CHAPTER 3 — The Violent Night
Police arrived before midnight.
The gala downstairs ended in whispers.
Millionaires who had lifted champagne glasses hours earlier now stood in corners, pretending they had not heard everything.
Damon Pierce tried to leave through the underground parking garage.
He did not make it past the exit gate.
Marcus found him there, held by two security guards.
Damon laughed nervously.
“Marcus, this is insane. You’re emotional right now.”
Marcus stepped close.
“You planned to hurt my wife.”
Damon’s smile cracked.
“I planned to help you. Khloe was never right for your world.”
Marcus hit him once.
Not wild.
Not uncontrolled.
One brutal punch that sent Damon crashing against the side of a black SUV.
Security pulled Marcus back immediately.
Damon spat blood and started screaming about lawsuits.
Marcus only looked down at him.
“Good,” he said. “Sue me. Then discovery gets everything.”
Damon went quiet.
Because there was more.
Emails.
Bank transfers.
Hotel records.
Private messages between him and Isabella.
By sunrise, Isabella and Damon were both arrested.
The scandal burned through every news outlet in the city.
But Marcus did not care about headlines.
He sat beside Khloe’s hospital bed, his tuxedo wrinkled, his hand wrapped around hers.
“I should have seen it,” he said.
Khloe turned her tired eyes toward him.
“Yes,” she whispered. “You should have.”
The words hurt him more than anger would have.
“I believed too many people,” he said. “And I left you alone in rooms where you were being destroyed.”
Khloe looked down at her belly.
“Our son survived tonight,” she said. “But I don’t know if we did.”
Marcus swallowed hard.
May you like
For the first time in years, the billionaire had no command to give.
Only the truth to face.
