Ryan did not answer.

For several long seconds, no one in the conference room moved.

His eyes remained fixed on the tiny red light glowing from Detective Cole’s recorder.

Angela Morris broke the silence.

“Mr. Parker, you’ve just made a statement that may become evidence.”

Ryan slowly sat back down.

“I want a lawyer.”

Detective Cole nodded once.

“That is your right.”

He switched off the recorder and placed it into an evidence bag.

“No one will ask you any further questions until your attorney arrives.”

Ryan folded his arms tightly across his chest.

Across the table, Patricia looked as though she had aged ten years in ten minutes.

She turned toward Melissa.

“You’re destroying an innocent family.”

Melissa met her eyes.

“No.”

Her voice was calm now.

“I helped destroy one.”

She looked at Claire.

“And I’m trying to stop it from getting worse.”

Dr. Reed quietly slid another folder onto the table.

“I believe it’s time you all saw this.”

Angela frowned.

“What is it?”

“The complete access history for the Bennett-Parker embryo account.”

He opened the folder.

Every page contained dates.

Times.

Employee logins.

Security badge scans.

Computer terminal numbers.

Detective Cole examined the records carefully.

“Every unauthorized access occurred after normal clinic hours.”

Dr. Reed nodded.

“Between 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m.”

Cole looked up.

“Who else was in the building?”

Dr. Reed answered without hesitation.

“Security.”

“The cleaning staff.”

“And one visitor.”

Claire felt her heartbeat quicken.

“A visitor?”

Dr. Reed turned another page.

“Our security system requires every visitor to sign in.”

He placed the logbook on the table.

Ryan refused to look at it.

Patricia slowly closed her eyes.

Claire leaned forward.

The signature on the visitor log was unmistakable.

Ryan Parker.

He had entered the clinic five separate evenings during the month before the embryo transfer.

Each visit lasted less than thirty minutes.

Each visit matched one of Melissa’s unauthorized logins.

Angela spoke quietly.

“So he wasn’t just asking questions.”

“No,” Dr. Reed replied.

“He was physically present inside the clinic.”

Ryan finally spoke.

“I visited because we were discussing storage fees.”

Dr. Reed looked directly at him.

“Our billing office handles storage fees.”

Ryan said nothing.

“You never once had an appointment with billing.”

The room became silent again.

Detective Cole removed another photograph.

“This was recovered from the security archive.”

He slid it across the table.

The image showed Ryan entering a restricted hallway beside Melissa.

She was holding a clipboard.

He was carrying a brown envelope.

The timestamp matched the second wire transfer.

Megan covered her mouth.

“Oh my God…”

Ryan turned toward her.

“Megan, listen to me.”

She backed away.

“No.”

“I can explain.”

“You’ve been explaining for over a year.”

Her voice trembled.

“And every explanation has been another lie.”

She looked at Claire.

“When I became pregnant…”

Tears filled her eyes.

“I thought it was finally something good after everything that happened.”

Claire remained silent.

“I believed Ryan.”

Another tear rolled down Megan’s face.

“I asked him three different times if you had signed the paperwork.”

Ryan lowered his head.

“He said yes.”

Claire searched Megan’s face.

For the first time since the divorce…

She did not see triumph.

She saw guilt.

And fear.

Detective Cole closed the evidence folder.

“This investigation isn’t finished.”

Patricia looked up.

“What else could there possibly be?”

Cole’s expression remained unreadable.

“The forged consent form wasn’t the only document that was altered.”

Ryan’s head snapped upward.

“What?”

Cole placed one final document on the table.

“This is the original embryo storage agreement.”

Claire immediately recognized it.

She and Ryan had signed it together after their second IVF cycle.

Cole pointed to one paragraph highlighted in yellow.

“It names what should happen if one spouse dies.”

Angela frowned.

“But neither of them died.”

“Correct.”

Cole turned one more page.

“This page should never have existed.”

Behind the original agreement was an amended version.

Someone had inserted it into the clinic’s records months later.

The amendment claimed that if the marriage ended in divorce…

Ryan alone would control every remaining embryo.

Claire stared at the signature.

It looked like hers.

But once again…

Her middle initial was missing.

Angela slowly looked up.

“So there were two forgeries.”

Detective Cole nodded.

“No.”

He looked around the room.

“There were three.”

Every person froze.

Claire whispered,

“Three?”

Cole reached into the evidence envelope one last time.

He unfolded a birth registration document.

“Lily’s birth certificate.”

Claire frowned.

“What about it?”

Cole looked directly at her.

“Someone lied on this document too.”

CONTINUE READ >>>> PART 7