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<\/p>\nThe woman on the phone knew my dead husband\u2019s secrets. What she told me next made the Harrington conspiracy far more terrifying than I had imagined. \u201cI\u2019m Thomas Reed\u2019s daughter.\u201d The words floated through the underground archive like smoke. For several seconds, I couldn\u2019t speak. Daniel stood beside me, holding the photograph of Thomas, Evelyn Harrington, and the newborn baby. My hand tightened around the phone. \u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d The woman on the other end was crying quietly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how it sounds.\u201d \u201cMy husband had one daughter.\u201d I looked toward the ceiling, as though Chloe were somehow visible through thirty feet of earth and stone. \u201cChloe.\u201d The woman inhaled shakily. \u201cMy name is Natalie Grant. I\u2019m thirty-four.\u201d My heart stumbled. Thirty-four. Older than Chloe. That changed everything. \u201cYou\u2019re saying Thomas had a child before he met me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d Her answer came immediately. \u201cI\u2019m saying Thomas Reed was not my biological father.\u201d I closed my eyes. \u201cThen why did you say\u2014\u201d \u201cBecause he raised me for the first fourteen months of my life.\u201d The archive suddenly felt colder. Daniel whispered, \u201cPut her on speaker.\u201d I did. Natalie continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was named Rebecca Grant. She worked for Harrington Biomedical in the late eighties. Thomas helped her escape.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarrington Biomedical?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
An old corporate name.<\/p>\n
One of the companies that had existed before Northstar.<\/p>\n
Natalie went on.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother died when I was sixteen. Before she died, she gave me a sealed envelope and told me to open it only if someone named Samantha Reed ever appeared in the news.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said Samantha Reed would mean the Harringtons were finally afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence swallowed the room.<\/p>\n
Then Natalie said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw your name tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The news.<\/p>\n
Garrett\u2019s rescue.<\/p>\n
Evelyn\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n
The underground rooms.<\/p>\n
My past had become public faster than I had realized.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was in the envelope?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA key. A photograph. And a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did the letter say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt said Thomas Reed saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
My knees weakened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hid my mother and me because the Harringtons wanted me back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie began crying harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was one of the first children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n
I felt something terrible settle inside my chest.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the first what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first children created through the Northstar program.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
Daniel went perfectly still.<\/p>\n
Natalie continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey weren\u2019t just laundering money.\u201d<\/p>\n
My fingers began trembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat were they doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSelecting bloodlines.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a moment, I genuinely thought I had misheard her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother called it reproductive engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n
The underground archive suddenly made sense in the worst possible way.<\/p>\n
Biological storage.<\/p>\n
Fertility records.<\/p>\n
Genetic profiles.<\/p>\n
Decades of medical identifiers.<\/p>\n
I whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Harringtons believed wealth was meaningless if the family line weakened. They built a private network of clinics to choose pregnancies, manipulate embryos, control inheritance, and preserve genetic material.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel cursed under his breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Natalie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s organized.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer frightened me more.<\/p>\n
She explained that Rebecca Grant had been a junior laboratory technician.<\/p>\n
At first, she believed the company performed legitimate fertility research.<\/p>\n
Then she discovered samples were being collected without meaningful consent.<\/p>\n
Employees.<\/p>\n
Politicians.<\/p>\n
Donors.<\/p>\n
Business rivals.<\/p>\n
People selected because of intelligence, health, appearance, blood type, or family history.<\/p>\n
Northstar wasn\u2019t one experiment.<\/p>\n
It was a system.<\/p>\n
And somewhere in that system, Thomas Reed had become involved.<\/p>\n
Not as a participant.<\/p>\n
As a thief.<\/p>\n
He stole records.<\/p>\n
He hid Rebecca.<\/p>\n
He helped Natalie disappear.<\/p>\n
And eventually, he went to Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe became our confidential source,\u201d Daniel said quietly.<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n