Chapter 5 - THE FIRST CHILD
The child in Vivian’s arms was three years old, not a newborn.
The photograph had been taken years earlier.
His name was Eli Ward.
Genetic mother: Clara Ward.
Genetic father: Nathan Ward.
Clara had a biological son she never knew existed.
Her eggs had been collected during a procedure before she met Dominic.
A surrogate carried Eli.
Dominic raised him in a private estate under another name.
Why hide him?
Because the Sterling trust activated only when the maternal heir acknowledged the child.
Clara had to meet Eli voluntarily.
Dominic’s abuse was designed to isolate her, then drive her toward circumstances where that acknowledgment could be staged.
The porch escape triggered the review.
The sealed envelope carried recognition papers.
If Clara opened it and saw Eli’s birth certificate, Dominic planned to record her emotional reaction as acceptance.
We had not opened it in her presence.
That disrupted the sequence.
Then Eli was found at a private school.
He believed Dominic was his uncle and Nathan his father.
Nathan had been visiting him for years.
The child was safe but deeply confused.
Clara did not demand custody.
She asked to meet him through an independent advocate.
That choice mattered.
Then Eli told investigators he had a sister.
A little girl named Rose.
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Dominic said Rose was “the backup.”
Read Chapter 6 to discover why two children had been created from Clara’s stolen genetic material.
