Chapter 2 - THE RECORDING
The first thing Isabella Rossi tried to do after seeing the security camera was stop crying.
The second thing she tried to do was leave.
Adrian Vale noticed both.
“Ms. Rossi.”
Isabella stopped three feet from the doorway.
Adrian’s voice remained quiet.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Isabella slowly turned.
“You can’t detain me.”
“No.”
Adrian glanced toward the two hospital security officers standing behind him.
“But they can keep this floor secure until the police arrive.”
Something small moved behind Isabella’s eyes.
Fear.
Not panic yet.
Fear came first.
Panic would come later.
Across the room, Marcus remained kneeling beside Khloe while the medical team worked around her.
A nurse attached monitors.
Another nurse checked Khloe’s blood pressure.
A doctor pressed a stethoscope carefully against her abdomen.
Khloe barely seemed aware of the people surrounding her.
Her fingers were wrapped around Marcus’s hand.
“Can you hear the heartbeat?”
Marcus looked at the doctor.
The doctor did not answer immediately.
That silence terrified him.
“Doctor?”
“We have a heartbeat.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
Marcus exhaled.
Then the doctor added something neither of them wanted to hear.
“But I don’t like the pattern.”
Khloe opened her eyes again.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re moving you now.”
The doctor looked toward the nurses.
“Obstetric observation.”
“Full monitoring.”
“Notify maternal-fetal medicine.”
Marcus stood.
“I’m coming with her.”
The doctor nodded.
Khloe’s stretcher was brought beside her.
When the nurses carefully lifted her from the marble floor, pain shot across her face.
She bit down hard enough for her jaw to tremble.
Marcus saw it.
So did Isabella.
For the first time, Marcus looked directly at Isabella.
Not at her dress.
Not at her tears.
Not at the woman he had known for years.
He looked at her as if he were seeing a stranger wearing someone else’s face.
Isabella took a cautious step toward him.
“Marcus.”
He said nothing.
“You know me.”
Still nothing.
“She was emotional.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
Isabella swallowed.
“She was upset about us.”
Khloe heard that from the stretcher.
Her eyes opened.
Marcus turned sharply.
“Us?”
Isabella seemed to realize she had gone too far.
But only for a second.
Then she changed tactics.
“You know what I mean.”
“No.”
Marcus’s voice was low.
“I don’t.”
Isabella looked toward Khloe.
Then back at him.
“This isn’t the place.”
Marcus stared at her.
“My pregnant wife is being taken to emergency observation after I found you standing over her on the floor.”
His voice never rose.
“That makes this exactly the place.”
Isabella’s lips parted.
No answer came.
Adrian watched her closely.
Then he looked toward one of his security officers.
“Pull the footage from this room.”
The officer nodded.
“Every angle.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Original files.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do not export them through the general hospital network.”
The officer paused.
Adrian noticed.
“What?”
The officer lowered his voice.
“The cameras on this floor automatically sync through central security.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“How long?”
“Usually immediate.”
“Usually?”
“Less than sixty seconds.”
Adrian’s attention returned to Isabella.
She was no longer looking at Marcus.
She was staring at the officer.
Adrian saw that too.
“Take the server offline.”
The officer hesitated.
“That would shut down surveillance archiving for the entire executive wing.”
“Do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The security officer walked quickly into the hallway.
Isabella crossed her arms.
“This is insane.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
He nodded toward the broken glass.
“That was insane.”
Khloe’s stretcher began moving toward the door.
Marcus followed.
As they passed Isabella, she whispered one sentence.
“Khloe, tell him what you said to me.”
Khloe turned her head.
For one second, their eyes met.
Khloe looked exhausted.
Pale.
Terrified.
But she was no longer confused.
That frightened Isabella more than anger would have.
“I don’t have to.”
Khloe’s voice was soft.
“The camera will.”
Isabella’s face tightened.
The elevator doors opened.
The medical team pushed Khloe inside.
Marcus followed.
Adrian remained behind.
He watched the elevator doors close.
Then he turned back toward Isabella.
“You chose the wrong room.”
Isabella gave him a brittle smile.
“You think a camera proves whatever story she tells you?”
“No.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I think a recording proves what happened.”
A small silence passed.
Then Isabella smiled again.
It was not convincing this time.
“You might want to be careful, Mr. Vale.”
Adrian’s eyes changed.
“Was that a threat?”
“It was advice.”
“You’re in my hospital.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian studied her.
For the first time that night, he wondered whether Isabella had come into the suite believing there was no camera.
Or whether she knew there was one and believed she could control what it captured.
That possibility was worse.
Much worse.
Two floors below, Marcus stood beside Khloe’s bed while the fetal monitor filled the room with rapid electronic beats.
Khloe stared at the ceiling.
Marcus stood close enough to touch her.
But he did not.
He was afraid she would pull away.
He was also afraid she would not.
