Chapter 10 - THE MAN BEHIND ISABELLA
Doctors filled the room.
Marcus was pushed backward.
Khloe disappeared behind moving bodies and blue gowns.
The fetal heart rate dropped.
Ninety.
Eighty-six.
Eighty.
Marcus watched numbers become terror.
The doctor called for medication.
A nurse increased fluids.
Khloe looked toward Marcus through the crowd.
He saw fear in her eyes.
Not for herself.
Never for herself.
For the baby.
The heart rate climbed.
Slowly.
Ninety-five.
One hundred.
One fifteen.
The room steadied.
The doctor looked at Khloe.
“We can’t keep doing this.”
She knew what he meant.
“How long?”
“Maybe hours.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“What are you saying?”
The doctor looked at both of them.
“If we see another prolonged deceleration, we may deliver.”
Khloe nodded.
No tears.
Not yet.
The doctor left.
Marcus sat.
His phone remained in his hand.
Khloe looked at it.
“Play the call.”
Marcus frowned.
“For Adrian.”
“And Detective Brooks.”
“We need them to hear it.”
Marcus nodded.
He had recorded the last part automatically through his security app.
Adrian arrived ten minutes later.
Brooks came behind him.
They listened twice.
Brooks focused on the threat.
Adrian focused on Evelyn’s voice.
Marcus focused on a tiny sound in the background.
A train horn.
Brooks noticed something else.
“The caller said stop looking at Isabella, Damian, and Thomas.”
Marcus nodded.
“Meaning?”
“They know exactly where the investigation is focused.”
Adrian crossed his arms.
“Or they’re involved in the investigation.”
Brooks did not take offense.
“That’s possible.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“What exactly do they want you to sign?”
“The succession trust waiver.”
Adrian frowned.
“You can’t just sign away the child’s interest.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I can waive my branch’s claim before vesting.”
Khloe stared.
“You can?”
“Yes.”
“Why would your grandfather allow that?”
“Because the waiver requires two independent family witnesses and trustee approval.”
“Who is trustee?”
Marcus and Adrian looked at each other.
Khloe already knew she would hate the answer.
Marcus said it.
“Thomas Reed.”
Khloe stared.
The man whose car had exploded.
The man nobody could find.
Adrian spoke.
“If Thomas is alive, he can approve it.”
Khloe looked toward Brooks.
“And the witnesses?”
Marcus answered.
“Damian.”
“One of several extended family members.”
Khloe’s eyes narrowed.
“So the person threatening us needs Damian.”
“Yes.”
“And Thomas.”
“Yes.”
“And Marcus.”
“Yes.”
Khloe leaned back.
“Then maybe none of them are the mastermind.”
The room fell silent.
Brooks looked at her.
“Explain.”
“If someone already controlled Damian and Thomas, they wouldn’t need to frame them.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
Khloe continued.
“They want Marcus to distrust everyone required to sign.”
Marcus frowned.
“So what?”
“So when they finally appear helpful, we’ll believe them.”
Brooks studied her.
“You think someone is manufacturing enemies to position themselves as the solution.”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked toward the floor.
“Who?”
Khloe thought of the photograph.
Evelyn alive.
Someone had kept that secret for eleven years.
Who had the power to stage a death?
Who had access to family structures before Marcus controlled them?
Who knew the trust better than Thomas?
Then Adrian’s phone buzzed.
He looked down.
“Thomas’s car.”
Brooks turned.
“What?”
“They found blood.”
Marcus stood.
“His?”
“They’re testing.”
Brooks’s own phone rang.
She answered.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Alive?”
Another pause.
“Where?”
Brooks ended the call.
“Thomas just walked into the Midtown precinct.”
Marcus stared.
“What?”
“He’s alive.”
“Then whose blood is in his car?”
Brooks shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
“Did he say what happened?”
“He says he’ll speak only to Marcus.”
Khloe immediately said no.
Marcus looked at her.
“I need to go.”
“No.”
“Khloe.”
“Your mother may be alive.”
“Someone threatened her.”
“Someone threatened our baby.”
“And now Thomas appears right after his car explodes.”
She shook her head.
“You are not walking into another controlled situation.”
Brooks nodded.
“She’s right.”
Marcus looked at the detective.
“I thought you wanted him interviewed.”
“I do.”
“But not on his terms.”
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
“Video call.”
Brooks considered it.
Then nodded.
Twenty minutes later, Thomas Reed appeared on a secure screen.
His suit was gone.
He wore a borrowed shirt.
A bandage crossed his forehead.
Marcus stared.
“What happened?”
Thomas looked older than he had the night before.
“My car was rigged.”
“By who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Thomas leaned closer.
“I expect you to believe what comes next.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Talk.”
Thomas looked toward Khloe.
“Is she there?”
Khloe moved into view.
Thomas’s face changed.
“Khloe.”
“Don’t act concerned.”
“I am concerned.”
“You represented the woman who attacked me.”
Thomas looked down.
“That was a mistake.”
Marcus laughed.
“A mistake?”
Thomas looked back up.
