Chapter 11 - THE WRONG ALLY
Isabella’s penthouse door was open.
That was the first thing police noticed.
The second was the blood.
Not much.
Three drops near the entrance.
One on the hallway wall.
Another on a white silk scarf near the elevator.
No Isabella.
No phone.
No security staff.
No sign of forced entry.
The building’s camera system had stopped recording for nine minutes.
Exactly nine.
Khloe heard the details from Detective Brooks.
She was still in labor and delivery.
Still being monitored.
Still waiting for the next alarm.
Marcus stood by the window.
“Is she alive?”
Brooks answered.
“We don’t know.”
Khloe looked toward Marcus.
“You care?”
He turned.
“I care because she might know where my mother is.”
Khloe held his gaze.
Nothing more passed between them.
She believed him.
That surprised both of them.
Brooks placed photographs on the table.
“The blood type matches Isabella.”
“So she was injured?”
“Possibly.”
Adrian looked at the open-door image.
“Or staged.”
Brooks nodded.
“We’re assuming nothing.”
Khloe studied the hallway.
“What’s that?”
She pointed at a small object near the baseboard.
Brooks enlarged it.
A red thread.
Marcus frowned.
“From her gown?”
“No.”
Khloe shook her head.
“The gown from the hospital was deep red silk.”
“That looks like wool.”
Brooks zoomed further.
A security analyst had labeled it.
Cashmere fiber.
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Who wore red cashmere last night?”
Marcus tried to remember.
Then Adrian did.
“Damian.”
Marcus turned.
Adrian nodded.
“Red scarf.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
Another clue pointing at his brother.
Too obvious.
Khloe said it.
“Someone wants us to find that.”
Brooks nodded.
“Probably.”
Marcus rubbed his face.
“So we ignore evidence because it looks too perfect?”
“No.”
Brooks gathered the photos.
“We verify everything.”
Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then handed it to Marcus.
“Damian.”
Marcus stared.
“Answer.”
Damian’s voice came immediately.
“Where is Isabella?”
Marcus laughed once.
“You tell me.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Damian swore.
Khloe listened.
He sounded frightened again.
“Marcus, Charles took her.”
Marcus stopped.
“You know Charles?”
Silence.
“Damian.”
“Yes.”
Khloe sat forward.
Marcus put the phone on speaker.
“How long?”
Damian exhaled.
“Fourteen years.”
Marcus stared at the phone.
“You knew he was alive.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“So did your mother.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Apparently everyone did.”
Damian ignored that.
“Charles contacted me after he disappeared.”
“Why?”
“To tell me what Evelyn had done.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Damian’s voice changed.
“Later I realized he was becoming dangerous.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“This family really loves that word.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I.”
Khloe spoke.
“Damian.”
A pause.
“Khloe.”
“Why did you know the baby was part of this before we told you?”
Damian went silent.
Khloe waited.
Finally, he answered.
“Because Charles contacted me six weeks ago.”
Marcus turned toward Khloe.
“What did he say?”
“That the succession trust would soon be resolved.”
“That Marcus would control the company.”
“And that I should prepare to lose everything.”
Marcus frowned.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Damian laughed.
“You think I enjoy calling my younger brother and telling him a ghost from our family is threatening me?”
“You should have.”
“Yes.”
Damian’s voice became bitter.
“I should have done a lot of things.”
Khloe asked.
“Did you help Isabella get upstairs?”
“No.”
“Did you use Marcus’s badge?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize the elevator?”
“No.”
Marcus interrupted.
“Your credential did.”
Damian was silent for half a second.
Then he said something unexpected.
“Check my old credential.”
Adrian looked up.
“What?”
Damian continued.
“I replaced my executive badge two months ago.”
“Why?”
“It went missing.”
Marcus stared.
“You never reported that.”
“I did.”
“To Thomas.”
Adrian and Marcus looked at each other.
Thomas again.
“When?”
“June eighteenth.”
Adrian began typing.
Damian continued.
“The credential number on my current badge ends in ninety-two.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
Adrian pulled up the log.
His face changed.
“The one used at the elevator ends in forty-seven.”
Damian laughed bitterly.
“My old badge.”
Khloe stared.
“So someone had Damian’s old credential.”
“Marcus’s stolen physical badge.”
“And Isabella’s ring.”
Adrian nodded.
“One person could have staged all three.”
Damian spoke from the phone.
“Charles.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“Why does Charles have access to everything?”
“Because your mother taught him how the family hides things.”
The room went quiet.
Khloe asked.
“Why would he take Isabella?”
Damian answered.
“Because she knows too much.”
“Or because he still needs her.”
“For what?”
Damian hesitated.
Marcus noticed.
“Tell us.”
Damian’s voice dropped.
“He wants Marcus to sign the waiver.”
“We know.”
“No.”
Damian exhaled.
“You know the demand.”
“You don’t know the real reason.”
Khloe’s fingers tightened around the sheet.
“What is it?”
“The two percent isn’t the valuable part.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
Damian continued.
“The succession clause controls more than the company.”
