Chapter 4 - The Crimson Envelope
By 10:00 AM, I told Mark I needed to run to the pharmacy to pick up my postpartum pain prescriptions and nipple cream.
"I can go for you, babe," Mark offered immediately, stepping toward the door keys. "You need to rest."
"No," I replied, forcing a soft, weary smile. "The doctor said I need to walk a little to prevent blood clots. Watch Max and the baby for an hour."
He hesitated, his eyes searching my face for any sign of suspicion. Seeing none, he nodded. "Okay. Hurry back."
I drove straight to Pinnacle Genetics Laboratories—a private, high-throughput DNA clinic downtown where a former college roommate of mine, Dr. Sarah Lin, worked as a chief geneticist.
I walked into her office, pulled the ziplock bag from my bra, and dropped it onto her desk alongside a swab I had taken from my own cheek in the car.
"I need an expedited maternity match," I said, my voice tight and trembling. "Stat."
Sarah looked up from her microscope, startled by my pallor. "Emma? You just had a baby two days ago! What's going on?"
"Sarah, please," I begged, tears finally breaking through my composure. "Do not ask questions. Just run the markers. I'll pay whatever it costs."
Recognizing the raw panic in my eyes, Sarah took the samples immediately. "Give me three hours."
I spent those three hours parked two streets away from my house, watching our driveway through binoculars I had retrieved from the trunk.
At 11:45 AM, a black luxury sedan with tinted windows pulled up to my house.
Mark stepped out onto the porch holding a manila envelope. A tall woman with platinum blonde hair wearing a dark trench coat stepped out of the passenger side—the exact description Max had given me.
Mark handed her the envelope. She handed him a small black leather case. They spoke for less than sixty seconds before the woman got back into the sedan and sped away.
My phone chimed in my lap. It was a secure PDF notification from Dr. Lin at Pinnacle Labs.
I opened the document with shaking fingers.
GENETIC ANALYSIS REPORT SAMPLE A (MOTHER): Emma Vance SAMPLE B (INFANT): Unidentified Female MATERNITY PROBABILITY: 0.00% CONCLUSION: SAMPLE A IS NOT THE BIOLOGICAL MOTHER OF SAMPLE B.
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The world went black around the edges.
The infant sleeping in my house was an imposter. My real daughter—my flesh and blood—had been bought, stolen, or traded away by the man I shared a bed with.
