Chapter 3 - FORTY-SEVEN SECONDS
Marcus did not raise his voice.
That was how Adrian knew he was truly angry.
“Show me.”
Adrian held up the tablet.
Marcus reached for it.
Khloe stopped him.
“No.”
Both men looked at her.
Khloe’s face was pale, but her voice had sharpened.
“I want to see it too.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Khloe.”
“She attacked me.”
“I know.”
“She lied about it.”
“I know.”
“And now part of the recording is missing from an account carrying my husband’s name.”
She looked at Adrian.
“I’m watching.”
Adrian pulled a chair closer.
Then he placed the tablet where all three could see it.
The video began.
Khloe entered the suite alone.
She moved slowly.
One hand pressed against her lower back.
She took off her earrings.
She poured water.
She stood beside the window.
Then the door opened.
Isabella entered.
The audio was clear.
“You were never supposed to stand beside him.”
Khloe watched herself on the screen.
The memory felt different from the video.
Smaller.
Colder.
More deliberate.
The camera showed Isabella closing the distance between them.
It showed Khloe telling her to leave.
Then Isabella’s hands drove forward.
Khloe stumbled into the table.
The crystal glass fell.
The video jumped.
The timestamp changed.
Forty-seven seconds.
Gone.
When the picture returned, Khloe was on the floor.
Isabella stood above her.
Then the door opened.
Marcus entered.
Khloe’s stomach tightened.
She looked away.
Marcus did not.
He watched the entire recording.
He watched Isabella transform.
He watched her begin crying.
He listened as she said Khloe had attacked her.
Then Adrian stopped the video.
Marcus’s eyes were dark.
“There has to be a backup.”
“There usually is.”
“Usually?”
Adrian nodded.
“The executive wing keeps three layers.”
“Local cache.”
“Central archive.”
“Off-site encrypted backup.”
Marcus stared at him.
“And?”
“The local copy is missing the forty-seven seconds.”
“The central copy is missing the same forty-seven seconds.”
“What about off-site?”
Adrian’s silence answered first.
Marcus stepped closer.
“What about it?”
“It never received that segment.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“So someone interrupted the feed before backup.”
“Yes.”
“Remotely?”
“Possibly.”
“From my administrator account?”
“Yes.”
Khloe watched them.
“What exactly can Marcus’s account do?”
Adrian looked at her.
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
“His account should not exist in our hospital system.”
Marcus frowned.
“I’m not hospital staff.”
“No.”
Adrian turned the tablet around.
“But three months ago, a temporary executive access profile was created under your name.”
Marcus stared at it.
“For what?”
“According to the system, philanthropic donor oversight.”
“I never requested that.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I approve those requests.”
Khloe whispered.
“And you didn’t approve this one.”
“No.”
The fetal monitor quickened.
The nurse looked inside.
Khloe closed her eyes and breathed slowly until the rhythm stabilized.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“There’s more.”
Marcus gave a humorless laugh.
“Of course there is.”
“The account was used four times.”
“When?”
“Twice last month.”
“Once six days ago.”
“And tonight.”
Khloe opened her eyes.
“To do what?”
Adrian tapped the screen.
“Last month it accessed camera locations on the executive floor.”
“Six days ago, it accessed suite scheduling.”
“And tonight…”
He paused.
“It issued the deletion command.”
Khloe stared at Marcus.
He looked sick.
Someone had used his identity to prepare the room.
Not to react to the attack.
To prepare for it.
Adrian put the tablet down.
“This wasn’t impulsive.”
Khloe’s eyes moved toward him.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying someone checked the cameras.”
“Someone checked the room schedule.”
“Someone made sure Isabella knew where you would be.”
Marcus looked toward the door.
“And someone knew exactly which forty-seven seconds to erase.”
Adrian nodded.
Khloe’s voice became very quiet.
“The kick.”
Neither man answered.
“The missing part is the kick.”
Marcus clenched his hands.
Khloe continued.
“The shove is bad.”
“But the kick is what proves she kept attacking after I was already hurt.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“It would also support a more serious criminal charge.”
Khloe looked toward the ceiling.
“She knew.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Isabella isn’t capable of hacking a hospital network.”
“No.”
Adrian leaned back.
“But she doesn’t have to be.”
The door opened.
A security officer entered.
“Mr. Vale.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“The police are downstairs.”
“Bring them up.”
“There’s another issue.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
The officer looked toward Khloe.
Then at Marcus.
“Ms. Rossi has counsel.”
Marcus gave a short laugh.
“She found a lawyer in twenty minutes?”
The officer hesitated.
“Not just a lawyer.”
“Who?”
“Thomas Reed.”
Marcus stopped moving.
Khloe recognized the name.
Everyone in Marcus’s world did.
Thomas Reed was not a criminal defense attorney.
He was the Thorne family’s longtime general counsel.
The man who had negotiated Marcus’s corporate contracts.
The man who had reviewed their prenup.
The man who had sat six rows behind them at their wedding.
Khloe stared at Marcus.
“Why is your family attorney representing the woman who attacked me?”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“I have no idea.”
Adrian was already walking toward the door.
“I’m about to find out.”
Marcus followed.
Khloe called after him.
“No.”
Marcus stopped.
She looked directly at him.
“Do not confront anyone alone.”
Marcus almost argued.
Then he saw her expression.
“Fine.”
Adrian nodded toward the security officer.
“Keep two people on this door.”
“No exceptions.”
Marcus turned back toward Khloe.
“I’ll be ten minutes.”