The doctor entered with a tablet.
“Mrs. Thorne.”
Khloe turned.
“We’re seeing uterine irritation.”
Marcus frowned.
“Meaning?”
“The trauma may have triggered contractions.”
Khloe’s hand moved to her stomach.
“Am I in labor?”
“Not necessarily.”
The doctor sat beside the bed.
“But we’re not treating this casually.”
Marcus stared at the monitor.
“What happens now?”
“We monitor continuously.”
“We’re ordering imaging.”
“And if the fetal heart tracing becomes unstable, we may have to deliver.”
Khloe’s breathing stopped for a moment.
“Tonight?”
“It is possible.”
Marcus sat down immediately.
The doctor continued.
“At seven months, every hour matters.”
Khloe nodded.
The doctor left.
For almost a minute, neither husband nor wife spoke.
Then Marcus finally said it.
“I should have seen what she was doing.”
Khloe looked at him.
“You did see it.”
He swallowed.
“What?”
“The touches.”
“The comments.”
“The pictures.”
“The way she kept appearing wherever you were.”
Marcus looked down.
Khloe’s voice remained calm.
“That’s what makes this worse.”
“I thought she was being inappropriate.”
“You thought I was being sensitive.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Khloe remembered every conversation.
Every dinner.
Every gala.
Every time Isabella had brushed against Marcus and then looked directly at Khloe.
Every time Khloe had said something.
Every time Marcus had answered with the same words.
She’s always been like that.
Don’t let her bother you.
You know how people talk.
None of it matters.
It mattered now.
“I was wrong.”
Marcus looked at her.
“I was completely wrong.”
Khloe turned back toward the monitor.
“I need you to tell me something.”
“Anything.”
“Did you ever give her a reason to think she had a chance with you?”
Marcus went still.
Too still.
Khloe saw it.
Her eyes moved back to him.
“Marcus.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Khloe’s expression changed.
Marcus knew she had heard the hesitation before the word.
He stood.
“Not while we’ve been married.”
Khloe stared at him.
“That is not what I asked.”
Marcus said nothing.
The monitor continued beating between them.
Fast.
Steady.
Unforgiving.
Khloe’s voice dropped.
“What happened before we were married?”
Marcus looked toward the door.
Then toward her.
“It was nothing.”
Khloe almost laughed.
Pain stopped her.
“Men always call it nothing right before it becomes something.”
Marcus rubbed his hand across his face.
“Isabella and I knew each other before you.”
“I know that.”
“There was one night.”
Khloe stopped breathing.
Marcus immediately stepped closer.
“It was years ago.”
“Before us?”
“Yes.”
Khloe stared at him.
Marcus continued.
“It never became a relationship.”
“She wanted it to.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew that.”
Marcus did not answer.
Khloe’s eyes filled.
Not with the same terror she had felt on the floor.
This hurt differently.
“You knew.”
“I thought she moved on.”
“She followed me into a hospital room and attacked me.”
“I know.”
“You knew she had wanted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
Marcus had no defense.
So he did the only useful thing he could do.
He stopped trying to defend himself.
“You’re right.”
Khloe looked away.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
Marcus nodded once.
“I’ll stay outside.”
He walked toward the door.
“Marcus.”
He stopped.
Khloe did not look at him.
“If something happens to the baby…”
Her voice broke.
Marcus turned immediately.
Khloe forced herself to finish.
“…do not let anyone tell me it was my fault.”
Marcus’s face changed.
He crossed the room again.
He did not touch her.
But he stood beside the bed.
“No one will.”
A knock came at the door.
Adrian stepped inside.
His expression was wrong.
Khloe noticed first.
“What?”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
Then at Khloe.
“The security team pulled the recording.”
Marcus straightened.
“And?”
Adrian did not answer.
Khloe’s stomach tightened.
“Uncle Adrian.”
He walked closer.
“The first part is there.”
“What first part?”
“The argument.”
“The shove.”
Marcus’s jaw clenched.
Khloe stared at him.
“And the rest?”
Adrian looked toward the fetal monitor.
Then back at her.
“The file skips.”
Marcus frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means forty-seven seconds are missing.”
Khloe’s face went blank.
Adrian continued.
“The recording shows Isabella pushing you.”
“Then it jumps.”
“When it comes back, you’re already on the floor.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Someone deleted it.”
“That was my first thought.”
“And?”
Adrian’s expression became colder.
“The deletion request came from an administrator account.”
Khloe whispered.
“Whose?”
Adrian looked directly at Marcus.
“Yours.”
The room went silent.
Marcus stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Adrian did not blink.
“Then someone wants us to believe it isn’t.”
Outside the room, a hospital phone began ringing.
May you like
Inside, Khloe looked at her husband as if the floor had disappeared beneath her all over again.
And three floors above them, Isabella Rossi quietly smiled when a security officer told her the most important forty-seven seconds had vanished.
