Chapter 6 - The Name on the Silver Card
Maya picked up the matte black business card with two fingers, as if it carried a lethal contagion. The embossed silver lettering caught the warm chandelier light. She read the name once, then twice, silently mouthing the syllables before her brain finally processed the identity of the buyer.
Dr. Arthur Sterling.
The name hit Maya with the force of a physical collision. Dr. Sterling wasn't just a wealthy philanthropist or a random investor; he was the renowned chief of genetics at the very hospital where their father had spent his final months. He was the attending physician who had declared their father dead on arrival.
"Arthur Sterling," Maya whispered, her voice dropping to a dangerous, icy register. She looked up slowly, locking her eyes onto Julian Vance. "He was Dad's doctor. He was right there in the ICU when the monitors flatlined. He signed the death certificate."
Julian offered a polite, emotionless nod. "Dr. Sterling is a pioneer in cellular regeneration and genomic mapping. He spent decades researching cellular longevity alongside your father. When your father passed away, Dr. Sterling acquired the exclusive rights to his medical research portfolio through a series of legal assignments."
"He didn't just acquire research," Nia said, her voice trembling as she clutched her beige satin shirt tighter around her waist. "When the clinic reps approached me, they let slip that Arthur has been running unauthorized trials for years. He didn't want a surrogate for a family. He wanted a controlled gestation environment for a proprietary genetic sequence."
Evelyn opened her eyes, her face hardening with a sudden, fierce defiance that surprised them all. "Arthur promised your father's work would live on," she said defensively, her gold earrings swinging as she shook her head. "He said the world couldn't afford to lose their breakthroughs. He promised our family financial security for three generations."
"And you believed him?" Maya shouted, slamming her hand down on the table once more. "Mom, look around! We are drowning in debt, our house was two days away from being repossessed by a federal marshal, and you sold a piece of our father to his former coworker like a piece of lab equipment!"
Marcus finally found his voice, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Maya, you don't understand the scale of the debt. It wasn't just my bad investments. There were medical bills for your mother's hip replacement, back taxes on the property, and private school tuition for your cousin's kids that we guaranteed. We were underwater before we even realized the ship was sinking."
"So you decided to play God with a petri dish?" Maya demanded, her eyes blazing with tears. She turned back to Julian Vance. "Where is Dr. Sterling right now? If he thinks he can use my sister as an incubator for some twisted science experiment, he has another thing coming. I'm going to the police, and I'm taking this entire contract down with me."
May you like
Julian Vance calmly reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a second envelope, and placed it next to the spilled wine. "Before you make any rash decisions, Ms. Reynolds, you might want to look at what Dr. Sterling deposited into your personal bank account this morning."
---
