Chapter 4
Police sealed the parking garage.
Daniel’s SUV burned until only its twisted frame remained.
Security footage showed a hooded figure placing something beneath it twenty minutes after Daniel arrived.
Detective Torres ordered protection outside Khloe’s room.
“No one enters without my approval,” she said.
Marcus tried to step closer to Khloe.
Daniel blocked him.
“You don’t belong here.”
“I’m her husband.”
“You signed away her rights.”
“I was deceived.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Then start telling the truth.”
Marcus entered the room.
For the first time, Evelyn wasn’t beside him.
Neither was Isabella.
He looked smaller without them.
“My mother told me the company would collapse before the baby was born,” he said. “She said your stress made you dangerous. The contract was supposed to let me make medical decisions if you became ill.”
“And you believed her?”
“I wanted to.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Marcus’s voice broke.
“I was terrified. I had already lost nearly everything.”
“You still had me.”
“I know.”
“No. You had control over me. That isn’t the same thing.”
He wiped his eyes.
“I never agreed to give Isabella custody. I never knew about the pills. And I did not know my father stole your father’s shares.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“How do you know they were stolen?”
Marcus froze.
Khloe caught it immediately.
“You knew something.”
Marcus reached inside his jacket.
Security moved closer, but he slowly removed a small brass key.
“My father gave me this before he died. He said it opened a private box at First National Bank.”
“What is inside?” Daniel asked.
“I never opened it.”
“Why not?”
“My mother told me it contained evidence that would send my father to prison, even after his death. She said opening it would destroy our name.”
Khloe stared at the key.
“And suddenly you want to open it now?”
“Someone tried to kill Daniel. Isabella tried to kill our baby. Our name is already destroyed.”
Detective Torres took the key.
“We’ll open it under police supervision.”
Two hours later, Khloe joined the meeting through a secure video call.
Marcus, Daniel, and Detective Torres entered the bank vault.
The box contained company records, a flash drive, and a sealed letter addressed to Khloe.
Daniel held it up to the camera.
“That is your father’s handwriting.”
Khloe’s chest tightened.
“Read it.”
Daniel opened the envelope.
The letter explained that Khloe’s father had discovered fraudulent medical-device testing at the company.
He planned to report it.
Before he could, he died in a car accident.
The official investigation blamed a mechanical failure.
But he had suspected someone was tampering with his vehicle.
Daniel stopped reading.
His face had gone gray.
“There’s another page,” Marcus said.
The second page named the person Khloe’s father feared most.
Not Marcus’s father.
Evelyn Hale.
Khloe looked toward the window.
Evelyn stood at the end of the hallway speaking to an attorney.
As if she felt Khloe watching, she turned.
Their eyes met through the glass.
Then Evelyn smiled.
Detective Torres plugged in the flash drive.
A video appeared.
Khloe’s father sat in a dark office.
“If you are seeing this,” he said, “Evelyn has already tried to silence me.”
A noise sounded behind him.
He looked over his shoulder.
The office door opened.
A young Daniel stepped into view.
May you like
Khloe stopped breathing.
Her father stared at him and said, “You told her where to find me.”
