Chapter 11
Grant stopped denying the plan after Part 10.
He requested another meeting.
Rachel agreed because she wanted to hear him say it without lawyers translating the language.
Maya remained present anyway.
Grant looked worse than he had two weeks earlier.
“You know everything.”
Rachel answered:
“I know the documents.”
He nodded.
“I thought I was fixing something.”
“You were.”
Grant looked surprised.
Rachel continued.
“You were fixing a trust problem.”
His face tightened.
“You know what I mean.”
“No.”
She leaned forward.
“Say what you mean.”
Grant breathed slowly.
“Nathan was gone.”
Rachel did not react.
“The sample was going to be destroyed.”
“Yes.”
“I couldn’t have children.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted one.”
“Yes.”
“And the Bennett voting structure—”
Rachel raised one hand.
“There.”
Grant stopped.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The moment you put the company in the same sentence as my fertility treatment.”
His eyes filled.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It was exactly like that.”
“I loved you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I knew you would love the baby.”
“That is not consent.”
Grant looked down.
Rachel continued.
“Nathan said destroy it.”
“I know.”
“You decided he would have changed his mind.”
“He cared about the family.”
“He cared enough to tell you exactly what he wanted done with his own genetic material.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“I panicked.”
“For months?”
He had no answer.
Rachel softened only slightly.
“Do you love Maddie?”
“Yes.”
Immediately.
No hesitation.
Rachel believed him.
That was painful.
“Then understand something.”
Grant looked at her.
“She is not the justification for what you did.”
His face crumpled.
Rachel’s voice shook now.
“You do not get to point at how wonderful she is and say the violation was worth it.”
Grant wiped his eyes.
“I don’t know how to live with that.”
Rachel answered:
“That is finally a problem you are allowed to solve for yourself.”
The marriage ended emotionally in that room.
The legal divorce would take longer.
May you like
But Rachel no longer wondered whether Grant’s explanation could save it.
It could not.
