Chapter 7 - WHAT MARCUS NEVER TOLD HER
Marcus picked up the envelope using a hospital towel.
Adrian stopped him before he opened it.
“Gloves.”
Marcus stared at the envelope.
“It came under the door.”
“I know.”
“Someone was standing ten feet from us.”
“I know.”
Adrian called security.
The hallway was locked down again.
When the evidence technician finally opened the envelope, only one photograph was inside.
Khloe asleep in her bed.
Marcus beside her.
The timestamp printed along the bottom was six weeks old.
Khloe stared at it.
Her bedroom curtains were visible.
The angle came from the doorway.
Someone had been inside their Manhattan home.
Marcus looked sick.
“Who has access to the house?”
Khloe laughed bitterly.
“You.”
“Me.”
“Housekeeping.”
“Security.”
“Your mother.”
“Damian.”
“Thomas.”
“Half your executive team.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
The list was too long.
Adrian looked at the back of the photograph.
Four words had been written in black ink.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED.
Khloe read them twice.
Listened to whom?
Isabella?
Marcus?
Someone else?
Detective Brooks bagged the photograph.
“We’re sending a team to your residence.”
Marcus nodded.
“No one touches anything without me.”
Brooks looked at him.
“You’re not leaving the hospital.”
“That’s my house.”
“And your wife may need an emergency delivery.”
Marcus looked at Khloe.
The argument died.
Brooks continued.
“We’ll handle the house.”
Khloe watched the detective.
“Check the nursery.”
Marcus turned.
“Khloe.”
She looked at him.
“If someone entered our bedroom, they could have entered the nursery.”
Marcus’s face changed.
The nursery.
They had spent three months preparing it.
Soft gray walls.
A white crib.
A bookshelf Marcus assembled himself after refusing to let anyone else do it.
A small brass mobile shaped like stars.
Khloe’s mother’s old rocking chair.
Suddenly every object felt contaminated.
Brooks nodded.
“We’ll check everything.”
The doctor entered.
“Mrs. Thorne, we need to talk.”
Khloe’s stomach tightened.
The doctor pulled up a chair.
“The baby is stable.”
Marcus exhaled.
Khloe waited.
“But?”
The doctor looked at her.
“But the separation is larger.”
“How much larger?”
“Enough that I want you here until delivery.”
“When?”
“We’re going to try to keep the pregnancy going.”
“How long?”
“As long as safely possible.”
Khloe’s eyes moved toward the monitor.
“Days?”
“Hopefully.”
“Weeks?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Possibly.”
Khloe heard what he was not saying.
Maybe not.
The doctor continued.
“If you have significant bleeding.”
“If the fetal heart tracing deteriorates.”
“If your blood pressure drops.”
“We deliver immediately.”
Khloe nodded.
Marcus asked the question she could not.
“What are the odds?”
The doctor looked at him.
“At this stage, neonatal outcomes are often good with specialized care.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Khloe turned.
“Marcus.”
He stopped.
She looked back at the doctor.
“I don’t want percentages.”
The doctor nodded.
“Then I’ll tell you this.”
“We have a strong team.”
“We have the right equipment.”
“And right now your baby is fighting.”
Khloe placed one hand over her stomach.
“So am I.”
After the doctor left, Khloe asked Marcus to stay.
Adrian understood.
He left without comment.
Marcus sat beside the bed.
Khloe did not look at him.
“Tell me everything about Isabella.”
Marcus swallowed.
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“No protecting me.”
“No deciding what matters.”
“No telling me something was nothing.”
Marcus nodded.
So he began.
He met Isabella when they were twenty-eight.
She had been working in art acquisitions for a luxury hotel group.
Beautiful.
Connected.
Ambitious.
Their families knew each other socially.
They slept together once after a party in Paris.
Isabella wanted more.
Marcus did not.
At least that was how he had told himself the story.
Khloe listened.
“Did you lead her on?”
Marcus paused.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
“How?”
“I kept calling her.”
“Why?”
“I liked the attention.”
Khloe looked at him.
Marcus forced himself not to look away.
“I wasn’t proud of who I was then.”
“That doesn’t answer anything.”
“I know.”
He continued.
For about four months, Marcus and Isabella moved in and out of the same social circle.
There were dinners.
Flights.
Parties.
Private messages.
Nothing official.
Nothing completely innocent.
Then Marcus ended it.
Isabella did not accept the ending.
“She showed up at my apartment twice.”
“She called constantly.”
“She sent gifts.”
Khloe frowned.
“You never told me any of this.”
“I was embarrassed.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
Khloe appreciated the truth and hated that she did.
“What stopped her?”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“Damian.”
Khloe went still.
“What did Damian do?”
“I asked him to speak to her.”
“Why him?”
“He had known her family longer.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“But after that, she disappeared from my life for almost a year.”
Khloe stared.
“And then?”
“I met you.”
