Chapter 9 - THIRTY MARBLE STEPS
The courthouse alarm continued ringing.
People moved around them.
Lawyers.
Clerks.
Reporters.
Strangers.
The staircase opened below like a white stone river.
Khloe stepped away from Vanessa.
“Leave me alone.”
Vanessa reached for her arm.
Khloe pulled free.
“Do not touch me.”
“You think you are better than me because your brother wins cases?”
“No.”
“I think you are responsible for what you chose.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“He promised me everything.”
“He promised me the same thing.”
“You had him for six years.”
“I had a performance.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
Then Richard spoke from behind them.
“She gave the recordings to the government.”
Vanessa turned.
“You said Harrison took them without permission.”
Richard did not answer.
Khloe saw the moment Vanessa understood.
Richard had lied again.
He had used her cooperation to redirect blame.
He had brought her to the staircase because he wanted chaos.
Vanessa looked back at Khloe.
The grief in her face became rage.
“You ruined everything.”
She placed both hands against Khloe’s shoulders.
Harrison turned at the same instant.
“No.”
The shove came with all of Vanessa’s strength.
Khloe’s heel slipped over the edge.
Her body fell backward.
The first impact struck her hip.
The second struck her shoulder.
Then the staircase became a violent blur of marble, pain, and screams.
Her head struck one step.
Her back struck another.
Her swollen belly twisted as she tumbled.
Thirty steps waited below.
She heard someone shouting her name.
Then she hit the bottom.
Silence entered her body before sound returned to the world.
Warm blood spread beneath her navy dress.
Harrison reached her first.
He dropped to his knees so hard his palms split against the marble.
“Khloe.”
His voice broke.
“Look at me.”
“Stay with me.”
She tried to breathe.
Her fingers reached for his suit.
They left blood across the lapel.
“Harry.”
“I’m here.”
“The baby.”
Pain moved through her stomach like tearing metal.
“Please save my baby.”
Her hand slipped.
Harrison caught it.
“You are both leaving here.”
“Do you hear me?”
“Both of you.”
Paramedics rushed through the crowd.
At the top of the staircase, Vanessa stood with her hands still extended.
Richard remained beside her.
He did not move toward his wife.
He did not call her name.
He looked toward the reporters.
That was the detail Harrison remembered later.
Richard was not watching Khloe bleed.
He was watching who had seen it.
Harrison slowly lifted his head.
His eyes found both of them.
No rage appeared.
Only calculation.
Vanessa stepped backward.
For the first time, she understood prison was not the only thing approaching.
The courthouse cameras had recorded the shove.
May you like
Dozens of witnesses had seen it.
And Harrison Cole had just become both a brother and the most dangerous attorney either of them had ever faced.
