Chapter 6 - Not Sisters
Ethan froze.
“Sister?”
Sophie nodded.
“Mom said not real sister. Leg sister.”
Relief.
Claire had explained poorly to a child.
The girls were part of same mobility-support community.
No secret bloodline.
Good.
Then Sophie remembered Lily visited their house once.
Maya had been there?
“No.”
Claire had kept visit private.
Why?
Lily’s guardian asked for discretion.
Guardian:
Mark Cole.
Hannah’s brother.
Still alive.
Daniel contacted him.
Mark refused at first.
Then heard NR-17.
“Destroy it.”
Another person.
Why?
“It already ruined one family.”
Ethan replied:
“It may have ruined mine too.”
Mark agreed meeting.
He explained Hannah’s death was accidental.
Car crash.
No conspiracy.
Afterward Robert Reynolds approached estate.
Offered $600,000 settlement for patent dispute.
Mark accepted.
He needed care money for Lily.
Years later learned technology became core to Northbridge’s adaptive line, generating huge value.
He felt cheated.
But contract broad.
Maybe legal.
Then Claire contacted him.
She believed Hannah had never transferred one crucial algorithm.
If so, Northbridge patent chain incomplete.
Potential royalties.
Mark wanted sue.
Claire wanted evidence first.
Maya helped initially because she also suspected father had been unfair.
So Claire and Maya were allies.
Then what broke them?
Maya discovered something.
“Hannah had actually taken money.”
From whom?
Robert.
$200,000 before death.
Document labeled consulting advance.
Maya interpreted as full settlement.
Claire disagreed.
Then Mark revealed:
“Hannah gave that money back.”
Bank record confirmed.
So not settlement.
Then NR-17.
Hannah had embedded transaction log showing test dates and authorship signatures.
If recoverable, it could prove invention timeline.
But not automatically ownership.
Still valuable evidence.
Then why hidden inside Sophie’s prosthetic instead of attorney’s safe?
Claire feared Northbridge lawyers searching records? Too dramatic.
Mark explained Claire did not trust him either.
He had signed settlement.
Maya had family conflict.
Ethan was focused on Claire’s illness and Sophie’s care.
Claire wanted physical hiding place only she and prosthetist knew.
A prosthetic shell had removable cavity for balancing weights.
She repurposed it.
Then Ethan asked:
“Why not tell me before she died?”
Mark stared.
“She tried.”
Ethan’s chest tightened.
“What?”
“Claire sent you a letter.”
“I never got one.”
Mark had courier receipt.
Delivered to Ethan’s office.
Signed by:
May you like
M. Reynolds.
Maya.
