Chapter 1: The Camera Never Blinked
For several seconds, no one moved.
The small red light above the hospital-suite doors continued to blink, quietly recording Isabella’s fading confidence.
Marcus kept one arm around Khloe’s shoulders. His other hand rested protectively over hers as she held her stomach.
“Marcus,” Khloe whispered, her voice unsteady. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
Every trace of anger disappeared from his face.
He carefully lifted her into his arms.
“Call Dr. Bennett,” he ordered the nurse standing frozen near the doorway. “Now.”
Isabella took one step backward.
“This is ridiculous,” she said. “She slipped. You saw the floor. Those heels are impossible to walk in.”
Marcus turned toward her.
“I saw you standing over my wife.”
“You didn’t see what happened before that.”
“No,” Marcus replied. “But the camera did.”
Two hospital security officers entered the hallway. Isabella’s expression hardened.
“You can’t detain me,” she snapped. “Do you have any idea who my family is?”
Marcus didn’t even look at her.
“Keep her here until the police arrive.”
The officers moved between Isabella and the exit.
Her composure finally cracked.
“You’re choosing her after everything I’ve done for you?”
Marcus stopped.
Khloe heard the question too.
A cold silence spread through the hallway.
Marcus slowly turned back.
“What exactly have you done for me?”
Isabella laughed bitterly.
“Ask your husband why I was invited tonight, Khloe.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
He didn’t answer immediately.
That brief hesitation hurt more than Isabella’s words.
“Marcus?” Khloe asked.
Before he could respond, Dr. Evelyn Bennett rushed into the hallway with two nurses and a wheelchair.
“We need to examine her immediately.”
Marcus carried Khloe into the private treatment room and placed her gently on the bed. A nurse attached monitors while Dr. Bennett checked Khloe’s blood pressure and listened to the baby’s heartbeat.
The room filled with a fast, rhythmic sound.
Khloe closed her eyes.
The baby was still there.
Still fighting.
Marcus stood beside her, gripping the edge of the bed so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
“The heartbeat is stable,” Dr. Bennett said. “But Khloe’s blood pressure is elevated. We’re keeping her overnight for observation.”
“Is the baby safe?” Marcus asked.
“At this moment, yes. She needs rest and absolutely no more stress.”
Khloe opened her eyes and stared at her husband.
“Why was Isabella invited?”
Dr. Bennett glanced between them before quietly leading the nurses from the room.
Marcus pulled a chair closer.
“I didn’t invite her.”
“Then who did?”
“My uncle.”
Khloe’s brow tightened.
“Victor?”
Marcus nodded.
Victor Thorne had served as chairman of Thorne International for more than twenty years. He had raised Marcus after his father died and had taught him everything about business, power, and survival.
He had also made no secret of his dislike for Khloe.
Victor considered her too ordinary for the Thorne family.
Too independent.
Too difficult to control.
“Why would Victor invite Isabella?” Khloe asked.
Marcus looked toward the closed door.
“Because her family controls Rossi Capital. Victor has been trying to arrange a merger for months.”
“That doesn’t explain why she spoke as though you owed her something.”
Marcus lowered his gaze.
“Before I met you, Victor expected me to marry Isabella.”
Khloe felt the air leave her lungs.
“You never told me that.”
“It was never a real engagement.”
“But she believed it was.”
“I ended it before I met you.”
Khloe turned her face away.
Marcus reached toward her, then stopped before touching her hand.
“I should have told you,” he said. “I thought ignoring the past would make it disappear.”
“It didn’t disappear, Marcus. It walked into my hospital room wearing a red dress.”
He had no defense.
A knock sounded at the door.
The hospital’s security director entered carrying a tablet.
“Mr. Thorne, we reviewed the hallway footage.”
Marcus stood.
“Show me.”
The director placed the tablet on the table.
The video showed Khloe entering the private suite alone. A minute later, Isabella followed her through the doors.
There was no accidental collision.
No misunderstanding.
Isabella confronted Khloe, blocked the exit, and moved toward her deliberately. Khloe tried to step around her. Isabella shoved her backward.
Khloe struck the edge of the marble table and fell.
Marcus’s face became dangerously still.
“That is enough,” he said. “Send the footage to the police.”
“There’s something else,” the security director replied.
He changed the video.
The new footage had been recorded thirty minutes earlier.
A woman dressed in a hospital staff uniform entered Khloe’s private suite while everyone was downstairs at the charity gala. Her face was partly hidden beneath a surgical mask, but her movements were calm and purposeful.
She approached the table beside Khloe’s chair.
Then she opened Khloe’s tea and poured something from a small bottle into it.
Khloe stared at the screen.
“I drank that tea.”
Marcus looked sharply at the director.
“Who is she?”
“We don’t know. She isn’t employed by the hospital.”
The woman left the suite and walked toward the service elevator.
Just before disappearing from view, she removed her mask.
Marcus froze the image.
Khloe did not recognize the woman.
Marcus did.
“That’s Victor’s private assistant,” he said.
The door suddenly opened behind them.
Isabella stood in the hallway between the two security officers, her face pale.
“You finally understand,” she said.
Marcus moved toward her.
“Understand what?”
May you like
Isabella’s eyes shifted toward Khloe.
“I wasn’t the only person who wanted your wife gone.”
