THE THREE BABIES MY HUSBAND STOLE FROM ME

The letter was waiting in Rebecca's office the following morning.

Eleanor had managed to photograph its first page before Harrison discovered her searching his study. She had sent the images to Chloe through an encrypted messaging service.

The letter was dated nearly two years earlier.

It had been written by Harrison to Dr. Vale.

Chloe trusts me completely. She wants a family badly enough that she won't question my decisions. Once the pregnancy is established, we can finalize the arrangements without risking unnecessary interference.

Chloe read the sentence three times.

Her hands began to shake.

The letter didn't prove every part of the conspiracy, but it established something chilling: Harrison had discussed using her trust as a means of avoiding scrutiny long before the pregnancy began.

"Was he already planning this when we started IVF?" she whispered.

Rebecca folded her hands.

"The letter suggests he was considering it. We need the full correspondence before drawing a final conclusion."

Natalie arrived carrying a second folder.

She had located a former clinic employee named Daniel Price, who had worked in the laboratory where Audrey's embryos were stored. Daniel had agreed to speak with their attorneys after learning that a deceased patient's reproductive material might have been transferred without proper authorization.

He joined the meeting by video.

"I can't give you medical records that aren't mine to disclose," he explained. "But I can tell you that the laboratory's inventory was altered."

"Altered how?" Rebecca asked.

"One embryo was recorded as destroyed. Later, the inventory showed it had been transferred. The audit trail didn't match."

"Who approved the change?"

Daniel hesitated.

"Dr. Vale's credentials were used. But someone accessed the system from an administrative terminal."

"Whose terminal?"

"I can't be certain without the full log."

Chloe leaned forward.

"Was it Harrison's?"

"I don't know."

The answer was frustrating, but it was the first independent confirmation that the records might have been manipulated.

Daniel agreed to preserve his evidence and cooperate through lawful channels.

Meanwhile, Harper Sinclair requested a meeting.

She arrived wearing designer sunglasses and a coat that probably cost more than Chloe's monthly mortgage payment. She looked composed until she saw the ultrasound photographs on the table.

Then her expression cracked.

"I want my daughter," Harper said.

Chloe's stomach tightened.

"You don't even know whether the baby you're expecting is genetically yours."

"Dr. Vale confirmed the embryo came from my eggs."

"Did he confirm that I agreed to carry it?"

Harper looked away.

"Harrison told me you understood."

"Everyone keeps saying that."

"I was desperate," Harper snapped. "Do you know what it's like to watch every friend you have become a mother while you're told your body has failed you?"

Chloe's anger softened at the edges, though it didn't disappear.

"I know what it's like to love three children before you know anything about them."

Harper sat down.

For the first time, she looked frightened rather than entitled.

"Harrison said the babies would be transferred to their families immediately after birth. He said you wouldn't fight because you wanted to protect them from a custody dispute."

"And you believed him?"

"I believed the lawyer he introduced me to."

Rebecca asked for the lawyer's name.

Harper provided it.

He was a partner at a firm that had represented Harrison's company for years.

That evening, Madison confirmed that she had used the same lawyer.

Three separate arrangements. One husband coordinating them. One fertility doctor approving the medical procedures. One attorney preparing the documents.

The pattern was becoming impossible to dismiss.

But the most disturbing discovery came from Natalie.

Audrey's original will contained a handwritten addendum that had never appeared in the probate copy. It named no intended parent and authorized no embryo transfer.

Instead, it instructed the executor to preserve all reproductive records until a particular person reached adulthood.

The person's name had been blacked out in the copy Natalie possessed.

"Who was it?" Chloe asked.

Natalie stared at the page.

"I don't know. The original addendum was removed from the estate file."

"Can your attorney recover it?"

"We're trying."

Chloe looked down at her belly.

Three babies were growing inside her. Three lives were already caught in a web of secrets they hadn't chosen.

She had to protect them without turning them into weapons against one another.

Then Harrison appeared outside Rebecca's office.

He stood behind the glass doors, speaking quietly to a uniformed process server.

Rebecca checked the papers the man handed her.

Her expression changed.

"Harrison has filed an emergency motion," she said.

"What does he want now?"

Rebecca looked directly at Chloe.

"He claims you're at risk of leaving New York with the babies and asks the court to impose immediate restrictions on your decisions regarding their future."

Chloe felt the room tilt.

"He wants to control me before they're even born."