Chapter 8 - TWO MOTHERS
Tyler dragged my mother into the corridor.
Her face was bruised.
One wrist was chained to a metal rail.
Her swollen stomach looked almost as large as mine.
I could not understand what I was seeing.
“Mom?”
She began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Tyler pointed the gun at my father.
“Give me the reversal vial.”
My father held it behind his back.
“Let them go.”
“Only one pregnancy is needed.”
My mother’s eyes widened.
Tyler smiled.
“Whichever baby survives first becomes the new Eve line.”
I felt my daughter move weakly.
My mother pressed one hand to her belly.
“What did they implant in you?” I asked.
“Another embryo.”
“Whose?”
She looked at my father.
His face collapsed.
Tyler answered.
“Emily’s.”
My blood went cold.
Years earlier, during the fake ovarian procedure, Vance stole more than one egg.
The embryo inside my mother was genetically my child.
She was carrying my second daughter.
My knees weakened.
Nora held me upright.
Tyler’s gun moved between us.
“One mother leaves. One doesn’t.”
Marcus edged along the wall.
Tyler noticed.
“Stop.”
Marcus froze.
My father placed the reversal vial on the floor and kicked it forward.
Tyler released my mother long enough to reach for it.
She slammed her elbow into his ribs.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered behind us.
Marcus charged.
Tyler struck him with the weapon and grabbed my wheelchair.
He shoved me toward the delivery theater.
My mother caught the handles.
Together, we fought him.
Two pregnant women.
Both bleeding.
Both refusing to surrender.
My father tackled Tyler from the side.
The gun slid beneath a cabinet.
Marcus kicked it away.
Nora grabbed the vial.
Then alarms erupted.
My mother doubled over.
Her water broke.
At the same moment, another contraction tore through me.
Nora looked between us.
“Both babies are coming.”
The locked delivery theater contained one operating table.
One neonatal unit.
May you like
One surgeon.
And somewhere beyond the glass, more armed Vance personnel were approaching.
