Chapter 8 - Marcus Opens the FolderMarcus did not learn about the blue folder from Khloe.
He learned from blood.
Not literal blood.
A blood drop icon beside the hospital surveillance archive.
It marked footage connected to a violent incident.
Marcus had demanded every angle from the hospital corridor, gala elevators, access desk, and private suite entrance. His legal team had pulled them into a secure conference room at St. Aurelia before noon.
On one screen, Isabella entered Khloe’s suite.
On another, Celeste stood at the administrative terminal.
On a third, two men in maintenance jackets appeared inside Khloe’s old apartment building twenty minutes before Elias arrived.
Marcus stared at that third screen.
“Why were my guards at Khloe’s apartment?”
No one answered.
Elaine looked down.
Elias stood near the door with his arms crossed.
Marcus turned slowly.
“Elias.”
Elias met his gaze.
“She asked me to retrieve something.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“What?”
Elias did not answer.
Marcus’s face tightened. “My wife was nearly killed last night. My son is in NICU. People broke into her apartment. Do not tell me I don’t have the right to know.”
Elias’s voice was calm. “Rights are not the same as trust.”
The words hit their mark.
Marcus looked away first.
A year ago, he would have ordered Elias removed.
A year ago, he would have considered any withheld information an insult.
But after last night, Marcus understood that Khloe had hidden things because he had made himself unsafe to tell.
Not cruel.
Not abusive.
Worse, in some ways.
Dismissive.
Busy.
Confident in the wrong people.
He rubbed a hand over his jaw.
“Did she ask you not to tell me?”
“Yes.”
Marcus nodded once, pain flashing across his face.
“Then don’t.”
Elias’s expression shifted with surprise.
Marcus continued, “But if whatever she found puts her in danger, I need to protect her.”
“You protect her by listening when she is ready.”
Marcus gave a bitter smile. “I’m learning.”
Before Elias could answer, the conference room door opened.
Khloe stood there.
Not steadily.
Not without help.
A nurse had one hand under her elbow, and another held an IV pole behind her. She wore a hospital robe, her hair loose around her pale face, her body clearly in pain.
Marcus rushed forward.
“What are you doing out of bed?”
Khloe looked past him to Elias.
“You told him?”
“No,” Elias said.
She studied Marcus.
“He didn’t?”
Marcus shook his head. “He said it was your choice.”
Khloe’s eyes filled, but she blinked the tears back.
That single restraint hurt Marcus more than sobbing would have.
She was still measuring whether he deserved truth.
Khloe turned to the nurse. “Give us ten minutes.”
The nurse hesitated.
Elias stepped in. “I’ll stay.”
The nurse reluctantly left.
Khloe lowered herself into a chair with Marcus’s help, though she barely allowed his hand to touch her. He felt the distance like punishment.
Elias placed the blue folder on the table.
Marcus stared at it.
Khloe said, “The Rossis have been stealing from their charities.”
Silence.
Elaine’s eyes widened.
Marcus did not move.
Khloe continued, “Not sloppy accounting. Theft. Bribes. Laundering. Fake programs. Fake invoices. Payments to judges. Payments to media people. Maybe politicians.”
Marcus’s voice was low. “How long have you known?”
“Long enough.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked at him then.
Really looked.
“Because when I tried, you told me not to get pulled into it.”
He closed his eyes.
There was no defense.
Khloe opened the folder.
Photographs spilled across the table.
A shuttered clinic.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Dates.
A signed statement.
“I gave copies to a federal prosecutor three weeks ago. Dana Whitlock. She wanted more before moving.”
Marcus looked at the flash drive.
“And they found out.”
“I think Isabella found out first. She searched my purse at a donor luncheon. After that, everything changed.”
Elaine whispered, “The insults.”
Khloe nodded. “They wanted me unstable. Jealous. Emotional. If I exposed them, they wanted everyone ready to believe I was a bitter wife attacking another woman.”
Marcus’s hands curled into fists.
Khloe’s voice trembled, but she did not stop.
“Last night, Isabella wasn’t just trying to hurt me. She was trying to make it look like I lost control. If I miscarried, if I broke down, if I accused her afterward…”
“People would question everything you found,” Marcus finished.
Khloe nodded.
Marcus looked at the folder again.
Then at his wife.
“I failed you.”
“Yes,” she said.
The honesty was clean and brutal.
He swallowed.
“Will you let me help now?”
Khloe leaned back, exhausted.
“I don’t know.”
The room went quiet.
Then Elaine’s phone buzzed.
She checked it and went pale.
“What?” Marcus asked.
Elaine turned the screen around.
A gossip site had just posted a headline:
KHLOE THORNE UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR BLACKMAIL? SOURCES CLAIM BILLIONAIRE WIFE THREATENED ROSSI FAMILY BEFORE HOSPITAL INCIDENT.
Khloe closed her eyes.
Marcus looked at the headline.
Then at the blue folder.
The Rossis had made their next move.
May you like
And this time, they were not only attacking Khloe’s body.
They were attacking her name.
Related Stories
