Chapter 7 - The Man in the Hallway
Silas Reed had worked for Conrad Thorne for seventeen years.
He knew where the family traveled.
Which buildings they entered.
Which security systems protected them.
Which scandals never reached newspapers.
And apparently, he knew how to access the hospital’s surveillance network.
Gabriel ordered security to locate him.
They were too late.
Silas had left the gala eleven minutes after Khloe’s attack.
His phone had been turned off.
His apartment was empty.
His company vehicle was abandoned three blocks from the hospital.
Marcus stared at the security report.
“He ran.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Which means he knows something worth running from.”
Khloe sat near the window dressed in comfortable clothes Elaine had brought from home.
The baby remained stable.
That should have been enough to calm her.
It wasn’t.
“What happened during those twenty-eight seconds?”
Gabriel enlarged the restored frames.
Silas appeared outside the suite.
Then the image distorted.
Three seconds later, Isabella was visible again.
Her head was turned toward the door.
She appeared to be listening.
Marcus leaned closer.
“Can we recover audio?”
“Possibly.”
Elaine stood quietly near the back of the room.
Khloe noticed her expression.
“Elaine.”
Elaine looked up.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“You’ve looked uncomfortable since Silas’s name came up.”
Elaine hesitated.
Gabriel closed the door.
“You’re protected here.”
Elaine looked at Khloe.
“Before I found you, I received a message telling me the gala photographer needed Marcus upstairs.”
Marcus frowned.
“I never got that message.”
“I know.”
“Who sent it?”
“It appeared to come from your executive office.”
Elaine pulled out her phone.
The message had disappeared.
But she had taken a screenshot because the wording seemed unusual.
Marcus read it.
BRING MR. THORNE TO PRIVATE SUITE 14 AT 10:40.
DO NOT DELAY.
Khloe checked the time stamp.
10:31.
Nine minutes before Marcus opened the door.
Gabriel looked at Elaine.
“Why did you bring him?”
“I thought there was a press issue.”
Marcus stared at the screenshot.
“So someone wanted me to arrive at a specific moment.”
Khloe felt a chill.
“After the attack.”
Nobody spoke.
The implication was obvious.
The scene had been designed.
Khloe injured.
Isabella standing nearby.
Marcus walking in.
A perfect scandal.
But something had gone wrong.
The camera.
Gabriel’s security team.
Elaine arriving as an independent witness.
Khloe looked toward Marcus.
“What was supposed to happen after you found us?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Elaine suddenly remembered something.
“Isabella said something before she started crying.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“What?”
Elaine closed her eyes, replaying the moment.
“She looked toward the hallway.”
“And?”
“She whispered, ‘You’re late.’”
Marcus stared at Gabriel.
“She wasn’t talking to me.”
Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
A security analyst had sent a new file.
The damaged audio had been partially restored.
Gabriel pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Silas Reed’s voice emerged from the hallway.
“Two minutes.”
Isabella answered.
“And if she doesn’t go down?”
Silas replied.
“Then make sure Marcus sees enough.”
The recording ended.
Khloe felt sick.
May you like
This had never been an emotional confrontation that went too far.
It had been staged from the beginning.