Khloe said nothing.
He left.
In the hallway, Adrian walked fast.
Marcus kept pace.
“Thomas has represented my family for twenty-three years.”
Adrian did not look at him.
“Then tonight would be a strange time for him to develop compassion for Isabella.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“You think he’s involved.”
“I think nobody does something this strange without a reason.”
They reached the executive waiting area.
Isabella sat on a leather sofa.
Her red gown had been covered by a gray hospital blanket.
Thomas Reed sat beside her.
At sixty-one, Thomas looked exactly as he always did.
Silver hair.
Navy suit.
Calm face.
The appearance of a man who never entered a room without knowing where the exits were.
He stood when Marcus approached.
“Marcus.”
Marcus stopped six feet away.
“Why are you representing her?”
Thomas did not blink.
“Because she requested counsel.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“She contacted the firm.”
“My firm.”
“Your family’s firm.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“The woman attacked my wife.”
Thomas glanced toward Isabella.
“That has not been established.”
Adrian nearly smiled.
“You should choose your words more carefully.”
Thomas turned.
“Adrian.”
“You’re sitting in my hospital defending a woman recorded shoving my pregnant niece into a table.”
Thomas remained calm.
“I was told the recording is incomplete.”
Isabella looked down.
Marcus noticed.
“How did you know that?”
Thomas’s eyes returned to him.
“Excuse me?”
“The police haven’t seen the footage.”
“Isabella hasn’t seen it.”
“The security team was told not to discuss it.”
Marcus’s voice lowered.
“How did you know the recording was incomplete?”
For the first time, Thomas’s composure shifted.
Only slightly.
“I assumed.”
Adrian laughed once.
“No.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You didn’t.”
Isabella stood.
“This is harassment.”
Marcus turned toward her.
“You should sit down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Then leave.”
Thomas immediately stepped between them.
“She’s not speaking without officers present.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You’re protecting her from me?”
“I’m protecting everyone from making this worse.”
Marcus looked past him.
“Isabella.”
She raised her chin.
“Who told you Khloe was in that suite?”
Thomas turned.
“Do not answer.”
Marcus continued.
“Who gave you access to the floor?”
“Marcus.”
“Who told you there was a camera?”
Isabella’s face tightened.
Thomas stepped forward.
“This conversation is over.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Not even close.”
Two detectives appeared from the elevator.
Thomas turned toward them.
Adrian watched Isabella.
She seemed relieved.
That was another thing he stored away.
One detective introduced herself.
“Detective Lena Brooks.”
The other was Detective Aaron Cole.
Brooks looked toward Isabella.
“We’d like to speak with you.”
Thomas nodded.
“My client will cooperate within reason.”
Brooks looked at him.
“And you are?”
“Thomas Reed.”
“Counsel for Ms. Rossi.”
Brooks opened her notebook.
“Since when?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Tonight.”
“How long ago tonight?”
Thomas glanced at his watch.
“Approximately twenty-five minutes.”
Detective Brooks wrote it down.
Then she looked at Isabella.
“Who called him?”
Isabella spoke before Thomas could stop her.
“He called me.”
Every person in the hallway went still.
Thomas slowly turned toward her.
Isabella realized what she had said.
Marcus stared at Thomas.
“You called her.”
Thomas did not answer.
Detective Brooks looked interested now.
“What time did you contact Ms. Rossi?”
Thomas adjusted his cuff.
“I’d have to check.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“No.”
His voice was almost a whisper.
“You’re going to check now.”
Thomas looked at him.
“This isn’t the place.”
Marcus laughed without humor.
“My wife is upstairs because Isabella attacked her.”
“My name was used to erase evidence.”
“And my family attorney somehow called Isabella before she asked him to represent her.”
He leaned closer.
“Tell me where the appropriate place is.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
Then his phone vibrated.
Everyone looked at it.
Thomas did not move.
It vibrated again.
Detective Brooks held out her hand.
“Mr. Reed.”
Thomas smiled.
“You know I’m not handing you my phone without a warrant.”
Brooks smiled back.
“I didn’t ask for your phone.”
She nodded toward the screen.
“I was curious who keeps calling.”
Thomas looked down.
For the briefest moment, Adrian saw the name reflected in the black glass wall behind him.
Only part of it.
D. THORNE.
Thomas declined the call.
Adrian said nothing.
Not yet.
Marcus had not seen it.
Isabella had.
And the moment she saw the name, all the color left her face.
Upstairs, Khloe lay alone beneath dimmed lights.
The fetal monitor continued its steady rhythm.
A nurse entered quietly.
“Mrs. Thorne?”
Khloe opened her eyes.
The woman smiled.
“I’m just adjusting your IV.”
Khloe nodded.
The nurse stepped beside the bed.
She reached toward the line.
Then Khloe noticed something.
The woman’s badge was turned backward.
Khloe looked at her face.
“I haven’t seen you before.”
The woman paused.
“I’m from the night team.”
Khloe glanced toward the door.
“Where is my nurse?”
“She asked me to cover.”
Khloe’s instincts screamed.
She reached for the call button.
The woman’s hand moved faster.
She caught Khloe’s wrist.
Khloe stared at her.
The woman’s smile disappeared.
“Don’t.”
Khloe’s heart slammed against her ribs.
Outside the room, one security guard suddenly received a radio call directing him to the elevator.
The second guard looked down the hallway.
For seven seconds, both guards looked away from Khloe’s door.
May you like
Inside, the fake nurse reached into her pocket.
And pulled out a syringe.
