CHAPTER 11: Ashes in the Maternity Wing

Mara's story did not come all at once.
It came in documents and quiet sentences. The private clinic. The forced isolation. The doctor paid through a Vale account. The nurse who warned Mara that a psychiatric hold had been prepared in her name if she returned to the estate.
'I was eight weeks pregnant,' Mara said. 'I thought there was one baby. I found out there were two in a room where nobody knew my married name.'
Adrian pressed one hand to his mouth.
'I had no money they could trace, no phone you would answer, and no proof that would survive your mother's lawyers.'
'You could have gone to the police.' Serena's voice carried false pity.
Mara looked at her. 'Your father was funding the police commission then.'
That silenced even the investors.
The boys leaned against Mara as if they had heard pieces of this before without understanding its weight. Adrian wanted to step closer, but wanting no longer gave him rights.