Chapter 7 - Three Embryos Remain In Storage
Emily let Richard inside only after police arrived.
He sat across the room.
No one offered him comfort.
He accepted that.
“Helen says three embryos are stored under another clinic name.”
“Where?” Emily asked.
“New Hampshire.”
“Why does she want them?”
“She says they are evidence.”
Claire scoffed.
“So are records.”
Richard nodded.
“I think she wants to destroy them.”
Emily looked at Benjamin.
Three embryos.
Potential lives.
Or simply frozen biological material.
But they were hers.
Created without consent.
She felt violated even thinking about someone else controlling what
happened next.
“Can she access them?”
“Not without a release code.”
“Who has it?”
Richard looked ashamed.
“Me.”
Emily stared.
“Of course.”
“My father transferred authority to me in his estate.”
“And you never told me.”
“I learned yesterday.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
Richard continued.
“I brought everything.”
He slid the folder across the table.
Storage records.
Account numbers.
Legal documents.
He had already signed a temporary injunction preventing any transfer or
use.
Emily read the final page.
“You gave up your authority.”
“Yes.”
“To who?”
“A court-appointed custodian until ownership is decided.”
Emily looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I should never have authority over them.”
That was the first decision Richard had made that felt clean.
Not heroic.
Simply correct.
Detectives used his communication with Ward to arrange a controlled
meeting.
Ward was arrested two days later in a hotel parking garage.
She carried forged transfer documents and a portable cryogenic shipping
container.
The news spread nationally.
Fertility fraud.
Unauthorized tissue use.
Hidden embryos.
Possible illegal births.
Emily hated seeing her own history summarized in headlines.
She issued one statement through her attorney:
The children created through this program are not scandals. They are
people. Please respect their privacy.
Then she stopped reading coverage.
Ward began cooperating.
Her testimony changed what Emily believed about her father.
Andrew Cole had participated in the program initially.
He had preserved Emily’s tissue without consent.
He had accepted William’s money.
Those facts remained.
But after Noah’s birth, Andrew tried to shut the program down.
William threatened to expose him and destroy his medical career.
Andrew began collecting evidence.
His death had not been accidental.
Ward admitted she altered his medication on William’s orders.
Emily sat through the detective’s explanation without moving.
Her father had done something terrible.
Then tried to stop it.
Then paid with his life.
Again, no simple person.
No clean category.
Emily cried that night.
Not because she could forgive him.
Because she finally understood she could love the father who raised her
while condemning the doctor who violated her.
Both were real.
Margaret was arrested on charges related to conspiracy, unlawful genetic
testing, attempted custodial interference, and the historic fertility
operation.
Tyler cooperated.
He admitted he had agreed to carry Benjamin out of the hospital.
He also admitted Margaret told him they would use the baby’s DNA to
force access to Sophie’s records.
Emily met Tyler once with attorneys present.
He could barely look at her.
“You’re my brother,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know what that means yet.”
“Neither do I.”
“You helped take my son.”
“I know.”
“Being my brother doesn’t erase that.”
“I know.”
Emily appreciated that he did not ask for forgiveness.
Before leaving, Tyler said:
“Laura sent me a picture of Sophie.”
Emily looked at him.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
He smiled sadly.
“She scored two goals Saturday.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“Good.”
She did not ask for the photograph.
Not yet.
Sophie deserved control too.
The three remaining embryos became the subject of a sealed court
proceeding.
Emily’s attorney asked what outcome she wanted.
Emily stared at the question.
Destroy them?
Preserve them?
Donate them for research?
She had spent months demanding that nobody decide for her.
Now she had to decide.
“I’m not ready.”
Her attorney nodded.
“Then we ask the court to maintain storage.”
“For how long?”
“As long as legally possible while the case is resolved.”
Emily exhaled.
For once, not deciding immediately was also a choice.
She signed the request.
Her signature.
May you like
Her consent.
Her time.
