Chapter 10 - THE COTTAGE
We did not go alone.
State police, federal agents, Sofia, and child advocates secured the cottage.
Juny remained at a protected rehabilitation center.
The message might be bait.
Inside the cottage, everything looked untouched.
Dad’s fishing poles.
The blue quilt.
Juny’s height marks beside the pantry.
Then officers found a hidden medical room beneath the boathouse.
Exam table.
Freezer.
Consent forms.
Blood samples.
The lake property had served Ashbourne for years.
Dad may have discovered it and changed the trust afterward.
One freezer contained samples labeled RACHEL, DAVINA, JUNY, and JUNE.
My blood had been collected too.
I remembered childhood “wellness visits” at the cottage.
Eleanor had been testing both daughters long before Juny.
Then a live camera activated.
Ashbourne appeared on screen.
Elegant.
Calm.
She said the donor program saved hundreds of lives.
I said coercion was not care.
She offered Juny’s complete medical file in exchange for the trust originals.
We refused.
Federal cyber teams traced the transmission.
Ashbourne’s private clinic in New York.
Agents raided it.
She escaped.
But they found thirteen children.
One wore a hospital bracelet with my name.
RACHEL HARPER.
May you like
Age fourteen.
Another daughter created from my stolen eggs.
