Chapter 8 - THE BABY BORN UNDER LOCKDOWN

Khloe woke to the sound of Marcus saying her name.

His face hovered above hers.

Blood ran from a cut near his eyebrow.

The air smelled of smoke and antiseptic.

“Where are we?”

“Emergency operating room.”

“The baby?”

“Still inside.”

Nathaniel appeared beside the bed.

“You inhaled a mild concentration of anesthetic gas. We ventilated the laboratory before the exposure became fatal.”

“How?”

“Evelyn opened the exhaust system.”

Khloe remembered her sister running toward the controls.

“Where is she?”

“In custody.”

Another contraction tightened across Khloe’s abdomen.

She gripped Marcus’s hand.

Nathaniel checked the monitor.

“The trauma and gas exposure triggered early labor. We’re trying to stop it.”

“Can you?”

“We’ll do everything possible.”

Marcus stood beside her through the next hour.

He did not take calls.

He did not leave when his board demanded an emergency meeting.

He remained even when Khloe told him she did not need him.

“I know,” he said. “I’m staying anyway.”

At two thirteen in the morning, the contractions weakened.

The baby’s heartbeat stabilized.

Nathaniel finally allowed himself to breathe.

“You’re both safe for now.”

Khloe closed her eyes.

Marcus kissed her forehead.

The gesture felt familiar.

Painful.

Real.

Before she could decide whether to pull away, Detective Brooks entered.

“We have a situation.”

Marcus looked at her.

“Isabella escaped.”

Nathaniel’s expression hardened.

“How?”

“Her attorney arrived with a court order demanding medical release. The order was forged, but hospital staff discovered that too late.”

“Who helped her?”

“We believe Vittorio.”

Marcus checked his phone.

Twenty-three missed calls.

He opened the first message.

A photograph appeared.

Adrian Vale sat tied to a chair inside an abandoned warehouse.

Beside him stood Isabella.

She had changed out of the crimson gown.

Her message contained six words.

Bring Evelyn, or Adrian dies.

Brooks looked at the screen.

“It’s a trap.”

“Obviously.”

Nathaniel crossed his arms.

“You’re not going.”

Marcus stared at Adrian’s photograph.

“He risked his life to preserve the footage.”

“And Khloe needs you.”

Khloe opened her eyes.

“Go.”

Marcus looked at her.

“Khloe—”

“Bring him back.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I know exactly what I’m asking. Adrian knows the truth about my father.”

Marcus understood.

Nathaniel shook his head.

“This is reckless.”

Khloe looked toward him.

“So was hiding everything from me.”

Nathaniel fell silent.

Marcus leaned closer.

“I will come back.”

“Don’t promise what you can’t control.”

He nodded.

Then he left with Detective Brooks.

At dawn, they reached the warehouse district near the river.

Police tactical teams surrounded the building.

Marcus refused to wait for backup.

Brooks grabbed his arm.

“You enter on my signal.”

“They’ll kill Adrian if they see police.”

“They’ll kill you if you go alone.”

Marcus looked at the warehouse.

“Isabella doesn’t want me dead.”

“How do you know?”

“She wants me to choose her.”

Brooks studied him.

“That kind of obsession is not protection.”

“No. But it buys time.”

Marcus entered through the main door carrying no weapon.

Isabella stood beneath a hanging industrial light.

Adrian was tied to a chair.

His face was bruised.

Evelyn was not present.

Isabella smiled.

“You came.”

“Release him.”

“Where is Lillian?”

“I don’t have her.”

“You always were a terrible liar.”

Marcus stopped ten feet away.

“Why did you attack Khloe?”

Isabella’s smile vanished.

“Because she took my life.”

“She never took anything from you.”

“She took you.”

“I was never yours.”

The words struck her.

Adrian lifted his head.

“Marcus, she isn’t alone.”

A gunshot shattered the light above them.

Marcus dropped.

Police entered from two sides.

Isabella ran toward a rear exit.

Brooks pursued her.

Marcus reached Adrian and cut the restraints with a piece of metal.

“Can you walk?”

“Yes.”

Another gunshot came from the upper level.

Adrian shoved Marcus aside.

The bullet struck Adrian in the shoulder.

Marcus dragged him behind a concrete pillar.

“Who is shooting?”

“Vittorio’s men.”

“Where is Vittorio?”

Adrian gritted his teeth.

“Inside your house.”

Marcus froze.

“My house?”

“He has been using the old service tunnels beneath the Thorne estate.”

Khloe.

Marcus grabbed his phone.

No signal.

Across town, Khloe lay in the secure hospital room while Nathaniel reviewed the recovered archive.

A nurse entered carrying breakfast.

Khloe looked up.

The nurse placed the tray down.

Then she removed her surgical mask.

Vittorio Rossi was not inside Marcus’s house.

He had sent someone else.

A woman Khloe recognized from family photographs.

Her mother.

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