Chapter 3 - The Letter He Hid
Marcus went pale.
Khloe carefully opened the envelope.
Inside were twelve pages.
The first page contained a letter addressed directly to her.
My dearest Khloe.
If you are reading this, the final transfer period has begun.
Khloe stopped.
Her mother had died nine years earlier.
Yet reading those words made the loss suddenly feel recent.
She continued.
The letter explained that on Khloe’s thirty-fifth birthday, she would become sole voting trustee of the Laurent Family Trust.
The trust controlled thirty-one percent of Thorne Global.
It also controlled ownership positions in Laurent Medical Holdings, three investment companies, and commercial real estate worth billions.
Khloe looked up.
Marcus remained silent.
She turned the page.
There was another provision.
If Khloe became incapacitated, divorced under coercive circumstances, or was proven legally incompetent before the transfer date, temporary voting authority could be assigned to her spouse.
Marcus.
Her stomach tightened.
Vincent had already read that section over her shoulder.
His expression hardened.
“Now I understand.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Khloe looked at him.
“You wanted control of my trust.”
“No.”
“You hid this letter.”
“I hid it because I wanted time.”
“Time for what?”
“To fix the company before you inherited voting power.”
Khloe almost smiled.
“You thought I would destroy it?”
“I thought you might trust the wrong people.”
“People like my uncle?”
Marcus did not answer.
Vincent stepped forward.
“Say what you really mean.”
Marcus finally looked at him.
“Your family has wanted Thorne Global for years.”
Vincent laughed.
“Khloe’s mother saved your father’s company.”
Marcus’s eyes sharpened.
“That’s not how he tells it.”
“Of course it isn’t.”
Khloe raised one hand.
“Stop.”
Both men went silent.
She returned to the documents.
A memorandum attached to the trust referenced an upcoming emergency voting date.
Six weeks had become six days.
Khloe frowned.
“What is this?”
Vincent took the page.
His face changed.
“Someone petitioned the trust administrator to accelerate the succession.”
Marcus whispered a curse.
Khloe looked at him.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
For the first time that evening, she believed him.
The petition stated that confidential information suggested imminent instability at Thorne Global.
Therefore, the trust administrator had moved the voting transfer review to Monday morning.
It was now Saturday.
Khloe would potentially gain control in forty-eight hours.
Someone had forced the timeline forward.
“Who filed the petition?” she asked.
Vincent turned the page.
There was no name.
Only a legal entity.
Northstar Advisory LLC.
Marcus looked genuinely disturbed.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
Vincent handed the page to Robert.
“Find out who owns it.”
Robert left immediately.
Khloe leaned back.
Her body ached.
Her marriage felt like shattered glass.
Yet the deepest fear now had nothing to do with Isabella.
Someone had been maneuvering around her trust.
Someone knew secrets she had never been told.
And someone had forced a transfer that could determine control over billions of dollars.
Marcus moved closer.
“Khloe, I know you have every reason not to believe me.”
“You’re right.”
“But Isabella did not know about the trust.”
Khloe stared at him.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I never told her.”
Khloe looked away.
The sentence sounded absurdly intimate.
A husband defending which secrets he had kept from his mistress.
Marcus continued.
“She thought I wanted to leave you.”
“Did you?”
Silence.
Khloe laughed bitterly.
“That answer really shouldn’t take this long.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Then you did.”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
Khloe felt something inside her settle.
Not heal.
Settle.
There was a difference.
She removed her wedding ring.
Marcus immediately noticed.
Khloe placed it on the bedside table.
“I’m done asking you to choose me.”
Marcus stared at the ring.
Vincent said nothing.
A knock came from the door.
Robert returned.
He looked troubled.
“I found Northstar Advisory.”
Vincent folded his arms.
“Who owns it?”
Robert glanced at Marcus.
Then at Khloe.
“The registered manager is Isabella Rossi.”
Marcus looked stunned.
Khloe felt every muscle in her body tense.
Robert continued.
“But she isn’t the beneficial owner.”
“Who is?”
Robert slowly turned the tablet around.
The name on the corporate registration made Marcus whisper.
“No.”
Khloe read it aloud.
May you like
“Damian Thorne.”
Marcus’s father.
