Chapter 5
Natalie Cole was arrested before sunrise.
She denied everything.
She claimed Vanessa had asked her to buy the phone because hers was broken.
Detective Ortiz placed the hospital surveillance photographs in front of her.
“A man carrying poison walked toward a premature baby. That phone connected him to your sister.”
Natalie crossed her arms.
“I don’t know him.”
“He had five thousand dollars. Your bank records show you withdrew the same amount yesterday.”
Fear flickered across Natalie’s face.
“My sister said it was for a lawyer.”
“Then why did you meet him in a parking garage?”
Natalie stopped talking.
At the hospital, Khloe was moved to a guarded room on a private floor.
Hope was placed in a secure section of the neonatal unit.
Richard’s attorney appeared on television that morning.
He called the courthouse incident an unfortunate family misunderstanding.
He said Vanessa had been frightened by Khloe’s aggression.
He described Richard as a loving husband waiting to meet his daughter.
Khloe watched from her bed in disbelief.
“He has never held her,” she said.
Harrison turned off the television.
“He’s building a story.”
“He’s trying to take Hope.”
Diane sat beside her.
“He can’t.”
“He’s her legal father.”
A family-law attorney named Rachel Kim arrived later that morning.
Harrison had contacted her after the attack.
Rachel listened as Khloe described the abuse, the sedative, the threatening messages, and the hospital intruder.
“We’re filing for an emergency protective order,” Rachel said. “We’ll also request temporary sole custody.”
“Can Richard stop it?”
“He can try.”
“He always finds a way.”
“Then we close every door before he reaches it.”
Rachel asked whether Richard was Hope’s biological father.
Khloe stared at her.
“Of course he is.”
“Then we should be prepared for him to demand a paternity test.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To delay the case or humiliate you.”
Khloe shook her head.
“I never cheated.”
“I believe you. I’m telling you what desperate people do.”
That afternoon, Detective Ortiz called Harrison.
Police had searched the storage unit.
Inside, they found copies of Khloe’s financial records, forged property-transfer documents, and a bottle of the sedative discovered in her blood.
They also found a laptop.
The laptop contained a draft email written in Khloe’s name.
It said she was overwhelmed by pregnancy and planned to leave the country.
A second document was more frightening.
It was a confession.
In it, Khloe supposedly admitted that she had stolen money from the family construction company.
“If I died,” Khloe whispered, “he would release that and destroy my name.”
“There’s more,” Ortiz said. “Richard and Vanessa bought two plane tickets to Argentina.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago. The departure date is tomorrow.”
Harrison looked toward the window.
“They’re going to run.”
Police searched Richard’s apartment, but he was gone.
Vanessa was still in custody, yet Richard had disappeared after removing his electronic ankle monitor.
Officers found blood in his bathroom.
It did not belong to him.
Forensic technicians identified it before sunset.
The blood belonged to Vanessa’s sister, Natalie.
But Natalie was supposed to be alive in police custody.
Detective Ortiz rushed to the holding facility.
The woman arrested under Natalie’s name was not Vanessa’s sister.
She was a paid impersonator carrying false identification.
The real Natalie was missing.
That night, Khloe received a video call from Richard.
She answered only because police were tracing it.
Richard appeared in a dark room.
Natalie sat behind him, tied to a chair.
Her lip was bleeding.
“Drop every charge,” Richard said, “or Vanessa’s sister dies.”
Khloe stared at the man she had once trusted with her life.
“You planned all of this.”
May you like
Richard smiled.
“No, Khloe. You did—when you decided the money belonged to you.”
