Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD
Khloe awakened to the steady sound of a fetal monitor.
The room was dim except for the pale blue light above the bed.
Her first thought was not about Isabella.
It was not about Marcus.
It was not even about the pain spreading beneath her ribs.
Her first thought was the baby.
She placed both hands over her stomach.
A nurse stepped forward immediately.
“The heartbeat is strong.”
Khloe looked at the monitor.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The nurse’s voice was gentle.
“Your baby experienced distress, but the rhythm has stabilized.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
Relief passed through her so quickly that it almost felt like another form of pain.
Then memory returned.
The suite.
The marble table.
Isabella’s heel.
Marcus standing in the doorway.
Khloe opened her eyes again.
“Where is my husband?”
The nurse hesitated.
“Outside.”
“Has he been here the entire time?”
“Yes.”
“Do not let him in.”
The nurse nodded.
Khloe stared at the ceiling.
For months, she had believed the worst possibility was that Marcus was having an affair.
Now she understood that betrayal could be much larger than adultery.
He had known someone was altering her medical records.
He had known Isabella was dangerous.
He had arranged the meeting anyway.
The door opened quietly.
Adrian entered wearing dark blue surgical scrubs.
Khloe had always thought of her uncle as the calmest person in any room.
That night, his eyes looked older.
“Hey,” he said softly.
Khloe tried to sit up.
Pain forced her back against the pillow.
Adrian adjusted the bed.
“Slowly.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I will.”
“Not the hospital version.”
“You have a partial placental abruption.”
Khloe’s fingers tightened over the blanket.
“How serious?”
“Serious enough that we are watching you every second.”
“Will I lose him?”
Adrian pulled a chair closer.
“We are doing everything possible to prevent that.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
His voice became firmer.
“It is not.”
Khloe looked away.
Adrian took her hand.
“If the separation worsens, we may need to deliver early.”
“I am only thirty weeks.”
“I know.”
“Would he survive?”
“We have an excellent neonatal team.”
“Would he survive?”
Adrian looked directly into her eyes.
“His chances are strong.”
Khloe swallowed.
“Then why do you look terrified?”
“Because I should have protected you.”
“You did not know.”
“I knew enough to ask questions.”
“What questions?”
Adrian released her hand.
Khloe watched him carefully.
“Marcus said someone created a psychiatric file in my name.”
Adrian’s silence confirmed the truth.
“How long have you known?”
“I learned about it this evening.”
“Before the attack?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was trying to determine who ordered it.”
Khloe laughed once, without humor.
“That is exactly what Marcus said.”
“I am not Marcus.”
“No.”
Khloe’s expression hardened.
“Marcus at least stopped pretending he deserved my trust.”
Adrian lowered his head.
A knock sounded at the door.
Detective Ortiz entered with Khloe’s black phone sealed inside an evidence bag.
“I need to ask you a few questions.”
Adrian stood.
“She needs rest.”
“I need answers,” Khloe said.
Ortiz approached the bed.
“Did you know the suite camera was operating?”
“No.”
“Did you expect Isabella to confront you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She sent me a message from Marcus’s phone.”
Ortiz looked up.
“Marcus says he did not send you anything.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the wording was wrong.”
Khloe glanced toward the door.
“Marcus never calls me sweetheart when he is angry.”
The message had read, Isabella wants to apologize.
Please hear her out, sweetheart.
Khloe had known it was false.
She had gone anyway because Isabella had been careless for weeks.
The woman believed Khloe was fragile.
Khloe had decided to let her believe it a little longer.
“Why did you record the conversation?” Ortiz asked.
“Because someone had entered my office three days earlier.”
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
“Then how do you know someone entered?”
“A framed photograph of my mother was turned toward the wall.”
Adrian stiffened.
Khloe noticed.
“You knew about that?”
“No.”
“Then why did you react?”
Adrian moved toward the window.
Khloe looked back at the detective.
