The Embryo Nobody Mentioned
Chapter 06 - The Embryo Nobody Mentioned
Elena had forgotten the embryos.
Not truly forgotten. A woman did not forget the small frozen possibilities created during the hardest year of her marriage.
She had buried them.
After Noah, she had miscarried twice. Quiet losses, early and lonely, tucked between Adrian’s meetings and Margaret’s opinions about “trying again before Elena got too emotional about it.”
Then came fertility treatments.
One private clinic. Four embryos. One successful transfer.
Lily.
The remaining embryos were supposed to be stored until Elena and Adrian made a decision together.
Together.
What a beautiful little lie that word could become inside a marriage.
Elena stood in the hallway holding the phone while Camille cried softly on the other end.
“Are you sure?” Elena asked.
“No. But the coordinator said the donor account was C-Salazar-Castillo 2017.”
Elena closed her eyes.
C for Castillo.
Salazar.
The year Lily was conceived.
Miriam appeared in the study doorway.
She saw Elena’s face and came toward her without asking.
Elena put the call on speaker.
Camille repeated what she had said.
Miriam’s expression turned so still it became dangerous.
“Camille,” she said, “this is Miriam Chase. Do not speak to Vanessa, Adrian, Margaret, or any clinic representative without counsel. Do you have copies?”
“I have screenshots.”
“Send them to Elena and to this secure address.”
Miriam recited an email.
Camille’s voice trembled. “Am I going to be in trouble?”
“That depends,” Miriam said. “Did you knowingly consent to carry Elena Salazar’s embryo?”
“No.”
“Then you are not the villain of that sentence.”
Elena looked at Miriam.
The old lawyer’s precision, once again, made room for pain.
Camille whispered, “I thought I was carrying a baby that would make Adrian stay.”
Elena did not answer.
What could she say? That she understood wanting a man to become better through a baby? She did, and that knowledge embarrassed her now.
Miriam said, “We will call you back.”
She ended the call and guided Elena into the study.
Elena sat in her father’s chair.
For the first time since the divorce papers were signed, she felt close to falling apart.
Not because Adrian had betrayed her. That wound was familiar now.
Because somewhere in Milwaukee, inside the woman Adrian had used to replace her, might be the biological sibling of Noah and Lily.
Her child.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
But enough that grief, rage, and instinct collided until Elena could not tell which one was speaking.
Miriam sat across from her.
“Breathe first. Litigate second.”
Elena laughed weakly. “Is that your official motto?”
“It should be embroidered on courthouse pillows.”
Mrs. Alvarez appeared in the doorway with coffee, took one look at Elena, and replaced it with tea.
“Bad news?”
“Complicated news,” Elena said.
“That is worse. Bad news at least knows what shoes to wear.”
Miriam began making calls.
Within an hour, the case shifted from ugly divorce to something larger: possible unauthorized embryo transfer, trust fraud, medical consent violations, custody implications, inheritance manipulation, and criminal exposure.
Dawson sounded horrified.
Dr. Reynolds sounded cautious.
The fertility clinic’s legal department sounded unavailable.
Adrian sounded, when he finally reached Miriam instead of Elena, like a man learning fire had a memory.
“What do you mean, Elena’s embryo?” he demanded through Miriam’s phone.
Miriam put him on speaker with Elena’s permission.
Elena sat beside the desk, arms folded, face calm because the children were in the next room building a pillow fort.
“I didn’t approve any transfer,” Adrian said.
Elena spoke for the first time.
“Neither did I.”
His voice changed.
“Elena.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No. You don’t get to sound heartbroken before you sound accountable.”
Silence.
Then Adrian said, “I thought Camille was pregnant with my child.”
“You hoped Camille was pregnant with a son.”
He did not deny it.
That hurt less than it would have yesterday.
Yesterday she might have needed him to pretend better.
Today truth, however ugly, saved time.
Miriam asked, “Mr. Castillo, did Vanessa have access to your fertility storage account?”
“I don’t know.”
“You signed something?”
A long pause.
Elena closed her eyes.
Adrian whispered, “She handled the renewal paperwork last year. I was in Miami.”
Of course.
“Did you read it?” Miriam asked.
Another pause.
“No.”
Miriam looked at Elena.
The entire Castillo empire might collapse not from passion, but from arrogance with a pen.
After the call, Elena went to the kitchen.
Noah and Lily were under the table with blankets, crackers, and Mr. Button presiding over what appeared to be a rabbit courtroom.
“Mom,” Noah said, “Lily says if Dad wants to visit, he has to fill out a form.”
Elena blinked.
Lily held up a crayon-covered page.
At the top, in huge letters, Noah had written:
APPLICATION TO BE NICE
Elena laughed so hard she had to sit down on the floor.
Then she cried.
Both children crawled into her lap.
“I’m okay,” she said.
Noah gave her a look that was painfully Mateo.
“No, you’re not. But we can sit here.”
So they sat under the kitchen table in a courthouse made of blankets while Miriam Chase dismantled the Castillo family from the study.
At 5:12 p.m., Miriam entered the kitchen with her phone in hand.
“We have a court hearing tomorrow morning,” she said.
Elena wiped her eyes.
“For custody?”
“For custody, trust control, medical records, and an emergency order preventing any party from making decisions regarding the pregnancy without full consent review.”
Elena nodded.
Then Miriam added, “And Elena?”
May you like
“Yes?”
“Vanessa has disappeared.”
