Chapter 11 - Marcus’s Confession

Marcus drove through the lower garage as two black vehicles followed.

He entered a restricted exit code and accelerated through a steel service gate seconds before it closed.

The pursuing vehicles stopped behind the barrier.

Khloe remained beside Richard in the rear seat.

Samuel held the archive drive against his chest.

Dr. Mercer sat in the front passenger seat, repeatedly checking the mirrors.

“Where are we going?” Richard demanded.

“Thorne House.”

Khloe looked at Marcus.

“No.”

“It has an independent security system.”

“A system you control.”

“A system Victor cannot enter.”

“You told me the hospital system was safe too.”

Marcus gripped the steering wheel.

“I was wrong.”

Khloe watched the city pass outside.

“Start talking.”

Marcus said nothing.

“Tell me about Isabella.”

His jaw tightened.

“We met before I met you.”

“How long before?”

“Two years.”

“Were you together?”

“Yes.”

The answer hurt, but Khloe had already expected it.

“Did the relationship end?”

“For a while.”

Richard leaned forward.

“That means no.”

Marcus looked at Khloe through the mirror.

“It began again six months ago.”

Khloe’s hands remained folded over her stomach.

She refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her break.

“Why?”

“I was angry.”

“At whom?”

“Myself.”

“That is a coward’s answer.”

Marcus looked back at the road.

“You began asking questions about the trust.”

“So you slept with Isabella.”

“I turned to someone who already knew the worst parts of me.”

“And she helped you become worse.”

Silence followed.

Khloe continued.

“Did you marry me for the shares?”

Marcus did not answer quickly enough.

“That means yes.”

“At first.”

Richard made a disgusted sound.

Marcus ignored him.

“My father told me your family had stolen Thorne Global.”

“My father created the company.”

“That is not the story I was raised to believe.”

“You had years to learn the truth.”

“I did learn it.”

“When?”

“After we married.”

Khloe’s voice became smaller.

“And you stayed because you loved me?”

Marcus looked at her through the mirror again.

“Yes.”

“Yet you planned to have me declared unstable.”

“I planned to delay the transfer.”

“By taking control of my medical decisions.”

“I thought it would last several days.”

“You forged a psychiatric evaluation.”

“Victor created the plan.”

“But you modified the document.”

Marcus’s hands tightened around the wheel.

“I was trying to protect the company.”

“From me?”

“From Victor.”

Khloe laughed once without humor.

“Every time you confess, you find another person to blame.”

Marcus fell silent.

Mercer turned in his seat.

“Victor controls judges, doctors, and hospital executives.”

Marcus looked at him sharply.

“Do not speak for me.”

“I’m not.”

Mercer faced Khloe.

“Victor told Marcus that if the shares transferred to you, he would expose every illegal transaction connected to Thorne Global.”

Khloe stared at her husband.

“You were afraid of prison.”

Marcus’s expression answered for him.

Richard leaned back.

“So you planned to imprison your wife first.”

Marcus drove through the gates of Thorne House.

The mansion rose above the river, dark except for a few security lights.

As the SUV stopped, Khloe noticed the front door was open.

Marcus saw it too.

“No one should be here.”

He stepped out carefully.

Khloe looked toward an upstairs window.

A shadow moved behind the glass.

Then every light inside the mansion switched on.

Isabella stood in the doorway.

She held a red folder in one hand.

May you like

The housekeeper was supposed to be invisible. Instead, Sophia Hale becam...

Victoria: You will never get a single cent of this family inheritance! M...

The billionaire father was told his son had died. Then the maid smashed...

In the other, she held Khloe’s signed medical authority document.

“You took long enough,” she said.