Khloe almost smiled.
Almost.
“And when did Isabella return?”
“Three months before our wedding.”
Khloe’s eyes sharpened.
“Three months?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you said she reentered your circle last year.”
“I lied.”
The word came without excuse.
Khloe’s eyes filled.
Marcus continued before fear could stop him.
“She called me before the wedding.”
“What did she want?”
“To meet.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did she threaten you?”
“No.”
“What did she say?”
Marcus looked toward the window.
“She said I was making a mistake.”
Khloe’s face hardened.
“Meaning me.”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her never to contact me again.”
“And then?”
“She sent one message.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Khloe waited.
“What did it say?”
“She said one day I would understand why she was trying to save me.”
Khloe stared.
“That was three months before our wedding.”
“Yes.”
“And you married me without telling me a woman you had slept with was saying that.”
“Yes.”
Khloe looked away.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then she asked the question that scared Marcus most.
“Why did Damian help you get rid of her?”
Marcus frowned.
“I told you.”
“No.”
“You told me he spoke to her.”
“Why would Damian care?”
Marcus sat back.
Khloe continued.
“You said you and Damian were never close.”
“Correct.”
“So why would your calculating half-brother do you a personal favor involving a woman who wanted you?”
Marcus had no answer.
That was the problem.
Khloe watched him realize it.
“Maybe it wasn’t a favor.”
Marcus stood.
He walked toward the window.
Khloe continued.
“Maybe Damian didn’t make Isabella disappear.”
“Maybe he recruited her.”
Marcus turned.
Khloe’s voice was steady now.
“You said she vanished for a year.”
“What happened during that year?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
He nodded.
Then his phone rang.
Damian.
Marcus and Khloe looked at each other.
“Answer.”
Marcus did.
“Hello.”
Damian’s voice was different this time.
No smooth patience.
No polite concern.
“You need to control Adrian.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“He’s going through company records.”
Marcus looked toward Khloe.
“How do you know?”
“Because my general counsel called me.”
“Thomas?”
“No.”
Damian paused.
“My personal counsel.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“What records?”
“Access logs.”
“Travel.”
“Expense reports.”
“Staff assignments.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Then he’s doing exactly what I asked.”
Damian’s voice dropped.
“You asked him?”
“Yes.”
A silence followed.
Then Damian spoke slowly.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Marcus glanced toward Khloe.
“Then enlighten me.”
“Stop investigating the trust.”
Khloe’s eyes sharpened.
Marcus sat down.
“I didn’t say anything about the trust.”
Damian realized his mistake.
This time, he did not recover quickly.
Marcus continued.
“Why are you worried about it?”
“I’m not.”
“You called me.”
“Because Adrian is creating panic inside the company.”
“No.”
Marcus’s voice hardened.
“You called because someone told you we found the motive.”
Damian laughed.
“You think the baby is a motive?”
Khloe felt cold.
Marcus did too.
“I never said baby.”
Silence.
A long silence.
Then Damian exhaled.
“Marcus.”
“No.”
Marcus stood.
“You listen to me.”
“If you had anything to do with what happened to my wife…”
Damian interrupted.
“You still think this is about Isabella.”
Marcus stopped.
Khloe’s eyes widened.
Damian realized he had said too much.
Marcus whispered.
“What did you just say?”
Another silence.
Then Damian ended the call.
Marcus stared at the phone.
Khloe’s heartbeat raced.
“He knows.”
Marcus nodded.
But something about the call bothered Khloe.
Damian did not sound victorious.
He sounded afraid.
Not afraid of Marcus.
Afraid Marcus was looking in the wrong place.
Five minutes later, Adrian returned carrying a file.
“I found something.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
“Travel records.”
Khloe remembered her question.
“What happened during the year Isabella disappeared?”
Adrian nodded.
“Isabella spent seven months in Europe.”
“Paris.”
“Geneva.”
“Monaco.”
Marcus frowned.
“So?”
“She didn’t travel alone.”
Adrian opened the folder.
He placed two hotel records on the bed.
Same dates.
Same hotels.
Khloe looked at the second name.
It was not Damian.
It was Thomas Reed.
Marcus stared.
“Thomas was with her?”
“Fourteen overlapping trips.”
Marcus went pale.
Khloe whispered.
“That wasn’t business.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what was it?”
Adrian opened one more page.
“A private foundation in Geneva paid Isabella almost two million dollars during that year.”
Marcus stared.
“Whose foundation?”
Adrian looked at him.
“That’s where it gets worse.”
He slid the document forward.
The foundation’s controlling beneficiary was hidden behind an offshore trust.
But one authorized signer remained visible.
Marcus read the name.
His entire body went still.
Khloe leaned closer.
The signer was not Damian.
Not Thomas.
Not Isabella.
May you like
It was Marcus Thorne’s late mother.
A woman who had supposedly been dead for eleven years.
