Chapter 1 - The Camera Never Blinked
Marcus crossed the room before Isabella could finish her lie.
He dropped to his knees beside Khloe, ignoring the broken crystal cutting into the fabric of his tuxedo.
“Khloe, look at me.”
Her face had gone frighteningly pale.
“I’m here.”
Khloe tried to answer, but another sharp pain stole the words from her mouth.
Her fingers tightened around Marcus’s wrist.
“The baby.”
That was all she managed to say.
Marcus’s expression changed instantly.
He lifted his head toward Elaine Parker.
“Call the obstetric team now.”
Elaine was already reaching for her phone.
Isabella took one careful step backward.
“I told you what happened.”
Marcus did not even look at her.
“Don’t move.”
The words were quiet.
That made them more dangerous.
Within seconds, nurses rushed into the private suite.
They placed Khloe on a stretcher while Marcus stayed beside her.
One nurse checked her blood pressure.
Another attached a fetal monitor.
Then the monitor began producing a rhythm that made every medical professional in the room move faster.
Khloe saw their faces.
“What’s wrong?”
Dr. Hannah Reed entered with two members of her obstetric team.
“We’re taking you upstairs.”
“Is my baby okay?”
“We need to evaluate both of you immediately.”
Marcus followed the stretcher.
Isabella tried to leave behind them.
Elaine blocked the doorway.
“You should stay.”
Isabella stared at her.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard Mr. Thorne.”
“I’m not a prisoner.”
“No.”
A new voice came from the hallway.
“But you may become one.”
Everyone turned.
Dr. Samuel Vale walked into the suite wearing a dark hospital administrator’s jacket over surgical scrubs.
He was sixty-one, silver-haired, controlled, and known throughout the city as one of the most powerful names in private medicine.
He was also Khloe’s maternal uncle.
His eyes moved across the broken glass.
Then they stopped on Isabella.
“What happened to my niece?”
Isabella’s face softened immediately.
“Dr. Vale, thank God.”
Samuel did not return the warmth.
“She became aggressive.”
Elaine looked sharply at her.
Isabella continued.
“Khloe was emotional.”
“Emotional?”
“She accused me of trying to destroy her marriage.”
Samuel’s expression remained unreadable.
“And then?”
“She came at me.”
Samuel looked toward the security camera mounted near the ceiling.
Isabella followed his gaze.
For the first time that evening, her confidence cracked.
Only slightly.
But Samuel saw it.
He walked to the wall console and pressed a button.
“Security control.”
A voice answered immediately.
“Yes, Dr. Vale?”
“Lock the recording from Suite Fourteen.”
There was a pause.
“Sir?”
“Preserve every camera angle beginning ninety minutes before the incident.”
Isabella swallowed.
Samuel watched her carefully.
“Do not allow the footage to be deleted, copied, edited, or accessed without my authorization.”
“Yes, sir.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“This is ridiculous.”
Samuel turned toward her.
“If you told the truth, the footage will protect you.”
That silenced her.
Two hospital security officers appeared at the door.
Samuel gave them one instruction.
“Ms. Rossi does not leave this floor.”
Isabella’s eyes hardened.
“You cannot detain me.”
“No.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“But the police can.”
As if summoned by the words, Elaine looked toward the elevator.
Two uniformed officers were approaching.
Down the hall, Marcus stood beside Khloe’s stretcher as the elevator doors opened.
Khloe reached for him.
“Marcus.”
He leaned closer.
“Don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The doors closed around them.
Inside the suite, Isabella stared at the dark eye of the security camera.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
May you like
Because she finally understood something.
The room had witnessed everything.
