Chapter 9 - THE ACCOUNT IN HER NAME
Federal investigators froze the Swiss account.
The money originated from a Thorne hospital construction fund.
The account had been opened eighteen months earlier using Khloe’s passport and Social Security information.
She had not yet married Marcus at the time.
Someone had been preparing to frame her before the wedding.
Nathaniel studied the opening documents.
“The identity verification was completed in person.”
“I was never in Switzerland,” Khloe said.
Marcus examined the security photograph.
A woman wearing a dark coat and sunglasses stood inside the bank.
Her facial structure resembled Khloe’s.
Elaine enlarged the image.
“That is not Khloe.”
The woman wore a ring on her right hand.
A red stone surrounded by small diamonds.
Isabella had worn the same ring at three charity events.
She opened the account under Khloe’s name.
Owen later transferred stolen money into it.
The frame was designed to accomplish several goals.
Khloe would appear to be stealing from the company.
Marcus would seem complicit.
The board would remove him.
Victoria would control the baby’s shares.
The Rossis would acquire Thorne assets at a reduced price.
Isabella had not lost control in the hospital suite.
The assault was only one part of a larger plan.
Marcus’s phone received a message from Owen.
COME TO THE OLD THORNE HOTEL ALONE.
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST.
OR ELAINE PARKER DISAPPEARS.
Everyone looked toward the chair where Elaine had been sitting.
It was empty.
Her laptop remained on the table.
A hospital badge lay on the floor.
Security footage showed a nurse escorting her into a service elevator.
The nurse’s face belonged to no hospital employee.
Nathaniel locked down the building again.
Marcus prepared to go to the hotel.
Khloe stopped him.
“You are not walking into another trap without telling anyone.”
“He has Elaine.”
“Then we work with investigators.”
“Owen will kill her if he sees police.”
“You do not know that.”
“I know him.”
Marcus and Owen had attended school together.
Owen served as best man at their wedding.
He knew Marcus’s habits, passwords and weaknesses.
He knew Marcus would exchange himself for an innocent employee.
Khloe looked at her husband.
“That is what they expect.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“What are you suggesting?”
“We give them the Marcus they know.”
“And?”
“Then we show them the husband they never expected to change.”
Khloe contacted Elaine’s production team.
The gala’s broadcast equipment could transmit from portable cameras without using the hospital network.
Marcus wore a hidden device beneath his shirt.
Federal agents remained far enough away to avoid detection.
The old Thorne Hotel had been closed for renovation.
Marcus entered through the front lobby carrying the trust documents.
Owen waited beneath a broken chandelier.
Elaine sat tied to a chair beside him.
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Victoria stood near the staircase.
She was holding a gun.
