Chapter 3: The Man Marcus Trusted
Marcus stared at the paused image on the monitor.
For several long seconds, no one in the security room spoke.
The timestamp glowed in the corner of the screen.
7:37:12 PM.
Five minutes before Isabella Rossi had entered the suite.
Five minutes before Khloe's world had been shattered.
Adrian Cole walked calmly through the hallway carrying a leather portfolio under one arm.
He glanced over both shoulders.
Then he crouched beside the decorative cabinet outside the suite.
His hand disappeared beneath it.
When he stood, he slipped something back into his jacket before walking away as though nothing had happened.
Marcus replayed the clip.
Then again.
And again.
His stomach tightened.
"Freeze it."
The technician paused the footage.
Marcus leaned closer to the monitor.
"What did he put there?"
Daniel Carter folded his arms.
"We'll know soon enough."
Within minutes, two hospital security officers carefully searched the hallway.
The cabinet was heavy marble.
It took both men to move it.
One of them knelt with a flashlight.
"Chief..."
Daniel stepped forward.
"What is it?"
The officer reached beneath the cabinet.
His face changed.
"I found something."
He slowly pulled out a tiny black device no larger than a thumb drive.
Marcus frowned.
"What is that?"
Daniel's eyes narrowed immediately.
"A wireless signal jammer."
Elaine Parker looked confused.
"A jammer?"
Daniel nodded.
"It blocks nearby wireless transmissions."
Marcus looked at him.
"But the surveillance cameras still worked."
"These cameras record locally."
Daniel held up the device.
"But hospital panic buttons, wearable emergency alerts, and wireless microphones rely on radio signals."
Elaine's face turned pale.
"So if Mrs. Thorne tried to trigger an emergency..."
Daniel finished the sentence.
"The signal may never have reached Security."
Marcus's jaw clenched.
"This wasn't random."
"No."
Daniel carefully sealed the device inside an evidence bag.
"This was planned."
Across town...
Adrian Cole drove through the evening traffic with one hand on the steering wheel.
The other gripped his vibrating phone.
Isabella Calling...
He rejected it.
Seconds later...
She called again.
Then a text appeared.
CALL ME NOW.
He ignored that too.
Instead, he drove toward an underground parking garage beneath a luxury office building.
When the elevator doors opened, a man in an expensive charcoal suit was already waiting.
Victor Hale.
Chairman of Hale Capital.
Marcus Thorne's oldest business rival.
Victor smiled.
"I assume everything is finished."
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
He loosened his tie.
"It went further than planned."
Victor's smile faded.
"What happened?"
"She kicked Khloe."
Victor closed his eyes.
"...Idiot."
"It gets worse."
Adrian swallowed.
"Marcus saw everything afterward."
Victor remained silent.
"And Security recovered the cameras."
For several seconds...
Neither man spoke.
Finally, Victor walked toward the window overlooking downtown.
"I told Isabella to create a scandal."
He turned.
"Not attempted murder."
Back at St. Augustine Medical Center...
Marcus stood alone outside the operating room.
The red surgery light remained on.
Three hours.
No news.
No doctor.
Nothing.
Every passing minute felt endless.
He looked down at his phone.
More than two hundred missed calls.
Television producers.
Board members.
Investors.
Journalists.
Family friends.
He ignored every one.
Only one message mattered.
No update from surgery.
He rubbed his face.
For the first time in years...
Marcus Thorne felt powerless.
His thoughts drifted backward.
To the day he met Khloe.
She hadn't cared who he was.
She'd laughed when someone introduced him as one of the youngest billionaires in America.
"I don't date headlines," she'd told him.
"I date people."
That honesty had terrified him.
Then healed him.
She had never wanted private jets.
Never demanded jewelry.
Never competed for attention.
When investors betrayed him...
She stayed.
When his mother died...
She stayed.
When the company nearly collapsed five years earlier...
She stayed.
And now...
When she needed him most...
She lay behind those operating room doors fighting for their child.
Marcus whispered to himself,
"I'm not losing either of you."
The operating room doors finally opened.
Dr. Evelyn Brooks stepped into the hallway.
Her surgical cap was still on.
Her eyes looked exhausted.
Marcus stood immediately.
"Doctor?"
She removed her mask slowly.
"The surgery was successful."
Marcus exhaled so hard his shoulders trembled.
"But..."
His heart stopped again.
"The placenta suffered significant trauma."
"We've stopped the bleeding."
"The baby is alive."
Marcus almost smiled.
Then she continued.
"But Mrs. Thorne must remain under constant observation."
"Any additional stress..."
She hesitated.
"...could trigger premature labor."
Marcus nodded silently.
"Can I see her?"
"In a few minutes."
He looked toward the nursery.
"And my son?"
Dr. Brooks smiled gently.
"He's still where he belongs."
Marcus blinked.
"My son?"
She laughed softly.
"I suppose I just ruined your surprise."
Marcus actually smiled for the first time that night.
Khloe had wanted to keep the baby's gender secret until birth.
He whispered,
"A boy..."
Elsewhere in the hospital...
Isabella sat alone inside a private consultation room.
No makeup artist.
No reporters.
No admirers.
Just silence.
The door opened.
Her attorney, Richard Lawson, entered carrying a tablet.
"You've been charged."
She looked up sharply.
"What?"
"Not arrested."
"Yet."
He sat opposite her.
"The district attorney is reviewing the evidence."
She shook her head.
"I didn't mean—"
Richard interrupted.
"It doesn't matter what you meant."
He placed the tablet on the table.
"The security footage is devastating."
She looked away.
"I panicked."
"You assaulted a pregnant woman."
"I only wanted to scare her."
Richard sighed.
"Intent becomes difficult to argue when someone ends up in emergency surgery."
For the first time...
Isabella looked frightened.
"Marcus won't let this happen."
Richard didn't answer.
She frowned.
"He loves me."
The lawyer stared at her.
Then quietly asked,
"Are you certain he ever did?"
Near midnight...
Daniel Carter entered Khloe's hospital room.
She was awake.
Weak.
But conscious.
Marcus sat beside the bed holding her hand.
Daniel smiled gently.
"How are you feeling?"
Khloe forced a smile.
"I've been better."
He nodded.
"I need to ask you one question."
Marcus looked up.
Daniel continued,
"Before Isabella arrived..."
"Did anyone else enter your room?"
Khloe thought carefully.
Then her eyes widened.
"...Yes."
Marcus turned toward her.
"Who?"
"Adrian."
Silence.
"He said you wanted me to sign some charity paperwork before the gala ended."
Marcus frowned.
"I never sent him."
Khloe nodded slowly.
"I know that now."
Daniel took out a notebook.
"What happened after he left?"
Khloe closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"He accidentally dropped his pen."
Marcus waited.
"He bent down beside the cabinet."
Daniel and Marcus exchanged a look.
Exactly where the jammer had been found.
Khloe opened her eyes again.
"There was something else."
"What?"
"He kept asking where my phone was."
Marcus felt cold.
"I told him it was charging in my bedroom."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"He wanted to know whether you'd be able to call for help."
The room fell silent.
This had never been a crime of impulse.
May you like
Someone had planned every detail.
And somewhere beyond the walls of the hospital, the mastermind was still free.
