Chapter 9 - THE SECOND ATTACK
Marcus did not believe in ghosts.
He believed in money.
Paperwork.
Leverage.
Human weakness.
Yet the woman in the photograph had his dead mother’s face.
Khloe watched him enlarge the image.
Again.
Again.
Again.
“Could it be old?”
Marcus shook his head.
“The bank confirmed the date.”
“Could it be someone who looks like her?”
Marcus stared.
“She has the brooch.”
Khloe frowned.
“What brooch?”
“My grandmother’s.”
Marcus touched the screen.
“She wore it every Christmas.”
“After she died, it disappeared.”
Adrian folded his arms.
“That proves someone has her jewelry.”
“No.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It proves more than that.”
He zoomed in on the woman’s left hand.
A crooked little finger.
Barely noticeable.
“My mother broke that finger when she was nineteen.”
“It never healed straight.”
Khloe’s stomach tightened.
Adrian looked again.
The finger was bent.
Marcus whispered.
“She’s alive.”
The words felt impossible.
Khloe looked toward the fetal monitor.
Everything around her was becoming impossible.
Then the monitor changed.
One moment, the heartbeat was steady.
The next, it slowed.
Khloe heard the difference instantly.
“Marcus.”
He turned.
The nurse was already moving.
The doctor entered seconds later.
“Roll her left.”
Nurses repositioned Khloe.
Marcus stepped back.
“What’s happening?”
“Heart rate deceleration.”
Khloe gripped the sheet.
The sound became slower.
Marcus stared at the monitor.
“Do something.”
“We are.”
The doctor adjusted oxygen.
Khloe looked at him.
“Is the baby okay?”
“Stay with me.”
“Doctor.”
“Stay with me.”
The heartbeat slowed again.
Khloe closed her eyes.
“Come on.”
Marcus heard her whispering.
“Come on, baby.”
“Come on.”
Then the rhythm climbed.
One hundred.
One ten.
One twenty.
The room exhaled.
The doctor did not relax.
“We’re moving you to labor and delivery.”
Khloe stared.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Are we delivering?”
“Not yet.”
The doctor’s eyes made the rest clear.
But they were getting closer.
Khloe’s bed was moved within minutes.
Security cleared the hallway first.
No visitors.
No unapproved staff.
No exceptions.
Marcus walked beside her.
Adrian followed.
As the elevator doors closed, Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Your mother can wait.”
Marcus stared.
“Khloe.”
“She has waited eleven years.”
Khloe touched her stomach.
“Our baby might not have eleven minutes.”
Marcus took her hand.
This time, the argument disappeared.
In the new room, every person entering had their badge checked twice.
The nurse introduced herself.
The anesthesiologist did too.
Security remained outside.
Detective Brooks stationed an officer near the service entrance.
Adrian personally reviewed the medication cart.
They had learned paranoia was sometimes just delayed intelligence.
Two hours passed.
Khloe stabilized.
The baby stabilized.
Marcus sat beside her.
Neither slept.
At 2:17 in the afternoon, Brooks entered.
“We found Rachel Cross.”
Khloe’s eyes opened.
“For real this time?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Brooklyn.”
Marcus stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Brooks looked uneasy.
“But she says she never came to the hospital.”
Khloe frowned.
“I saw her.”
“She says you saw someone pretending to be her.”
“What?”
Brooks opened a folder.
“We pulled transportation records.”
“Rachel’s phone places her in Brooklyn all night.”
“Apartment cameras show her entering at 8:03.”
“She didn’t leave until police arrived this afternoon.”
Marcus crossed his arms.
“Phones can be left behind.”
“Cameras can be edited.”
“Yes.”
Brooks nodded.
“That’s why we checked a neighbor’s door camera and street traffic cameras.”
“Same result.”
Khloe stared.
“Then who attacked me?”
Brooks looked at Adrian.
“Someone made to look like Rachel.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
“To point us toward Thomas.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“Just like the elevator pointed at Damian.”
Brooks nodded.
“And your missing badge pointed at Isabella.”
