Chapter 6 - The Contract Nobody Read
By noon, Khloe had been medically cleared to leave the intensive monitoring unit.
Gabriel wanted her transferred to his penthouse under private security.
Marcus wanted the same thing.
Khloe wanted answers.
They moved her to a quiet recovery suite first.
Gabriel entered carrying a leather folder.
“You need to see this.”
Khloe looked at the documents inside.
Her signature appeared on the final page.
“So?”
“It’s part of the marital asset agreement your attorneys approved before the wedding.”
Khloe frowned.
“I’ve read that agreement.”
“Not this schedule.”
Marcus stood across the room.
“What schedule?”
Gabriel handed it to him.
Marcus read silently.
His expression changed.
“What is this?”
Gabriel pointed to one paragraph.
“In the event Khloe becomes medically incapacitated during marriage, temporary voting authority over specific jointly administered shares transfers to the spouse.”
Khloe stared at him.
“That sounds standard.”
“It would be.”
Gabriel turned the page.
“Except your spouse’s voting authority automatically delegates to the current executive chairman of Thorne Strategic Holdings.”
Marcus looked up.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
Khloe slowly understood.
“If I became medically incapacitated, Conrad would control my shares.”
“For up to one hundred and eighty days.”
Marcus swore under his breath.
Khloe looked at Gabriel.
“Why didn’t I know about this?”
Gabriel’s silence bothered her.
“Gabriel.”
“I learned about the clause after the wedding.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was trying to determine who inserted it.”
Khloe stared at him.
“You had three years.”
“I didn’t want to destroy your marriage over something that had never been activated.”
Khloe laughed bitterly.
“Everyone seems very committed to protecting my marriage by lying to me.”
Gabriel absorbed the accusation.
Marcus did not defend himself.
Khloe looked down at the contract again.
“Could last night have triggered it?”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“If your doctors had declared you unable to make legal decisions, yes.”
Marcus moved toward the window.
“So Isabella creates a medical emergency.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Conrad temporarily controls Khloe’s shares.”
“And what does he do with them?”
Gabriel handed over another document.
“There’s a board vote Monday morning.”
Marcus turned sharply.
“For the Atlas acquisition.”
Khloe remembered the deal.
Thorne Strategic Holdings wanted to acquire Atlas BioSystems, a medical-data corporation worth nearly six billion dollars.
Khloe had opposed it.
Not because the investment was weak.
Because Atlas had unresolved privacy investigations.
Her shares could block the acquisition.
Unless someone took control of them.
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Your father needed my vote.”
Marcus shook his head.
“He needed your vote removed.”
Gabriel’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then turned toward them.
“The missing twenty-eight seconds of footage were partially recovered.”
Khloe felt her heartbeat accelerate.
“What’s on it?”
Gabriel looked at Marcus.
“Isabella wasn’t alone.”
He placed the tablet on the bed.
The recovered image was damaged and grainy.
But for three seconds, a man appeared in the hallway outside the suite before disappearing from view.
Marcus recognized him instantly.
May you like
Silas Reed.
His father’s private security director.
