Chapter 4 - THE PRICE OF KEEPING QUIET
Adrian arrived carrying a gray folder and the calm expression Marcus usually found reassuring.
Tonight, it made him want to break something.
“How is she?”
“Ask about my son too.”
Adrian paused.
“Of course. Both of them.”
Marcus stayed in front of Khloe’s door.
“What is Bellwether?”
“A contracted services provider.”
“Three families didn’t receive their grants.”
“Then we’ll correct the administrative issue.”
“Isabella attacked my wife over an administrative issue?”
“Careful. We don’t know that.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“I know my wife.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Then protect her. The last thing she needs is a public scandal while she’s in a hospital bed.”
He opened the folder.
Inside was a draft statement.
A private disagreement escalated during an emotionally difficult evening.
Marcus read it twice.
“Who wrote this?”
“Communications prepared options.”
“Before anyone asked Khloe what happened?”
“We’re trying to keep this contained.”
Marcus took the folder.
For half a second, Adrian looked relieved.
Then Marcus handed it to Detective Ortiz, who had just stepped out of the elevator.
“Someone prepared this while my wife was being treated.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“That document is confidential.”
Ortiz glanced at it.
“Then you can explain the circumstances under which you gave it to him.”
Back inside, Khloe listened without interrupting.
When Marcus finished, she asked for her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling my sister.”
“Rachel’s three hours away.”
“Then she should leave now.”
He nodded.
Khloe noticed.
“You’re not going to tell me I’m overreacting?”
“No.”
Her sister answered on the second ring.
Khloe made it through the first sentence before her voice broke.
Rachel didn’t ask whether Marcus was handling it.
She asked which hospital.
After the call, Marcus placed Khloe’s purse within reach.
A folded envelope slipped from the side pocket.
He picked it up.
“Is this yours?”
Khloe frowned.
“I’ve never seen it.”
Inside was a copy of a proposed marital separation agreement.
Her name was typed beneath a signature line.
The date was three weeks earlier.
Attached was an unsigned authorization allowing a named representative to arrange temporary care for the baby after birth.
The named representative was Isabella Rossi.
Khloe stared at the page.
Then at Marcus.
“Why does she have paperwork about taking our son?”
He looked at the documents, then back at his wife.
May you like
“I don’t know.”
For once, the truth sounded worse than any lie he could have told.
