Chapter 13 - THE MAN AT THE AIRPORT
Adrian didn’t make it out of the country.
Investigators located him at the airport while the financial crimes team was obtaining warrants.
He was taken into custody later that morning on charges connected to the diverted funds.
There would be more interviews.
More records.
More arguments over what could be proved.
Marcus heard the news while standing outside the neonatal unit, scrubbing his hands for the third time because he couldn’t remember whether he had done it properly.
Inside, Noah slept beneath soft light.
Khloe sat beside him in a wheelchair.
She looked pale and furious and impossibly gentle.
“Did they find him?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Then she turned back to their son.
The case no longer filled the room.
Noah did.
The way his chest moved.
The way the nurses checked every tube.
The way Khloe whispered apologies he was too small to understand.
On the fourth day, a nurse helped her hold him against her chest.
Marcus stood nearby with tears running down his face.
Khloe looked up.
“Come here.”
He sat beside her.
Noah’s hand rested against one of his fingers.
For the first time since the gala, Marcus felt something that wasn’t fear or shame.
Then Khloe said, “I’m going to Rachel’s when I’m discharged.”
He looked at her.
She kept her eyes on Noah.
“I need somewhere I can breathe.”
“Okay.”
“You can come to the hospital. We’ll work out everything else.”
“Okay.”
She finally turned.
“You don’t get to be good for a week and call us fixed.”
“I know.”
He meant it.
That afternoon, their attorney arrived with information from investigators.
Adrian had begun blaming Isabella.
He claimed the payments were legitimate consulting fees and that she had invented the plan to discredit Khloe.
Isabella, through counsel, claimed Adrian had directed the campaign.
“They’re turning on each other,” Rachel said.
“Possibly,” the attorney replied. “That doesn’t mean either is telling the whole truth.”
Khloe leaned back.
“What do they agree on?”
The attorney hesitated.
Marcus noticed.
“Tell us.”
“They both say you knew the foundation accounts were being used improperly.”
Marcus stared at him.
Then the attorney placed a printed email on the table.
It came from Marcus’s account.
May you like
And the final sentence read:
Do whatever it takes to keep Khloe out of this.