Khloe whispered.
“Someone is framing all of them.”
“Maybe.”
Brooks closed the folder.
“Or someone is building confusion.”
Adrian leaned against the wall.
“Make every suspect look guilty.”
“So nobody knows which evidence to trust.”
Brooks nodded.
Marcus looked toward the floor.
“Who benefits from all of us turning on each other?”
No one answered.
Khloe did.
“Someone outside the circle.”
Marcus looked at her.
She continued.
“Isabella thinks Damian is helping her.”
“Damian thinks Thomas is protecting him.”
“Thomas thinks…”
Khloe stopped.
“What does Thomas think?”
Brooks looked toward her.
“We’re trying to find out.”
“Where is he?”
“He left the hospital.”
Marcus stared.
“You let him leave?”
“He wasn’t under arrest.”
“Where did he go?”
Brooks’s expression hardened.
“That’s the problem.”
“We don’t know.”
Marcus turned toward Adrian.
“Track his car.”
Brooks raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because twenty minutes ago, Thomas Reed’s car exploded in a parking structure.”
Khloe’s face drained.
Marcus stared.
“Was he in it?”
Brooks shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
Khloe whispered.
“This is getting worse.”
“Yes.”
Brooks did not soften it.
“It is.”
Marcus looked toward the fetal monitor.
Someone had escalated.
Again.
A missing section of video.
A fake nurse.
A planted badge.
A dead mother alive on camera.
Now an exploding vehicle.
Nothing was random.
That was the terrifying part.
At 4:40, Isabella’s attorney filed an emergency motion demanding protection from Marcus.
The motion claimed Marcus had threatened her.
The filing leaked online before Marcus’s lawyers even received it.
By 5:05, the story had shifted again.
BILLIONAIRE THORNE ACCUSED OF INTIMIDATING KEY WITNESS.
Khloe stared at the television.
“Turn it off.”
Marcus did.
Khloe looked at him.
“She’s winning the public story.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“She’s buying time.”
“For what?”
Marcus did not know.
At 5:13, Isabella walked out of the hospital through a side entrance.
Police had not charged her beyond a preliminary assault complaint because the missing footage complicated the full sequence.
Her lawyers argued self-defense.
Her publicist positioned her as a victim.
Outside, reporters shouted questions.
Isabella stopped.
That surprised everyone.
She looked directly into the cameras.
“My thoughts are with Khloe and her baby.”
Inside Khloe’s room, Marcus stared at the television he had turned back on.
Isabella continued.
“I wish the truth were simple.”
Khloe’s jaw tightened.
“But sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones who know exactly how to appear innocent.”
Marcus reached for the remote.
Khloe stopped him.
“No.”
“I want to hear her.”
Isabella’s eyes glistened.
“I will cooperate with law enforcement.”
“And I will not be bullied into silence.”
Then she walked away.
Khloe stared.
“She practiced that.”
“Yes.”
Marcus’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
Marcus stood.
“Who is this?”
The line remained silent.
Then a woman spoke.
Older.
Weak.
“Marcus?”
His face went blank.
Khloe watched him.
“Who is it?”
Marcus could not answer.
The woman on the phone began crying.
“My boy.”
Marcus nearly dropped the phone.
Khloe sat up.
“Marcus.”
He whispered.
“Mom?”
The line went silent.
Then a man’s voice replaced hers.
Distorted.
Calm.
“If you want to see Evelyn alive, stop looking at Isabella.”
Marcus stared ahead.
The voice continued.
“Stop looking at Damian.”
“Stop looking at Thomas.”
Khloe felt cold.
Marcus’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Who are you?”
The man ignored him.
“You have twenty-four hours.”
“For what?”
“To sign away control of the succession trust.”
Marcus looked at Khloe.
Her hand moved protectively over her stomach.
The voice spoke one final sentence.
“Or your mother dies for real this time.”
The line disconnected.
For five seconds, Marcus stood frozen.
May you like
Then Khloe’s monitor alarm screamed again.
This time, the baby’s heartbeat did not recover quickly.
