Chapter 13 - THE SINS OF THE NORTH CROWN
The kitchen fell into a silence so absolute that the hum of the refrigerator sounded like a turbine engine.
Claire’s heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. "No. No, that’s physically impossible. I never touched Julian. I barely even met him before he died! I carried Theo for nine months! I gave birth to him at Boston General!"
"You did," Arthur said, his hands shaking as he turned to the third page of the binder—a series of confidential clinical trial documents bearing Claire’s forged signature. "When Daniel was injured in Zurich, you collapsed in the waiting room from severe dehydration and shock. You were hospitalized for three days under Eleanor’s private medical staff. You believed you were being treated for early pregnancy complications."
Arthur paused, swallowing hard before delivering the blade. "You weren't pregnant when you arrived in Zurich, Claire. Eleanor and Julian’s team implanted Julian’s frozen embryo into you while you were sedated. They made you believe it was Daniel’s miracle child so you would carry him, love him, and raise him under the radar. Julian was facing federal indictments for international arms trafficking and treason. He had to disappear, but he needed an heir whose bloodline couldn't be challenged—an heir raised by an innocent, spotless mother."
Daniel fell to his knees on the linoleum, clutching his hair with both hands. A ragged, broken sob tore from his throat. "She used us. My entire marriage... my son... everything was an incubator for Julian?"
"Then why throw Theo off the boat?" Claire demanded, tears spilling down her pale cheeks, burning like acid. "If Julian engineered Theo’s birth, why did Eleanor try to drown him right in front of me?!"
"Because Julian returned to Maine last month," Arthur said, leaning in, his voice barely audible. "Julian didn't want an heir anymore. He wanted an organ match."
The air left Claire's lungs.
"Julian has late-stage terminal leukemia," Arthur revealed, his voice shaking with revulsion. "His marrow is destroyed. Regular donors won't work due to a rare, mutated blood antigen unique to the Mercer family line. Only an identical genetic match could save him. Eleanor realized Julian didn't want to raise Theo—he was going to take Theo to an unlicensed offshore facility in international waters and harvest every drop of marrow the boy had, leaving him a brain-dead husk."
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"So she tried to kill him herself?" Claire cried out, horrified.
"Eleanor was a monster, yes," Arthur whispered. "She believed Theo dying quickly in the ocean was a mercy compared to what Julian was going to do to him. But Claire... you jumped. You ruined Julian's timeline. And now that Eleanor is dead in her cell, Julian knows exactly where you are."
