Chapter 4 - THE TRANSFER
The document Ryan wanted me to sign was not an adoption.
It transferred my unborn daughter’s medical and genetic rights to a private research foundation called Carter Legacy Health.
The foundation belonged to Margaret.
My baby carried a rare blood disorder that had appeared in Carter women for generations.
The same mutation also made certain cells unusually valuable for experimental treatments.
Margaret had spent decades tracking female descendants.
Grace had carried it.
I carried it.
My daughter likely did too.
The pit was meant to terrify me into cooperation.
Ryan had already forged my signature, but the foundation’s attorneys demanded video evidence that I signed voluntarily.
The backyard camera was supposed to document surrender.
Instead, it documented torture.
Ortiz secured a warrant for Margaret’s estate.
The house was empty.
Medical equipment remained warm.
Documents had been burned in the fireplace.
A photograph showed Grace standing beside Margaret years after Thomas believed she disappeared.
My mother had survived.
She had worked with the woman who buried her.
Thomas stared at the picture.
“That makes no sense.”
Then investigators found a letter in Grace’s handwriting.
Thomas,
If Emily ever returns to the Carter family, do not trust me.
I made a deal to keep her alive.
The final line was underlined twice.
May you like
Margaret does not want Emily’s baby.
She wants Emily.