“I hired a private investigator after that.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Reed.”
Marcus spoke from the hallway.
Khloe turned sharply.
He stood beyond the open door.
The nurse had apparently stepped away.
His bow tie was gone.
His white shirt was wrinkled.
There was a streak of Khloe’s blood on one cuff.
“Get out,” she said.
Marcus remained where he was.
“I know Samuel Reed.”
“That does not surprise me.”
“He worked for Daniel.”
The room became quiet.
Detective Ortiz stepped aside but did not leave.
Khloe stared at Marcus.
“Daniel died eight years ago.”
“That is what I believed.”
“Do not come into this room and give me another carefully edited sentence.”
Marcus crossed the threshold.
Adrian immediately blocked him.
“She told you to leave.”
Marcus looked past him.
“Khloe, your phone received a message.”
“I know.”
“Whoever sent it claimed Daniel is alive.”
“I heard.”
“It may be a trap.”
Khloe’s eyes burned.
“Everything is a trap with you.”
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve much worse.”
Marcus accepted the words without defending himself.
Khloe hated that part of her still recognized the man she had loved.
He looked broken.
She reminded herself that broken men could still destroy everyone around them.
“Tell me why you gave Isabella access to that suite,” she said.
Marcus glanced toward Ortiz.
“Now,” Khloe said.
“I received photographs this morning.”
“Of what?”
“Daniel’s car after the crash.”
Adrian turned.
“You told me the vehicle was destroyed.”
“It was.”
“Then where did the photographs come from?”
“Isabella.”
Khloe’s voice became cold.
“You have been meeting with her.”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Four.”
The answer hurt more than Khloe expected.
“Where?”
“Twice at her office.”
“Where else?”
“At the Langford Hotel.”
Adrian muttered a curse.
Khloe stared at Marcus.
“Did you sleep with her?”
“No.”
“Did you kiss her?”
“No.”
Detective Ortiz looked at him.
Marcus corrected himself.
“She kissed me tonight.”
Khloe’s lips parted.
“I pushed her away.”
“After how long?”
Marcus said nothing.
The silence answered.
Khloe turned her face toward the wall.
“Leave.”
“I need to explain Daniel.”
“You needed to explain everything before I was thrown against a table.”
“I thought I could protect you.”
“You used me to protect your company.”
“No.”
“The camera heard you.”
“I was trying to keep you out of the ballroom because Gideon intended to announce a board vote concerning the Founders Clause.”
Khloe looked at him again.
“What is the Founders Clause?”
Marcus took a slow breath.
“Thorne Meridian was not founded only by my grandfather.”
“I know.”
“No.”
“You know the public version.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“The other founder was Eleanor Vale.”
Khloe’s grandmother.
The woman whose name her family rarely mentioned.
Khloe had been told Eleanor sold her interest in the company before Khloe was born.
Marcus continued.
“She placed twenty-two percent of the original shares into a dormant family trust.”
“For whom?”
“For the first child born from the legal union of the Thorne and Vale bloodlines.”
Khloe looked down at her stomach.
“No.”
“The trust activates at birth.”
“No.”
“The child’s custodial parent controls the voting rights until the child turns twenty-five.”
Khloe understood immediately.
She would control the shares.
Combined with the stock Marcus already held, their household would control Thorne Meridian.
Unless someone removed her as the child’s legal guardian.
“The psychiatric file,” Khloe whispered.
Marcus nodded.
“Someone wants you declared mentally incompetent before the baby is born.”
Khloe’s gaze moved toward Adrian.
“And the competency waiver?”
Adrian looked confused.
“What waiver?”
“Helena told Isabella to make me sign one.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“I did not know about that.”
“I do not believe you.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
Khloe’s voice broke for the first time.
“Stop standing there and agreeing with every terrible thing I say as though admitting your failure makes it noble.”
Marcus flinched.
“I am not asking for forgiveness.”
