Page 27 of Vicious King

Dr. Paulson leaned even closer to me. “It’s a little more convoluted than that. You were born in early March of 1994, yes?”

“Yup.”

“Meaning you were conceived somewhere around mid-1993.” He hesitated for a few seconds. “Camille Gorham went missing in January 1992.”

My brows shot up. “But… how the fuck is that possible?”

“That’s the million dollar question.”

“Jesus.” I leaned back against the bench, taking in a deep breath. “Wait. What if she donated the egg in say, 1991, and it was just frozen until my parents used it in ‘93? Eggs can be frozen, right?”

“There’s a very slim possibility of that being the case, yes, but egg freezing technology wasn’t exactly where it is now back in 1991. So I’d say it’s unlikely.”

“Right. So my parents were somehow able to get an egg from this girl well over a year after she went missing.”

He cleared his throat. “It seems so, yes.”

I sighed and rubbed my neck on both sides. “So what are you getting at, doc? Because it’s starting to sound like you think my family kidnapped her or something.”

“I actually wondered if perhaps this Camille girl decided to work for Crown and Dagger. Like the other young ladies who’ve done so over the years,” he said delicately. “Perhaps she was ashamed and didn’t want her family to know, so she just left without saying a word to them, and that’s why she was reported missing. Maybe she even changed her name. And then your father came into contact with her at the Finishing School and thought she’d make a good egg donor. Certain physical characteristics and so on.”

My shoulders slumped. “Oh. Yeah, that’d make sense, I guess.”

“I figured that could very well be the case, so out of loyalty to your family, I got the FBI off the scent. When they were alerted that a sample had matched with one of their missing persons profiles, I had my friend at the lab tell them that it was an error. A false positive yielded by a contaminated sample.”

“So why are you telling me all this, then?” I asked, brows furrowed. “If you think there’s a totally innocent explanation.”

He hesitated for even longer this time. “Because as I said before, there are some things I’ve seen over the years at the island that have given me pause. Now this as well? It seems…” He trailed off and shook his head slowly. “I know it’s probably nothing, and there’s very likely a rational explanation for all of it, but I can’t shake the feeling that something’s not quite right. At the same time, I can’t really do anything about it.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll be honest with you, Elias. It frightens me. Your father has a lot of reach and influence. If someone like me starts asking questions that throw his reputation into question…” He threw up his hands. “Well, not only would I lose my job, I’d probably lose the ability to work anywhere ever again. I have no doubt he’d make sure of it.”

I nodded. “But if someone like me starts looking into things, it’s a bit different.”

“Exactly. I very much doubt your father would want to cut off his only son or destroy all future opportunities for him.”

I stood up and extended a hand. “Thanks for coming to me with this. I appreciate it.”

He nodded, lips set in a grim line. “I had a feeling you might. I’m glad I was right.”

He was.

Even though it was probably nothing, like he said, I was still suspicious. The more I delved into this egg donor business and the more I thought about Tatum’s past outbursts, the more I started to think something strange was afoot at the Finishing School and the Lodge. No matter how many circles I went around in my head, trying to spin various theories that could explain away all the weird shit, I couldn’t escape the sinking feeling in my gut that told me things weren’t as they seemed. My father was obviously hiding a lot from me, and he didn’t intend for me to know any of it.

At least not yet.

I knew there was only one way to get him to be fully honest with me, and that was to ensure I made it into the third level of Crown and Dagger. The high-level members were trusted with every single secret the society had tucked away, as far as I knew, so if there was anything seriously fucked up happening at the School or Lodge, they’d be the ones to know about it.

I wouldn’t even be considered for the third level until my twenty-fourth birthday, but that was only a month away. So all I had to do was bide my time, try my best to seem like a model society member so that I’d receive consideration, and most importantly, not let my father know that I had any suspicions, vague as they were. I could easily do that. Then I’d have every answer I needed.

Just four more weeks…

---