Chapter 6: The Third Name
I showed the text to Diane.
She read it twice.
"Do you know that number?"
"No."
"Are you going to respond?"
I thought about Paul's instruction.
*Don't contact your husband directly.* This wasn't Ethan.
This was someone who knew about the lawyer meeting — which meant they knew something current, something close.
I typed back: *Who are you?*
The reply came in under a minute.
*My name is Renata.
I was the surrogate coordinator for both of your pregnancies.
I need you to understand — I didn't know the full arrangement until last week.*
I read it twice.
Then I called the number.
She answered immediately.
Her voice was professional and controlled, but underneath it something was pulled tight.
"Mrs.
Calloway—"
"It's just Nora."
"Nora.
Thank you for calling.
I'll be brief because I know you have a lot happening today." A breath.
"When your husband first came to our agency, he listed himself as the sole decision-maker on the financial side.
That's not unusual for couples where one partner manages finances.
What is unusual is what I found when I pulled your full file this week."
"What did you find?"
"There was a third party listed on the compensation disbursement form.
Not you.
Not Ethan.
A third name, as a secondary recipient on the first payment.
Someone named Marcus Hale."
I didn't recognize the name.
"Who is Marcus Hale?"
"That's what I've been trying to determine," Renata said.
"He's listed as a financial consultant.
But when I cross-referenced the agency records, I found that Marcus Hale's contact address is the same as a holding company that Ethan incorporated eighteen months ago."
Diane was watching my face.
"He took a cut," I said.
"Of the surrogacy payment."
"A portion of the first compensation was redirected before it reached the joint account," Renata said.
"I don't know the exact amount.
I only saw the routing.
But Nora — if that's true, then the money you received was not the full amount you were owed."
The cold came back.
Not the November air.
Something deeper.
"How much was redirected?"
"I can't confirm the figure without the full banking records.
But the agency fee schedule for that year — the compensation should have been sixty-eight thousand, not sixty."
Eight thousand dollars.
Taken before the money ever reached us.
While I was pregnant.
While my back was giving out.
While Ethan was sleeping in the spare room and telling me I was keeping him awake.
"Will you testify to this?" I asked.
"If it comes to that?"
A pause.
"I've already spoken to my own attorney.
Yes.
I will."
"Send me everything you have," I said.
"Every document, every routing record, every name."
"I'll send it within the hour."
I hung up.
Diane was still watching me.
"There's more than the folder," I said.
"How much more?"
"Enough." I picked up my bag.
"I need to get to Paul's office."
I was almost to my car when I stopped.
Because Ethan was standing at the end of the block.
He wasn't moving.
May you like
He was just standing there, hands in his jacket pockets, watching me with an expression I couldn't read from that distance.
Then he started walking toward me.
