“What worse?” I asked.
Clara didn’t answer right away. She looked at Matthew sleeping in her arms, as if she were asking him for permission to break me a little more. Then she pulled another page from the folder.
“Mark knew the baby could be born with Down syndrome before you did.”
I felt the blood drain to my feet. “No. That can’t be.”
“It is,” she said, her voice cracking. “And he didn’t just know. He had tests ordered without your authorization.”
She handed me the paper. It was a private lab result. My full name. My age. Weeks of pregnancy. Date. A date prior to the appointment where the doctor took my hand and gave me the news.
“I never went to that lab,” I whispered. “I know.”
Clara placed Matthew in the crib with enormous delicacy and sat back down across from me. “I found messages with a doctor who works at the clinic where you were being seen. Someone used a sample of yours to run another test. Mark paid for everything.”
The room started spinning. I grabbed the edge of the table. “He stole my blood?” Saying it out loud made me nauseous.
Clara pressed her lips together. “He stole information. Yours. About your body. About your son.”
I covered my mouth so I wouldn’t scream and wake Matthew. I remembered my first appointment. The kind nurse. The little vial of blood. The receptionist who told me some tests were repeated as a standard protocol. I trusted them. I signed papers without reading because I was alone, scared, and pregnant.
Mark hadn’t disappeared out of fear. He had been pulling strings from the shadows. “What for?” I asked. “Why would he do that?”
Clara took out her phone and showed me screenshots. They were messages from Mark to someone saved as “Roger Office.” “If it’s born with a condition, this gets complicated.” “I need to prove I gave support, but without Clara seeing it.” “Open an account with receipts. Make it look like I transferred money to her.” “If Anna insists, we say she tried to extort me.”
I felt something snap behind my ribs. “Extort?” Clara nodded, crying out of sheer rage. “He had a story ready. That you knew he was married. That you threatened him. That he gave you money and you wanted more.”
I stood up abruptly. My body was shaking. “I asked him for diapers, Clara. Diapers. I sent him photos of prescriptions. I told him Matthew needed therapy.” “I know.” “I sold my laptop to pay for an appointment.” “I know, Anna.” “My electricity was cut off twice.” “I know.”
