Chapter 4

The ride home was quiet, as Maisie was still sleepy. Both Claire and Owen had to figure out what their next move would be. They still needed to tell Maisie, but they wanted to wait until they had no other choice left. Franklin had mentioned to them that this information had only been released on the dark web. So mainstream media had not, as of yet, gotten a hold of it. This gave them some time to make statements and form some type of game plan.

It was 10:00 by the time they made it back home. Maisie elected to watch TV in her room, leaving Claire and Owen alone in the kitchen. It was Claire who spoke up first. She shifted hesitantly in her chair as she stared at Owen who was standing across the dining room table from her. "I think we should be the ones to alert the media, before they have a chance to get wind of it."

"What?!" Owen thundered, with a look of shock on his face.

"Hear me out," Claire held her hands up in defense, "It's going to come out either way. We don't have to tell them everything. Just that DTG was recently made aware that experiments were being done…"

"And how do we explain that we have had a—clone" Claire watch him put air quotes around the word and make a face as he said it. She knew he hated using the word to describe Maisie as much as she did. "—in our household for over a year? What do you think the Government is going to say?"

"Shit." Claire mumbled. She'd totally forgotten about the government. What would they say? Would they take Maisie away from them? "Okay. What do you suggest then?"

"We call some lawyers. There must be a loophole. Then we wait for the Government to come to us. More than likely this will happen within the next 24 hours. If they aren't already on their way now." Owen said seriously.

"Already?" Claire squeaked incredulously.

"Yes."

"I can't believe this is happening." Claire sighed.

"Hey," Owen said suddenly, moving around the table to stand next to her, "we'll get through this. We are strong."

"Should we inform Iris?" Claire asked, remembering the woman who had been instrumental in Maisie's life.

"Yes…but not yet. Maybe after we talk to the lawyer. Why don't we give him a call? Ask him to meet with us as soon as possible?"

"Okay." Claire nodded, pulling out her phone. Russell Herera's assistant picked up on the second ring. Claire asked to speak to him, and she put him on speaker phone and gave him a short and abbreviated version of why they needed to meet. He seemed intrigued and offered to meet them later that day, around 2. Satisfied, Claire & Owen hung up.

"Are you sure we aren't making a mistake in telling anyone about Maisie?" Claire asked, unsure.

"What choice do we have? Plus, he may already have his suspicions. He was, after all, Lockwood's personal attorney. He may have just been going along with the story of Maisie being Lockwood's granddaughter because he was under the assumption that we didn't know."

"Oh, that's true. I hope that's it."

"Me too." Owen agreed, gripping Claire's shoulder.

"I'm hungry."

Both Claire & Owen turned to look at Maisie, who had entered the kitchen.

"Eggs & pancakes, coming up." Owen said, which caused Maisie to smile.

"Yes!"

"Did you brush your teeth?" Claire asked.

"Um…"

Claire smiled and shook her head. "Go." Claire pointed to the bathroom on Maisie's side of the house.

"Ughhh, okay, okay." Maisie wined, but turned to do as she was told.

Owen had his back to Claire as he scoured the fridge looking for eggs. "I'm going to ask Zia to watch Maisie for us while we meet with Russell."

"Alright. Sounds good to me." Without turning around, Owen stuck out a thumbs up to Claire.

Pulling out her phone, she quickly shot over a text asking Zia to help her out. The reply was almost instant, saying it would be no problem. "We're all set. Now…"

"We wait." Owen finished the sentence for her, as he pulled the eggs out the fridge and closed the door.

The day felt like it was moving in slow motion for Claire. She watched how Owen was calm, cool & collected, & she tried to imitate him. He played with Maisie, and never once hinted that anything was amiss. She loved that about him. He was able to keep it together under stressful situations. So was she—normally. But the thought that anyone could possibly have the power to take Maisie away from them had her ready to fall apart. She hadn't realized just how much she wanted a family of her own until it happened.

It wasn't until Maisie had disappeared back into her room that Claire felt herself somewhat able to relax again. She and Owen were on the couch, watching the news. They had been monitoring it all day, just in case something had been said about the leaked documents online.

"We should get ready to go meet with Russell." Owen emphasized the lawyer's name in a mocking tone, that made Claire roll her eyes.

"Would you give it a rest? He doesn't like me."

"Sure." Owen snorted, as he pushed off the couch. "I'm going to tell Maisie to get ready. Don't get too fancy for our meeting with the guy, if you can help it."

It was Claire's turn to snort. Clicking the television off, she got up and went to their bedroom. She took extra time to choose a modest outfit so as not to give the wrong impression. She cared about getting answers for Maisie's well-being, not making a fashion statement.

30 minutes later there was a knock at the door. Opening it, Claire smiled at Zia. "Hey. Come on in."

"I charge by the hour, just so you know."

"Well then," Claire said, closing the door behind her, "Put it on my tab."

"Will do." Zia replied.

"Zia!" Maisie ran around the corner and wrapped her little arms around Zia's waist in a tight embrace.

Claire quirked an eyebrow at Zia, who wasn't known for her affectionate hug-giving attitude.

"Hey there, little one." She awkwardly patted Maisie's back, but didn't shy away from the hug. "What's up?"

"I want to show you the bug collection I've started!" Maisie said excitedly, jumping up and down and grabbing Zia's hand.

Owen walked in right as Zia and Maisie passed in the direction of Maisie's room. "Bye, Kiddo!" He nodded at Zia who returned the gesture.

"Be good, Mais! We'll only be gone for a little while!" Claire called out after them.

"Okay!"

The ride to Russell's office was quiet. Claire was unsure of what to say. She hoped Owen would take the lead with asking questions and getting the information she knew they desperately needed. When they arrived at Russell's office, Owen met Claire on her side of the vehicle and took her hand in his, squeezing it softly. He then confidently led the way inside.

"Good Evening Mr. Grady, Mrs. Dearing. Please do tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You were Lockwood's top advisor and personal attorney." Owen cut right to the chase and said it as more of a statement than a question. His eyes were cold, and he gripped the arms of his chair tightly as he waited for an answer from the lawyer.

"Yes sir, that's correct." Russell hesitated slightly, "Why do you ask?"

"We need to know if he entrusted you with all of his documents."

Panic briefly crossed the lawyer's face before he replaced it with a mask of coolness. "No, unfortunately, he did not."

"You're a damn liar!" Owen was out of his chair and inches away from Russell's face within seconds. Claire jumped to her feet and grasped Owen's arm. He blinked before looked at her. She silently pleaded with him with her eyes. He sighed and sat back down, glaring at the man.

"We know that there's no one Mr. Lockwood trusted more than you. We think that if there was anything worth knowing—you would know." Claire said.

"What exactly is there worth knowing about?" Russell chose his words carefully, eyeing Owen cautiously.

"The documents of Maisie Lockwood."

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