Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN RED
Khloe was rushed into maternal trauma care while Marcus followed beside the stretcher.
“Stay with me,” he said. “I’m right here.”
She turned her face toward him. “Were you with her tonight?”
The question hit harder than an accusation.
“No.”
“You always say no after she appears.”
Marcus had no answer that could erase weeks of whispered rumors, staged photographs, and Isabella’s late-night messages.
Inside the suite, Gabriel ordered security director Owen Price to preserve the footage. “No copies. No deletions. Chain of custody starts now.”
Isabella folded her arms. “You are treating me like a criminal.”
“You are standing in a room where a pregnant woman was injured,” Gabriel replied. “That makes evidence more important than your reputation.”
Victoria Thorne, Marcus’s mother, arrived in a silver gown and immediately pulled Isabella into an embrace.
“This is absurd,” Victoria said. “Isabella would never hurt Khloe.”
Elaine stared at her. “I saw Isabella standing over her.”
“You saw the end of an argument,” Victoria snapped.
Gabriel’s phone rang. Owen’s voice came through quietly.
“Doctor, we have a problem. The camera outside the suite was remotely disabled for eleven minutes.”
Isabella’s eyes flicked toward the ceiling.
Gabriel noticed.
“Only outside?” he asked.
“There may be another feed,” Owen said. “A maintenance camera inside the service corridor. It caught reflections through the glass wall.”
Gabriel turned toward Isabella.
She smiled again, but now the smile looked forced.
May you like
And then Owen added, “Someone used an executive access code to shut the main camera down.
Victoria demanded that the tablet be surrendered to the family legal team. Gabriel refused. "This is a hospital, not one of your boardrooms," he said. "You cannot buy the truth, bury it, or vote it away." Elaine quietly moved closer to the door, suddenly afraid that someone might try.”
