Chapter 2 - The Keycard
Khloe watched the service-corridor footage twice.
The second viewing hurt more than the first.
Marcus stood beside a linen cart.
Isabella approached from the opposite hallway.
They spoke for less than a minute.
There was no audio.
But there was no mistaking what happened next.
Marcus removed a white access card from inside his jacket.
He placed it in Isabella’s hand.
Then she kissed his cheek.
Marcus did not stop her.
Vincent paused the video.
“What did that card open?”
Robert looked at his notes.
“Private patient floors.”
Khloe stared at Marcus.
“You gave her access.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“I didn’t know she was coming after you.”
“You gave the woman you were sleeping with unrestricted access to the floor where your pregnant wife was resting.”
“I thought she wanted somewhere private to wait.”
Vincent’s laugh was cold.
“That may be the stupidest explanation I’ve heard in forty years.”
Marcus looked directly at Khloe.
“I made mistakes.”
She shook her head.
“A mistake is forgetting an anniversary.”
“This was planning.”
Marcus went quiet.
Robert touched the screen again.
“There’s more.”
The keycard had been requested two days earlier.
The request had come from Marcus’s executive office.
Khloe closed her eyes.
Two days.
He had not acted impulsively.
He had prepared.
Vincent walked toward the door.
“I’m calling the police.”
Marcus grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Vincent looked down at Marcus’s hand.
Marcus immediately released him.
“If this becomes public tonight, Thorne Global could collapse before the market opens.”
Khloe stared at him.
She could barely believe what she had heard.
“I’m lying in a hospital bed after your mistress attacked me, and you’re worried about the stock price?”
“It’s not about me.”
“Then who?”
“Forty thousand employees.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Don’t hide behind employees.”
Khloe studied her husband.
Something was wrong.
Marcus was frightened.
But not only of losing her.
He was frightened of what the footage might uncover.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Marcus said nothing.
Khloe pressed.
“What was Isabella doing here tonight?”
“She attended the gala.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Marcus glanced at Vincent.
Vincent noticed.
So did Khloe.
“Leave us,” Khloe told her uncle.
Vincent frowned.
“No.”
“Please.”
After several seconds, Vincent reluctantly walked into the corridor.
Robert followed him.
Marcus approached the bed.
Khloe did not offer him a chair.
He remained standing.
“I met Isabella eight months ago through Meridian Capital.”
Khloe knew the name.
Meridian was one of Thorne Global’s largest institutional investors.
“She became useful.”
Khloe’s eyes narrowed.
“Useful how?”
“She had access to people I needed.”
“And your bed was part of the negotiation?”
Marcus flinched.
“It started professionally.”
“Of course.”
“She knew things about the board.”
“What things?”
Marcus looked at the closed door.
“Your trust.”
Khloe’s anger suddenly became confusion.
“My trust?”
Marcus nodded.
The Laurent Family Trust had been created by Khloe’s late mother.
Khloe had never been involved in its daily management.
She received distributions.
Nothing more.
At least, that was what she believed.
Marcus continued.
“Your mother’s trust owns more of Thorne Global than you know.”
Khloe stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
“How much?”
Marcus hesitated.
Khloe felt cold.
“How much, Marcus?”
“Thirty-one percent.”
Her breathing stopped.
Marcus owned eighteen percent.
His father owned twelve.
Khloe had been told for years that the Laurent trust held less than four.
Thirty-one percent meant something very different.
It meant Khloe was the largest beneficial shareholder in her husband’s company.
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because your mother sealed parts of the trust until you turned thirty-five.”
Khloe was thirty-four.
Her birthday was six weeks away.
She stared at Marcus.
Then the truth began assembling itself.
The timing.
The affair.
The access card.
Isabella.
The upcoming board restructuring.
“You knew.”
Marcus did not deny it.
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
Khloe’s eyes filled.
“You knew I was about to control your company.”
“Our company.”
“No.”
She looked at him with devastating calm.
“You made sure I never understood it was mine too.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“I was trying to protect everything we built.”
“We?”
Khloe touched her stomach.
“You mean everything you were afraid I could take away.”
Before Marcus could answer, Vincent opened the door.
He was holding a sealed envelope.
“I think you both need to see this.”
He handed it to Khloe.
The return address belonged to the law firm managing her mother’s estate.
The date stamped across the envelope was three months earlier.
It had never been opened.
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Where did you get this?”
May you like
Vincent answered.
“From Marcus’s office safe.”
