Chapter 2: Two Heartbeats
Khloe heard voices before she could open her eyes.
They seemed far away, blurred by medication and exhaustion.
“Her pressure is dropping.”
“Where is neonatal?”
“Now. We have to move now.”
Then came a sound she would remember for the rest of her life.
A baby’s cry.
Thin.
Fragile.
But alive.
Khloe tried to lift her head.
“My daughter…”
A masked nurse leaned over her.
“Your baby is being taken to the neonatal unit. Stay with us, Mrs. Thorne.”
“Marcus…”
No one answered.
The ceiling lights passed above her as the medical team moved quickly.
Khloe tried to count them.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
Outside the operating room, Marcus sat with blood on the sleeve of his tuxedo.
It was Khloe’s blood.
He had carried her halfway down the hall before the doctors forced him to let go.
Gabriel emerged through the surgical doors nearly forty minutes later.
Marcus stood immediately.
“Khloe?”
“She survived the surgery.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“And the baby?”
“Your daughter was delivered eleven weeks early. She is breathing with assistance.”
Marcus’s knees nearly gave out.
Gabriel did not offer comfort.
“Her name?”
Marcus stared at him.
“What?”
“The child’s name. Khloe told me months ago, but I want to hear whether you remember.”
“Ava,” Marcus whispered. “Ava Elise Thorne.”
Gabriel nodded once.
“She weighs three pounds, two ounces. The next twenty-four hours are critical.”
“Can I see them?”
“You can see Ava through the neonatal window. Khloe is unconscious.”
Marcus began moving toward the unit.
Gabriel blocked his path.
“First, you are going to explain the keycard.”
Marcus glanced at the officers waiting outside Isabella’s hospital room.
She had been detained under guard after claiming that Khloe had attacked her first.
“The card opened a restricted archive beneath the hospital,” Marcus said.
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“What archive?”
“One your board doesn’t officially know exists.”
“This hospital belongs to my family.”
“Not all of it.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“The east foundation was financed by Thorne Medical Holdings. My father required a private records vault as part of the original agreement.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“You gave Isabella access to confidential hospital records?”
“She told me she needed proof that an old file had been moved.”
“What file?”
Marcus hesitated.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“The longer you protect her, the more guilty you look.”
“I’m not protecting Isabella.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Marcus looked toward the neonatal unit.
Through the glass, he could see a tiny shape surrounded by machines.
His daughter.
His consequence.
His final chance to become someone better than the men who had raised him.
“The file belonged to Khloe’s parents,” he said.
Gabriel went still.
May you like
Marcus continued.
“The accident that killed them was never an accident.”
