Chapter 9 - The Signature That Bought Her Children
Catherine admitted signing an experimental fertility agreement after years of pressure from the Bellamys.
Margaret told her Richard would leave unless she produced heirs.
The contract never named Charles as the donor, but Catherine had accepted treatment without demanding complete disclosure.
She believed wealth made the clinic safe.
Grace refused to excuse her.
“Poor women are called irresponsible for signing papers under eviction threats. You had attorneys and still trusted the family because their lies protected your place.”
Catherine accepted the judgment.
“I wanted children so badly that I refused to ask who might pay the price.”
Investigators discovered the clinic used genetic material taken from Bellamy employees during mandatory health screenings.
The twins’ maternal records had also been altered.
Catherine had carried them, but another woman’s embryos had been transferred without consent.
The biological mother was Elena Morales, a Bellamy laundress told her fertility treatment had failed.
Elena arrived at the mansion and faced Catherine.
“You raised the sons I was told I could never have.”
Catherine answered through tears.
“I did not know, but ignorance does not return what was stolen from you.”
The twins were not passed between adults like property.
A court approved a gradual relationship with Elena while preserving the parents who had raised them.
The employee council converted the family foundation into a restitution fund for every clinic victim.
Margaret, Charles, Victoria and Sloan faced lengthy federal sentences.
Grace was elected interim chair of Bellamy Holdings.
She refused the mansion bedroom offered to her.
“I will not prove equality by sleeping in the room of the woman who oppressed me.”
Then Elena examined the fertility registry.
Her name appeared beside twelve children, not two.
The youngest entry was only six months old.
The legal guardian listed for that baby was Grace.
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Grace stared at the file.
She had never seen the child.