“What else?”
“The family preservation trust.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“How much?”
Damian answered.
“Twenty-eight billion.”
Marcus stared.
Khloe stopped breathing for a moment.
Damian continued.
“Real estate.”
“Private equity.”
“International holdings.”
“Art.”
“Land.”
“Assets not listed under Thorne Capital.”
Marcus whispered.
“My mother’s trust.”
“Yes.”
Khloe looked at him.
Marcus had never known the full value.
Neither had she.
Damian continued.
“When the first heir is born, the preservation trust permanently leaves trustee discretion.”
“It becomes locked to that bloodline.”
Khloe stared at her stomach.
“Our baby controls twenty-eight billion dollars.”
“Eventually.”
Damian’s voice became darker.
“Unless Marcus waives the claim before birth.”
Marcus turned toward the monitor.
“So Charles needs the waiver before the baby is born.”
“Yes.”
Khloe whispered.
“That’s why the attack happened now.”
“Yes.”
Everything clicked.
The gala.
The suite.
The timing.
The pregnancy.
The hidden cameras.
The provocation.
They did not have months.
They had days.
Maybe hours.
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“He doesn’t want to kill me.”
Marcus stared.
Khloe continued.
“He wants you scared enough to sign.”
“Then why the syringe?”
Damian answered from the phone.
“Because if Khloe becomes medically incapacitated, Marcus can execute emergency family decisions without spousal contest.”
Khloe felt sick.
Marcus looked toward Adrian.
“You knew that?”
“No.”
Damian continued.
“Thomas does.”
Khloe whispered.
“Of course he does.”
A knock came at the door.
Security checked the person.
A nurse entered.
She handed Adrian a folded note.
“This was delivered downstairs.”
“By who?”
“Courier.”
“Name?”
“Unknown.”
Adrian opened it.
A memory card fell onto the table.
Marcus stared.
Brooks immediately bagged it.
Within minutes, they viewed the contents on an isolated hospital laptop.
A video appeared.
Isabella sat in a chair.
Her face was bruised.
A cut marked her lip.
Behind her was a concrete wall.
She looked terrified.
Not performatively terrified.
Truly terrified.
Marcus leaned closer.
Isabella spoke.
“Marcus.”
Her voice shook.
“If you’re seeing this, he has me.”
Khloe watched.
Isabella swallowed.
“I know you hate me.”
“You should.”
“I hurt Khloe.”
“I lied.”
“I thought I was in control.”
Tears appeared.
This time there was no audience to manipulate.
“I wasn’t.”
She looked toward someone off camera.
Then back.
“He told me Khloe would leave you.”
“He told me the baby wasn’t yours.”
Marcus went still.
Khloe stared.
Isabella continued quickly.
“I know that was a lie now.”
“He told me everything I wanted to hear.”
“He told me if I helped expose Khloe as unstable, you would finally see her for what she was.”
Khloe felt anger rise.
Isabella lowered her head.
“I believed him because I wanted to.”
She looked back up.
“That is on me.”
The screen shook.
A man’s voice ordered her to continue.
Isabella flinched.
“He has Evelyn.”
Marcus stepped closer.
Isabella’s eyes filled.
“She’s alive.”
“He’s kept her moving for months.”
“And Thomas…”
She stopped.
The voice off camera grew sharper.
“Continue.”
Isabella swallowed.
“Thomas didn’t start this.”
“Damian didn’t start this.”
“I did terrible things.”
“But Charles…”
She shook her head.
“He wants the child.”
Khloe froze.
Marcus’s face changed.
Isabella spoke faster.
“Not dead.”
“Alive.”
Marcus leaned toward the screen.
“What?”
Isabella looked directly into the camera.
“He needs Marcus to sign away the trust before the birth.”
“Then he needs the baby alive afterward.”
Khloe’s stomach turned.
“Why?”
Isabella answered as if she could hear her.
“Because once the waiver is signed, Charles plans to prove he is the child’s legal guardian through a sealed family directive.”
Marcus stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Damian’s voice came through the speakerphone.
“No.”
Everyone looked at it.
Damian had heard the video.
He whispered.
“It isn’t.”
Khloe felt cold.
“What sealed directive?”
Damian answered.
“The one Evelyn created before she disappeared.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“What does it say?”
Damian hesitated.
“That if Marcus is deemed incapable of protecting the heir…”
His voice became quiet.
“…custody transfers to the nearest designated Thorne guardian.”
Khloe stared at him.
“Who?”
Damian said the name.
“Charles.”
The video ended.
Then another file automatically opened.
A live camera feed.
Evelyn Thorne sat tied to a chair.
Older.
Thin.
Alive.
Marcus stopped breathing.
Beside her stood a man whose face remained hidden.
He held up a white sheet of paper.
The succession waiver.
Then a timer appeared on screen.
23:59:59.
Twenty-four hours.
And beneath it, a message.
May you like
SIGN BEFORE THE CHILD IS BORN.
OR CHOOSE WHICH WOMAN YOU LOSE FIRST.
