Chapter 3 - The Woman Before Khloe
Marcus did not leave Khloe’s room that night.
He sat in a chair near the window while monitors quietly measured the rhythm of their unborn child’s heartbeat.
Khloe pretended to sleep.
Marcus knew she was awake.
At 2:13 in the morning, she finally spoke.
“Who was Isabella to you?”
Marcus looked toward her.
Khloe didn’t turn.
“Don’t give me the version you gave the press.”
Silence filled the room.
Then Marcus stood.
He moved closer but stopped several feet from the bed.
“Isabella and I were together.”
Khloe opened her eyes.
“How together?”
“Years ago.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Marcus looked toward the city beyond the glass.
“We were engaged.”
Khloe felt as if another impact had struck her.
“You told me you had never been engaged.”
“I know.”
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
The word landed harder than any excuse could have.
Marcus rubbed his face.
“My father arranged it.”
“Your father arranged your engagement?”
“Our families were trying to merge two investment groups.”
Khloe laughed without humor.
“So I married a man who once had another corporate bride.”
“It wasn’t like us.”
“What are we, Marcus?”
He looked at her.
Khloe continued before he could answer.
“Because apparently Isabella thought I was supposed to give you a child and disappear.”
Marcus flinched.
“She wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near you.”
“Did you speak to her recently?”
Another silence.
That was all Khloe needed.
“How recently?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Her eyes filled with disbelief.
“You spoke to the woman who just attacked me three weeks ago and never told me?”
“She contacted me.”
“And you answered.”
“She threatened to expose things about my father.”
“What things?”
“I didn’t know.”
Khloe stared at him.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“I blocked her.”
“Show me.”
Marcus pulled out his phone.
He opened his messages.
Nothing.
Khloe’s expression changed.
“You deleted them.”
“I didn’t want you finding them and thinking—”
“Thinking what?”
“That my husband was hiding conversations with his former fiancée while she publicly humiliated me?”
Marcus said nothing.
Khloe looked away.
“That’s exactly what happened.”
Before he could respond, Gabriel entered.
He had not slept either.
“We traced Isabella’s call.”
Marcus turned.
“To who?”
Gabriel placed a printed document on the table.
“The number was routed through a private encrypted system.”
“That doesn’t tell us anything.”
“It does when the system belongs to a company.”
Khloe looked at him.
“What company?”
Gabriel’s gaze moved toward Marcus.
“Thorne Strategic Holdings.”
Marcus went still.
“That’s impossible.”
Gabriel continued.
“The line is registered to an executive communications package controlled by your family office.”
Marcus picked up the paper.
“My father’s office has hundreds of numbers.”
“One of them spoke to Isabella immediately before she attacked Khloe.”
Marcus looked at the document again.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“And we recovered something else.”
He handed Marcus a second page.
It was a partial transcript reconstructed from Isabella’s cloud backup.
A message sent three weeks earlier.
Marcus read it.
His face changed.
Khloe demanded to know what it said.
Marcus hesitated.
Then read the sentence aloud.
“Your father promised me the marriage would never survive the pregnancy.”
The room went silent.
Khloe slowly looked toward him.
May you like
Marcus whispered the only name that suddenly mattered.
“Conrad.”
