Chapter 10: The Saint and the Sinner
Khloe had spent six years believing her father died because he was brave.
Now she was being told he had first been guilty.
Marcus placed the recovered report on the table.
Dr. Samuel Vale had designed the early-stage neurological treatment with Thorne Medical.
The therapy was intended to slow a rare degenerative disease.
Instead, it caused severe organ damage in several patients.
Samuel discovered that Victor and Adrian had concealed the deaths.
But Samuel had also altered the initial safety calculations to secure funding.
Khloe read the signature three times.
Her father’s name remained the same.
“This could be forged,” she said.
“It could,” Detective Ortiz replied. “We need the original.”
“Which Isabella stole.”
“Yes.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Did you know this before you married me?”
“No. I knew only that your parents had evidence against my family.”
“When did you learn?”
“Two months ago.”
The timeline hurt more than she expected.
Two months earlier, Marcus had stopped sleeping beside her.
He had taken calls in locked rooms.
He had started looking at Ava’s ultrasound images as though he were trying to memorize them before they disappeared.
“That is when our marriage changed,” Khloe said.
Marcus’s voice was barely audible.
“I was trying to find the complete file.”
“You were preparing for me to learn the truth.”
“I was preparing to lose you.”
“You chose silence again.”
“Yes.”
Khloe closed the report.
“My father may have made a terrible decision. That does not excuse what your family did.”
“I know.”
“And loving me does not excuse what you did.”
“I know.”
The door opened.
Gabriel entered with blood on his collar.
Hospital security had found him in the east archive after someone attacked him from behind.
He carried a small digital recorder.
“The archive camera transmitted everything to an external address,” he said.
“Adrian?” Marcus asked.
“Possibly.”
Gabriel placed the recorder on the table.
“I found this beneath the server.”
The recording contained a recent conversation between Isabella and Adrian.
Adrian’s voice was calm.
“Khloe’s pregnancy changes nothing.”
“She is Marcus’s weakness,” Isabella replied.
“Then use her.”
“What if the baby is hurt?”
A pause followed.
Adrian answered without emotion.
“Victor made the mistake of leaving one Vale alive.”
Khloe covered her mouth.
Isabella’s response came next.
“I will handle Khloe. But after tonight, Marcus belongs to me.”
Adrian laughed.
“You still believe this is about love.”
“What is it about?”
“Control.”
The recording ended with an address.
An abandoned Thorne research facility thirty miles outside the city.
Marcus reached for his coat.
Khloe grabbed his wrist.
“You are not going alone.”
“You just had surgery.”
“My daughter was attacked because everyone decided what I could handle without asking me.”
The surgeon appeared in the doorway before Marcus could answer.
Ava’s operation was over.
She had survived.
May you like
But the surgeon’s expression warned them not to celebrate yet.
“We found something else.”
