The air in the penthouse, which had felt so triumphant only moments ago, turned into a suffocating vacuum. Ava gripped the edge of the marble island, her knuckles white.
"A fourth?" her voice was a ghost of a sound. "No. That’s impossible. I was awake... I mean, I was there. I heard three cries. I saw three babies."
Damian moved toward her, his instinct to comfort warring with his own shock. He held the tablet out, showing her the encrypted lab log Liam had unearth. The data was indisputable.
"Look at the timestamps, Ava," Damian said, his voice low and urgent. "Samples A, B, and C were processed at 2:00 AM. Sample D was processed thirty minutes later, labeled under a 'Restricted' file. It’s the same genetic signature. A 99.9% match to you. And to me."
Ava’s mind raced back to that rai
