Chapter 16 - The Missing Seven Minutes
Marcus arrived that evening.
He remained near the door.
Khloe did not invite him closer.
Rebecca placed the full recording on the table.
“I know the clip was edited.”
Marcus nodded.
“I should have told you about the conversation months ago.”
“Yes.”
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“That I knew my father was targeting you and still believed I could control him.”
Khloe stared at him.
“Anything else?”
Marcus hesitated.
That was enough.
Khloe leaned back.
“There is.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
Marcus looked at Rebecca.
Then Khloe.
“The night your mother died.”
Khloe went still.
“I found something three weeks ago.”
“What?”
“Building access records.”
Marcus had investigated after discovering Damian’s incapacity plan.
While reviewing old private archives, he found security logs from the night Celeste collapsed at Thorne Tower.
The official records showed three people in Damian’s office.
Celeste.
Damian.
Vincent.
But another access card had entered the executive floor seven minutes before Celeste collapsed.
“Whose?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Isabella’s father.”
Khloe frowned.
“Antonio Rossi?”
Marcus nodded.
Antonio Rossi had been a senior financial officer at Thorne Global before disappearing from corporate life years earlier.
Khloe barely remembered him.
“He was there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus placed an old internal memorandum on the table.
Antonio had discovered the offshore transactions Celeste planned to expose.
He was the original whistleblower.
Khloe’s mind raced.
“Then why did he disappear?”
“Because after your mother died, my father blamed him for the financial leak.”
“He was fired.”
“Blacklisted.”
“Ruined.”
Khloe suddenly understood Isabella differently.
Her hatred toward the Thornes had not begun with Marcus.
Her family had been destroyed by Damian long before the affair.
But why attack Khloe?
Marcus answered before she asked.
“Isabella believes your mother betrayed her father.”
Khloe stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Antonio disappeared six months after Celeste died.”
“Disappeared?”
“Nobody knows where he went.”
Rebecca opened another file.
“He was declared legally dead five years later.”
Khloe felt a chill.
Isabella had grown up believing the Laurent family helped destroy her father.
Damian had later brought her into Marcus’s orbit.
He knew exactly what resentment she carried.
He weaponized it.
Khloe whispered.
“He didn’t recruit a random consultant.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“He recruited someone who already hated your family.”
Another piece fell into place.
Khloe remembered Isabella’s words.
Ask your uncle where he was the night your mother died.
Isabella knew more.
Much more.
Rebecca contacted Isabella’s attorney.
An hour later, they received an unexpected offer.
Isabella would provide everything she knew about Antonio Rossi.
In exchange, she wanted Khloe to testify that the hospital attack had not been premeditated.
Khloe’s answer was immediate.
“No.”
Rebecca nodded.
Isabella had attacked her.
Whatever Damian had done did not erase Isabella’s choices.
Yet Khloe agreed to listen.
From jail, Isabella sent one final file.
It contained a photograph.
Antonio Rossi standing outside a small house.
The image had been taken recently.
The date stamp was three months earlier.
May you like
Antonio Rossi was alive.
And on the back, someone had written an address.
