Chapter 7 - Margaret Admits Funding The Program
Margaret did not deny knowing Northstar kept Adrian’s sample.
She denied knowing Hannah was used.
Years earlier, Margaret had funded an experimental fertility-preservation program after Adrian’s cancer diagnosis.
She feared treatment would make him infertile.
Adrian had consented to storage.
He had not consented to research, transfer, or reproductive use.
Margaret admitted signing broad funding agreements that gave Northstar extraordinary discretion over anonymized materials.
She claimed Charles later assured her Adrian’s samples were excluded.
They were not.
Margaret’s greatest failure came later.
After Hannah contacted her.
Emily stared.
“You spoke to my sister?”
Margaret nodded.
Hannah discovered Adrian was the source of the genetic material and found Margaret’s name in funding documents.
She contacted her privately.
Margaret panicked.
She believed public disclosure could destroy Adrian’s reputation and Vale Health Ventures.
She offered Hannah legal help and money.
Hannah interpreted it as an attempt to buy silence.
They argued.
Margaret then contacted Dr. Thomas Hale and asked him to arrange private care under an alias.
That explained the protected hospital file.
Margaret insisted she wanted to shield Hannah from media attention.
But she also wanted the scandal contained.
Both were true.
Emily asked:
“Did you tell Adrian?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I thought I could fix it before he ever knew.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
Everyone in his life seemed to believe his ignorance was a form of protection.
Then Margaret revealed the next piece.
Hannah did not disappear after Lucas was born.
She left voluntarily.
And Margaret knew where she went.
At least initially.
A recovery residence in Maine.
Hannah had been suffering severe trauma, anxiety, and postpartum depression.
She asked for distance from everyone.
Three months later, she left the residence.
After that, Margaret lost contact.
Emily stood.
“You knew she was alive for months while I was searching?”
Margaret cried.
May you like
“Yes.”
Emily walked out before anger made her say something she could not take back.
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