“I thought I could control her.”
Khloe’s eyes sharpened.
“Control Isabella?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Thomas hesitated.
Marcus slammed his palm against the table.
“Talk.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Because Isabella has been working for someone.”
Marcus looked toward Khloe.
“Who?”
Thomas swallowed.
“I don’t know his real name.”
Marcus stared.
“You traveled with her for years.”
“You moved money for her.”
“And you don’t know?”
“I knew the intermediary.”
“Who?”
Thomas’s answer came slowly.
“Charles.”
Marcus went still.
Khloe remembered.
The missing cousin.
Charles Thorne.
The man who vanished fourteen years ago.
Marcus leaned toward the screen.
“My cousin?”
Thomas nodded.
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“He never showed his face.”
“Then how do you know?”
“He knew things only Charles would know.”
“Family accounts.”
“Old properties.”
“Private language from trust documents.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why would Charles want control?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Because he believes it belongs to him.”
Marcus stared.
“He walked away.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“That’s what you were told.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“By who?”
Thomas said nothing.
Marcus understood.
“My mother.”
Thomas looked down.
Khloe felt the room change.
“What happened fourteen years ago?”
Thomas’s voice became quiet.
“Charles discovered something.”
“What?”
“That Evelyn had altered the succession structure after your father died.”
Marcus’s hands tightened.
“She couldn’t do that alone.”
“No.”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“I helped her.”
Khloe stared.
“Why?”
“We believed we were protecting the company.”
“From what?”
Thomas looked directly at Marcus.
“From Damian.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Thomas continued.
“Evelyn believed Damian would destroy Marcus if he ever controlled the family trust.”
“So she shifted power toward Marcus’s future child.”
Khloe touched her stomach.
“The two percent.”
“Yes.”
Marcus stared.
“Charles found out.”
“He threatened to expose it.”
“Then what?”
Thomas went silent.
Marcus leaned closer.
“What happened to Charles?”
Thomas whispered.
“Evelyn made him disappear.”
Khloe’s blood ran cold.
Marcus shook his head.
“My mother wouldn’t—”
Thomas interrupted.
“You don’t know what your mother would do.”
The words hit Marcus hard.
Thomas continued.
“She protected you by any means necessary.”
“She protected the company the same way.”
Marcus stared.
“Is she alive?”
Thomas’s face changed.
That was answer enough.
Marcus stood.
“You knew.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“You knew my mother was alive.”
“Yes.”
Marcus shoved the chair backward.
Khloe grabbed his hand.
Marcus did not feel it.
“Eleven years.”
Thomas nodded.
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn ordered it.”
Marcus looked ready to destroy the screen.
Khloe spoke first.
“Where is she?”
Thomas looked at her.
“I don’t know anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“She left our protection eight months ago.”
“The Geneva bank.”
Thomas nodded.
“She contacted someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus laughed in disbelief.
“You seem to know nothing.”
Thomas’s expression darkened.
“I know enough to tell you Charles is not the man you remember.”
Marcus stared.
“What does he want?”
“The trust.”
“Why?”
“Because he believes your mother stole his life.”
Khloe frowned.
“How does Isabella fit?”
Thomas took a breath.
“Charles found her after Marcus ended things.”
“He knew she was obsessed.”
“He fed that obsession.”
“He told her Khloe had stolen Marcus.”
“He told her the baby would make Khloe untouchable.”
“And he promised her…”
Thomas stopped.
Khloe knew.
“Marcus.”
Thomas nodded.
Marcus looked sick.
“He promised her me.”
“Yes.”
Khloe whispered.
“She wasn’t trying to destroy our marriage.”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“She thought she was clearing the way into it.”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“And the attack?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Was never supposed to happen like that.”
Khloe’s eyes narrowed.
“What was supposed to happen?”
Thomas looked terrified now.
“Isabella was supposed to provoke you.”
“Make you look unstable.”
“Get footage of you threatening her.”
“Maybe touching her.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Then why did she attack me?”
“Because she lost control.”
Thomas swallowed.
“And because Charles changed the plan.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“How do you know?”
“He sent me one message.”
“What did it say?”
Thomas looked at Marcus.
“Your heir cannot be allowed to breathe.”
Silence.
Khloe instinctively covered her stomach.
Marcus’s face changed into something dangerous.
Brooks leaned toward the screen.
“Mr. Reed, preserve that message.”
Thomas nodded.
“There’s more.”
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Thomas looked toward Khloe.
“Evelyn contacted me three days ago.”
Marcus stopped.
“What did she say?”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“She said Charles found her.”
Khloe’s stomach turned.
“And?”
Thomas’s eyes filled with fear.
“She said the woman everyone thinks is Isabella’s biggest enemy…”
He paused.
“…is the only person who knows where Charles is.”
Marcus frowned.
“Who?”
Thomas answered.
“Isabella.”
At that exact moment, Detective Brooks’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed immediately.
“Repeat that.”
Marcus watched her.
Brooks ended the call.
“What?”
May you like
She looked directly at him.
“Isabella Rossi has disappeared.”
