Beneath the Embers: The Mother Contract

Episode 005

CHAPTER 005

ALEXANDER REID'S POINT OF VIEW

The telephone rings. Clara is here. My stomach becomes constricted. It's been a few days since I last saw her, and each moment feels like a burden pulling me down.

When I answer, her voice breaks, "Alexander." "We must have a conversation."

I don't waste time. Her voicE can hear the tension and urgency in her voice, which motivates me to move more quickly.y.s a problem. I have no doubt about it.

At the clinic, I locate her. Her hands are firmly clasped together as she sits in one of the examination rooms. She is pale, and her eyes have a new look that I haven't seen in a while: a flash of fear.

"Clara?" With my heart thumping in my chest, I take a step forward.

She takes a while to speak. Rather, she takes out a stack of papers, all of which bear the ReidTech logo, and slams them onto the table between us.

I freeze as my eyes dart across the papers.

"What is this, Clara?" My pulse The ULS is getting faster. a problem. This goes beyond Elise and the twins.

"It's about everything," she says, her voice now trembling. "About me and the twins. What your family did, Alexander. what you did.

My throat tightens with breath. Although I'm uncertain about what lies ahead, I understand that I can't ignore it. As the tension between us grows, I find myself wishing I could take back everything. I've been too blind to see every error, every poor decision, and every piece of the puzzle.

Leaning forward, Clara turns the papers over, her fingers shaking. "This is it," she murmurs. They treated me like this. To us.

The words were like a kick to the stomach.

Helix Project.

She was pregnant. My sperm. My family.

I can barely hear her continue as my mind races to process the horror unfolding before me. How could I have been unaware? How? How could I have been so blind?

My voice trembles as I finally manage to say, "You don't understand." "I was unaware. I didn't know."

Clar looks at me as if I've just let her down once more. "It doesn't matter now," she says in a cold tone. "The truth has come to light. "I'm merely a test subject in a sick game."

I'm having trouble breathing. The weight of what she just told me crushes me. My family's long-kept secrets are now coming to light, and I can't stop them. I ought to have kept her safe.

However, I didn't.

"You... didn't even know, did you?" She goes on, raising her voice. "You were manipulated into doing this, and you were unaware of it? That our children—my pregnancy—were merely a genetic experiment?"

I briefly forget to breathe as the world wobbles on its axis. This whole situation is worse than I could have ever envisioned.

She steps back and shakes her head. "Don't yDon't know who's behind it? Victoria. Your mother-in-law. Your household."

The walls seem to be closing in on me. I must. I know II know I should say something, but I'm struggling to find the right words.tI want to resolve this issue, but I'm finding it difficult to articulate my thoughts effectively.ont of her makes me feel like a ghost.

"Clara, I—"

Her gaze pierced me. "No. Don't say it. Don'"aDon't make excuses for me.e You knewYou knew that something was wrong.ply allowed it to occur. Please let it happen.

I want to yell. I don't intend to apologise to her.II wish I could make it right, but I can't.m The harm is already done and in the open now.

The twins. They deserve better than this, the truth about them.

Clara says, "They're starting to ask questions," in a voice that is now hardly audible above a whisper. About us. regarding their parents.

My chest gets constricted. I had no idea that my children, our children, were playing a game. How can I tell them that? How?resolve this?

As though to ram the truth into my hands, Clara presses the papers closer to me.

She says, "You know what we have to do," in a firmer tone. "We must eliminate ReidTech. Make everything public.

I know she's right because her words struck me like a tidal wave. However, I am also aware that everything could be ruined if my family—*my company*—were made public. The company. My standing. Our future.

And maybe even my chance to make things right with her.

I'd like to make this right. This needs to be fixed.

"You're right," I say, my voice hardly audible. ".s, we wWe will, Tog.er.

Clara looks at me for a long time. The air is heavy with all the things we're not saying, and the tension is intolerable. She is aware of the consequences of what we are going to do. She is aware of the danger.

I also do.

We can't go back now, though.

"Are you sure?" My voice is hardly more than a whisper as I ask.

Clara doesn't think twice. "Alexander, you have no other option."

Silently, both of us are trapped between the past and the future, we stand there. The truth is finally out, and I have no idea how we’re going to survive it.

However, we must.

We are forced to confront it.

As I gaze into Clara's eyes, the weight of everything weighs heavily on me. The pain. The treachery. as well as the uncertainty of what will happen next.

I can already feel the world shifting beneath our feet. It's also frightful.

"Will everything we've worked for be destroyed if the truth about the twins is revealed?"

Unanswered, that question lingers between us. And I am aware that we will soon find out.