CHAPTER 2 Seven Missing Minutes
Khloe was rushed into a private examination room while the hospital placed Isabella in a secured waiting area.
Marcus refused to leave his wife’s side.
Samuel followed them until the doors to the imaging department closed.
Then he turned to Elaine.
“Tell me exactly what you saw.”
Elaine folded her arms tightly across her chest.
“I opened the suite door with Mr. Thorne.”
“And?”
“Mrs. Thorne was on the floor. Isabella was standing near the table.”
“Did Isabella touch anything?”
Elaine hesitated.
“Before we entered?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know.”
“After?”
“She stepped backward.”
Samuel’s eyes narrowed.
“Toward what?”
“The small console beside the wall.”
“What was on it?”
Elaine looked back toward the suite.
“A flower arrangement. A lamp. The room control panel.”
Samuel said nothing.
Elaine’s face changed.
“You think she touched the controls.”
“I think people rarely move without a reason when they’ve just been caught.”
They returned to the suite with two security technicians.
The broken glass had been photographed.
The table had been marked.
The carpet, walls, and furniture remained untouched.
One technician opened the security panel beneath the television.
The second checked the camera hub.
After several minutes, the first technician frowned.
“Dr. Vale.”
Samuel moved closer.
“What?”
“We have a gap.”
“How long?”
“Seven minutes and fourteen seconds.”
Elaine’s stomach dropped.
“When?”
The technician looked at the time stamp.
“Starting less than a minute before the physical altercation.”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“Was the system disabled?”
“Not through the main hospital server.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone used the local suite control panel.”
Elaine turned toward the console.
“The one Isabella stepped near.”
The technician nodded.
Samuel looked at the second technician.
“Can you restore it?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly isn’t an answer.”
“The footage wasn’t deleted from the hospital archive because it never reached the archive. The local feed was interrupted.”
“Was the camera physically shut off?”
“No. It was looped.”
Elaine stared at him.
“Looped?”
“The system replayed earlier empty-room footage for seven minutes.”
Samuel’s gaze sharpened.
“That requires access.”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“A staff access code.”
Elaine went still.
Isabella was not hospital staff.
Marcus was not hospital staff.
Khloe was not hospital staff.
But someone had given Isabella a code.
“Get me a list of every employee who accessed Suite Twelve’s system today,” Samuel ordered.
The technician began typing.
Samuel turned toward the secured waiting room.
“Do not tell Ms. Rossi about the gap.”
Elaine looked at him.
“She already knows the camera was interrupted.”
“Maybe.”
“You think she planned this.”
“I think seven missing minutes are not an accident.”
Inside the examination room, Khloe gripped Marcus’s hand while the doctor moved an ultrasound probe slowly across her abdomen.
Neither of them spoke.
The monitor cast pale blue light across their faces.
Finally, the doctor pointed toward the screen.
“There.”
Khloe’s eyes filled.
The baby moved.
Small.
Unaware.
Alive.
Marcus leaned forward until his forehead nearly touched Khloe’s.
“Thank God.”
But the doctor remained focused.
“The baby’s heart rate is stable.”
Khloe watched her face.
“What aren’t you saying?”
The doctor paused.
“There is a small area near the edge of the placenta that concerns me.”
Marcus straightened.
“What kind of area?”
“It may be minor separation caused by the impact.”
Khloe’s hand flew to her stomach.
“Is the baby in danger?”
“At this moment, the baby is stable.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
The doctor met her eyes.
“Yes. There is a risk.”
Marcus squeezed Khloe’s hand.
“What happens now?”
“She stays under observation. No unnecessary movement. We monitor for contractions, bleeding, or changes in fetal heart rate.”
“For how long?”
“At least forty-eight hours.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
The gala.
The humiliation.
Isabella’s hands striking her chest.
The marble edge against her spine.
Everything returned at once.
“She wanted this,” Khloe whispered.
Marcus looked at her.
“What?”
“She knew I was pregnant.”
“I know.”
“No.” Khloe opened her eyes. “She knew exactly where I was standing. She knew the table was behind me.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“She pushed you on purpose.”
“She pushed me twice.”
His head snapped toward her.
“Twice?”
Khloe nodded.
“The first time, I hit the table. Then she came closer and did it again.”
Marcus released her hand.
Not because he wanted to.
Because his fingers had started trembling.
“She told me to give you an heir and disappear.”
Marcus stared at the floor.
Khloe studied him.
“Say something.”
His silence frightened her.
“Marcus.”
He finally looked at her.
“I told her to stop contacting me.”
Khloe’s face changed.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Contacting you how?”
“Messages. Calls.”
“You told me she only contacted you about the Rossi Foundation.”
“That’s what it started as.”
Khloe’s voice became very quiet.
“What did it become?”
Marcus stood.
He walked two steps away.
Then stopped.
“She said she made a mistake letting me marry you.”
Khloe stared at him.
“And what did you say?”
“I told her there was never anything between us.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Marcus turned back.
“I told her I loved my wife.”
Khloe searched his face.
“Did you ever love her?”
“No.”
“Did you ever sleep with her?”
“No.”
“Did you kiss her?”
Marcus did not answer quickly enough.
Khloe’s chest tightened.
“Marcus.”
“Once.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“When?”
“Years ago. Before you.”
“How many years?”
“Six.”
Khloe pulled her hand away.
They had been together for five.
Marcus moved closer.
“It meant nothing.”
“Then why did you hide it?”
“Because she became obsessed afterward.”
“And you thought the best way to protect me was to pretend nothing had ever happened?”
“I thought it was over.”
Khloe laughed bitterly.
“She just tried to hurt our baby.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t know. You don’t get to say that like this happened in a vacuum.”
“Khloe—”
“You let me believe I was imagining things.”
Marcus went still.
Every polished smile.
Every intimate glance.
Every private insult.
Khloe had told him Isabella made her uncomfortable.
Marcus had said she was reading too much into it.
He had defended the woman who had just pushed her into a marble table.
“I was wrong,” he said.
“Yes.”
“I should have told you everything.”
“Yes.”
“I should have kept her away.”
Khloe looked at the monitor.
The tiny heartbeat continued.
Fast.
Fragile.
“You should have believed me.”
Marcus had no answer.
A knock sounded at the door.
Samuel entered.
His face was controlled.
Too controlled.
Khloe knew him well enough to understand that something was wrong.
“What happened?” she asked.
Samuel looked at Marcus.
Then at Khloe.
“The camera feed inside the suite was interrupted.”
Marcus’s eyes darkened.
“For how long?”
“Seven minutes.”
Khloe’s breath caught.
“The exact time she attacked me?”
“Yes.”
Marcus swore under his breath.
Samuel continued.
“The interruption required a hospital access code.”
Khloe stared at him.
“So someone helped her.”
“That is what we are determining.”
Marcus’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
Then froze.
Khloe noticed.
“Who is it?”
He did not answer.
“Marcus.”
Slowly, he turned the phone toward them.
An anonymous message filled the screen.
May you like
STOP LOOKING FOR THE FOOTAGE.
THE NEXT ACCIDENT WON’T MISS THE BABY.