“Then what are you asking for?”
“A chance to keep you alive.”
The fetal monitor accelerated.
The nurse hurried back into the room.
“Everyone needs to step away.”
Khloe tried to breathe slowly.
Marcus backed toward the door.
Adrian watched the monitor.
The baby’s heartbeat settled again.
Ortiz turned to Marcus.
“What did Daniel discover before he died?”
Marcus looked at Khloe.
“Money was disappearing from Thorne Meridian.”
“How much?”
“Nearly four hundred million dollars.”
Khloe stared at him.
“Who took it?”
“Daniel believed my mother and Gideon Cross created shell companies to move the funds.”
“Your chief financial officer?”
“My best friend.”
“Did Daniel tell you?”
“He tried.”
“What did you do?”
“I accused him of wanting my position.”
Khloe’s expression changed.
Marcus looked down.
“The night he died, he called me twenty-three times.”
“Did you answer?”
“Once.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he had proof.”
“And?”
“I told him to stop destroying the family.”
Marcus’s voice became almost inaudible.
“He died forty minutes later.”
Khloe’s anger remained, but something else entered it.
Not sympathy.
Not yet.
Only the terrible understanding that Marcus’s secrets had begun long before their marriage.
Detective Ortiz held up the evidence bag.
“The anonymous message came from a prepaid number.”
“Can you trace it?” Khloe asked.
“We are trying.”
The black phone buzzed again inside the bag.
Everyone looked at it.
Ortiz removed it carefully and placed it on the bedside table.
A photograph appeared.
It showed a man sitting near a window.
His face was thinner.
His hair was longer.
A scar crossed the left side of his forehead.
Marcus gripped the bed rail.
“Daniel.”
The photograph had been taken recently.
A newspaper rested on the man’s lap.
The date printed across the front page was yesterday.
Below the image was another message.
HE REMEMBERS THE CRASH.
HE REMEMBERS WHO LEFT HIM THERE.
Marcus stared at the words.
Khloe watched his face.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus did not answer.
Adrian stepped away from the bed.
His expression had changed.
It was not confusion.
It was recognition.
Khloe saw it immediately.
“You know where Daniel is.”
Adrian shook his head.
Khloe’s voice sharpened.
“You know something.”
The door opened again.
A hospital administrator entered holding a tablet.
“Dr. Vale, we have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Someone accessed Mrs. Thorne’s medical file twelve minutes ago.”
Adrian took the tablet.
Khloe watched his eyes move across the screen.
“What did they change?” Marcus asked.
Adrian looked toward the nurse.
“Call security.”
Khloe’s pulse climbed.
“What did they change?”
Adrian placed the tablet facedown.
“Your fetal distress status was altered.”
“To what?”
The administrator answered before Adrian could stop him.
“To nonviable pregnancy.”
The words struck the room like an explosion.
Khloe grabbed the blanket.
“My baby is alive.”
“Yes,” Adrian said immediately.
“Then why would anyone mark him dead?”
Marcus turned toward the hallway.
Because a nonviable pregnancy would allow emergency intervention without Khloe’s consent.
Because someone inside the hospital was preparing to act.
A second alarm sounded from the monitor.
The nurse checked the intravenous line.
Her face tightened.
“This medication was not ordered.”
Adrian moved instantly.
He clamped the line and pulled the tubing free.
“What was in it?” Khloe asked.
No one answered.
The nurse held the bag beneath the light.
A handwritten label had been placed over the original barcode.
Adrian tore it away.
His expression became deadly.
“It is a labor-inducing drug.”
Marcus rushed toward the door.
The hallway outside was empty.
The security officer who had been stationed there was gone.
At the far end of the corridor, an elevator closed.
A woman in pale blue scrubs stood inside.
Just before the doors met, she lifted her face.
May you like
It was Nurse Miriam Cole.
The same nurse Helena Thorne had personally recommended to Khloe three months earlier.
