Chapter 13 - THE FOUNDER’S FILE
Dr. Reed denied involvement in the pregnancy program.
Her entire career showed years of ethical practice.
But the Saint Agnes archive included authorization codes connected to her medical license.
Some were recent.
She insisted they had been stolen.
Priya examined the timestamps.
Several occurred while Dr. Reed was performing surgeries witnessed by dozens of people.
Someone had cloned her credentials.
Then federal agents found a hidden account in her name containing eight million dollars.
She had never accessed it.
The account was opened when she was six.
The trustee was Dr. Evelyn Mercer.
E.M.
Not Mitchell.
Evelyn Mercer founded the original reproductive program at Saint Agnes.
She was Dr. Reed’s adoptive grandmother.
She raised Natalie’s adoptive mother.
She placed Sylvia’s lost daughter into a family that would train her as a physician.
Dr. Reed’s career had been shaped decades before she understood the plan.
Evelyn wanted one descendant inside medicine who could legitimize research later.
Dr. Reed had resisted without knowing what she was resisting.
The cloned credentials transformed her into an unwilling shield.
Rebecca Sloan traced Evelyn to a private assisted-living estate in Maine.
She was ninety-three.
Federal agents arrived.
Her room was empty.
A live video call reached the hospital moments later.
Evelyn appeared wearing a white coat.
Behind her were rows of frozen embryos.
“Anna,” she said, “Sylvia confused possession with purpose.”
“What purpose?”
“Continuation.”
She explained that Saint Agnes began as a secret fertility program for wealthy families.
Over time, it evolved into genetic selection.
Children were placed, observed, and later brought back together to create new generations.
My marriage to Aaron was one of several arranged pairings.
The pregnancies created from my eggs were not for adoption alone.
Each child carried a designed genetic profile.
Lucy’s heart condition was an unintended failure.
Ella was considered stable.
The unborn twins were described as the strongest generation.
Evelyn offered their donor identities in exchange for the Saint Agnes hard drive.
Rebecca refused.
Evelyn smiled.
“You believe the files are evidence. They are also maps to children no government knows exist.”
The video shifted.
A nursery appeared.
Six infants lay in separate bassinets.
One wore a bracelet labeled MITCHELL.
Evelyn said, “Sylvia stole two daughters from Anna.”
May you like
A pause.
“I created seven.”
