Chapter 11 - The Returned Letter
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Daniel Cho scrolled down to the next file in the recovered folder.
It was a scanned copy of a certified letter sent by the reproductive clinic to our residential address seven years ago.
Across the front of the official envelope was a rubber stamp from the United States Postal Service:
RETURN TO SENDER - RECIPIENT NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS.
“Look at the date on this returned letter,” Daniel said.
It was dated six months after our wedding—a time when Luke and I were living together in the Elm Street house.
“Why was it returned?” Rebecca asked, her voice tight with anger. “Caroline lived there!”
“Because Luke intercepted the mail,” Daniel pointed to a secondary note attached to the file. “Luke wrote a handwritten letter back to the clinic director.”
Daniel opened the scanned handwritten note. I instantly recognized Luke’s sharp, slanted handwriting.
The note read:
To Whom It May Concern,
Please cease all correspondence regarding my genetic screening. My wife, Caroline, has recently been diagnosed with severe structural uterine incompetence at an outside facility, making further genetic counseling unnecessary. We are discontinuing all fertility efforts.
Regards, Luke Ellis.
I covered my face with my bandaged hands and sobbed uncontrollably.
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He had fabricated a fake medical diagnosis for me to shut down the clinic’s follow-up attempts. He had deliberately ensured I would never receive the medical letters that would have cleared my name.
For eight years, he had allowed me to suffer in silence, allowing me to believe I was a failure as a woman, all to protect his own bloated ego and conceal his genetic secret.
