Chapter 4 - Khloe’s SecretKhloe lay beneath pale hospital lights, her face turned toward the window.
The city glittered outside as if nothing terrible had happened. Cars moved through the streets. Music still drifted faintly from the charity gala below. Somewhere, people were laughing over champagne.
Marcus stood beside her bed, holding her hand with both of his.
He had never looked more helpless.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Khloe turned her head slowly. “You didn’t do this.”
“I let her near you.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
Khloe’s eyes filled, but she did not cry. Not yet. She had cried enough on the floor of that suite. Now she was tired in a way that reached deeper than pain.
Marcus leaned closer. “What did Isabella mean?”
Khloe looked away.
The question sat between them.
Heavy.
Alive.
Marcus waited.
That was one thing Khloe had always loved about him. The world believed Marcus Thorne conquered everything by force, but with her, he had learned patience.
Still, she felt fear crawl through her chest.
Because there was a truth she had not told him.
Not because she wanted to deceive him.
Because the truth was dangerous.
And because she had spent months trying to confirm it before she placed it in his hands.
Khloe whispered, “Isabella wasn’t supposed to know.”
Marcus’s grip tightened slightly. “Know what?”
The door opened before she could answer.
Adrian entered carrying a sealed folder.
His face told Khloe he already understood.
“Uncle Adrian,” she said quietly.
Marcus looked between them.
Adrian closed the door. “Khloe found something two months ago.”
Marcus stood slowly.
“Something about what?”
Khloe swallowed. “About your father’s company.”
Marcus went still.
Thorne Global had been built by Marcus’s late father, Edward Thorne, and expanded by Marcus into an empire. Hotels, medical technology, logistics, luxury real estate. The world saw power.
Khloe had seen patterns.
Money moving through charities. Shell contracts. Donations that vanished. Hospital equipment purchases routed through offshore vendors connected to the Rossi family.
At first, she had thought it was accounting corruption.
Then she realized it was worse.
“I found records,” Khloe said. “Your company and Rossi Holdings were tied together through fake medical supply contracts. Millions were moved through charity foundations.”
Marcus’s face darkened. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your signature was on some of the approvals.”
He recoiled as if struck.
Khloe’s voice broke. “I knew you hadn’t signed them. I knew it. But I needed proof before I brought it to you. I was afraid someone inside your company was setting you up.”
Adrian placed the folder on the bed tray.
“Khloe came to me because my hospital’s foundation was listed in one of the transfers.”
Marcus stared at the folder.
“And Isabella knew?”
Khloe nodded. “She confronted me last week. She said digging into powerful families while pregnant was reckless.”
Marcus’s eyes turned cold.
Adrian opened the folder.
Inside were copies of wire transfers, forged approval documents, emails, and one photograph printed from security footage.
A photograph of Isabella entering Marcus’s private office at Thorne Global after midnight.
With Vincent Rossi beside her.
Marcus picked up the photograph.
His voice was almost silent.
“She wasn’t trying to ruin our marriage.”
May you like
Khloe shook her head.
“She was trying to stop me before I ruined her father.”
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