie’s notes.
William knew nothing about Noah.
Natalie did.
The fertility clinic’s administrative mistake had not involved paperwork alone.
There had been concern that biological material from two families might have been mislabeled.
Testing at the time supposedly confirmed Ethan belonged biologically to Natalie and William.
Case closed.
But Natalie had doubts.
Not about Ethan.
About the clinic’s explanation.
She believed records had been altered afterward.
Why keep Noah Grant’s bracelet?
Because Noah’s mother was the third woman in the photograph.
Rachel Grant.
The woman standing beside Natalie and Isabella.
William eventually located public records showing Rachel had died five years earlier.
Her son Noah was alive.
Thirteen years old.
Different father.
Different family.
No obvious connection to the Sterlings.
Then William asked the question I knew he feared.
“Are you saying Ethan might not be mine?”
“No.”
The records did not support that conclusion.
Neither did Natalie’s letter.
She had specifically written that parentage testing confirmed Ethan was theirs.
So what had the clinic hidden?
We found the answer in a billing attachment.
Two embryo storage accounts had been linked incorrectly.
One belonged to the Sterlings.
One belonged to the Grants.
The mix-up was corrected before implantation.
At least according to the official report.
Then why the secrecy?
Why Isabella?
Why lock Ethan away over a backpack?
The answer emerged from Natalie’s handwritten notes.
She wasn’t investigating Ethan’s parentage.
She was investigating payments.
The fertility clinic had paid a confidential settlement to Rachel Grant.
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And one of the employees involved in negotiating it was Isabella.
That settlement had somehow become the foundation for Isabella’s later wealth.
