Chapter 4 - THE TRAP AT KENNEBUNKPORT
"Chloe, listen to me!" I shouted into the phone. "What did you do at the clinic? Whose baby is Rose?"
"Ethan... Ethan is sterile," Chloe wept, her voice breaking through heavy static. "He refused to accept it! His pride couldn't handle it because Julian was waiting to take his share of the company! He forced Dr. Thorne to fake his fertility tests, but I knew we’d never get pregnant. So I went to Dr. Thorne privately... I paid him fifty thousand dollars to use a top-tier anonymous donor and lie on the lab certificates!"
"And the sex selection?" I asked, my heart pounding.
"I asked for a boy!" Chloe cried. "I swear to God I asked for a boy! Dr. Thorne told me he transferred an XY embryo! I don't know why she’s a girl, Clara! I don't know what went wrong!"
Before I could ask another question, a harsh, heavy voice came over the line.
"That’s enough, Chloe."
It was Ethan.
"Ethan!" I yelled. "Don't you dare touch her!"
"My dear sister-in-law," Ethan said, his voice terrifyingly calm, devoid of all emotion. "You have involved yourself in a high-level corporate fraud. My wife committed forgery and breach of contract. The child you are holding is an illegitimate product of a rogue medical procedure. She has no right to the Vale name, no right to my estate, and no legal existence."
"She is a human being!" I screamed.
"She is a threat to my legal standing," Ethan corrected cold-bloodedly. "My lawyers are filing an emergency petition in court tomorrow morning declaring the surrogate contract null and void due to fraud. We are demanding the immediate surrender of the infant to a private medical facility for full genetic auditing."
"I will never hand her over to you," I said.
"You won't have a choice," Ethan replied smoothly. "The police will be at your door with a court order by noon tomorrow. Enjoy your last night with her, Clara."
The line went dead.
Arthur Vance immediately stood up, grabbing his briefcase. "We don't have until tomorrow morning. If they file that petition in front of Judge Miller—who is on the Vale family payroll—they’ll get an emergency custody order signed before we can even present our defense."
"What do we do?" I asked, looking at Rose, who had woken up and was waving her tiny fists in the air.
"We go on the offensive," Arthur said, his eyes glittering with fierce tactical intelligence. "We file a emergency parentage action tonight in Cumberland County Court. We bypass Ethan entirely, and we name Chloe as the mother and you as the legal gestational guardian seeking sole permanent custody."
"Can we do that if Chloe is locked in a house?" Elena asked.
"Chloe isn't just locked in a house; she is a victim of false imprisonment," Arthur said, pulling out his smartphone. "I'm calling the state police. We are going to Kennebunkport with an emergency welfare check team tonight."
An hour later, I was in the back seat of Arthur’s sedan, holding Rose tightly in her car seat as we followed two state police cruisers down the dark, rain-slicked highway toward the coast.
The Vale estate in Kennebunkport was a sprawling stone mansion overlooking the crashing waves of the Atlantic. Iron gates barred the driveway, but the state troopers did not hesitate—they activated their emergency lights and sounded their sirens until a frightened security guard opened the gate.
We pulled up to the circular driveway. Two state troopers marched up the front steps, flanked by Arthur Vance and myself.
The front door opened, and Julian Vale stepped out, wearing a silk robe, a glass of scotch in his hand.
"Troopers," Julian said smoothly, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"
"We have a report of an unlawful restraint of a citizen," the lead trooper stated firmly. "We are here to inspect the premises and speak with Mrs. Chloe Vale."
Julian’s eyes drifted toward me, narrowing into sharp slits. "This is absurd. My sister-in-law is upstairs resting after a medical emergency."
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"Let her come down and say that herself," I stepped forward, holding my phone high. "I have a recorded phone call from thirty minutes ago where she stated she was being held against her will!"
Julian’s jaw tightened. Before he could speak, a window on the second floor shattered with a deafening crash.
