Chapter 9 - Thirty-One Weeks
The emergency operating room was prepared in minutes.
Khloe received medication.
The contractions slowed.
For several terrible moments, everyone watched the fetal monitor.
Then the heart rate stabilized.
Dr. Reed stood near Khloe’s bed.
“We have options.”
Khloe looked exhausted.
“What options?”
“If the baby remains stable, we delay delivery.”
“For how long?”
“As long as safely possible.”
Marcus asked, “What would make you deliver?”
“Significant bleeding.”
Dr. Reed answered.
“Persistent fetal distress.”
“Worsening abruption.”
“Or any indication that keeping the baby inside becomes more dangerous than delivering.”
Khloe nodded slowly.
“What would you do if I were your sister?”
Dr. Reed did not give her a rehearsed answer.
“I would watch every minute and wait while waiting remains safe.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“Then we wait.”
For the next forty-eight hours, the hospital room became their world.
Marcus slept in the chair.
Khloe barely slept at all.
Every change in the monitor made her heart jump.
Every nurse entering too quickly terrified her.
But slowly, the contractions weakened.
The bleeding stopped.
The baby remained stable.
On the third morning, Dr. Reed finally smiled.
“This is the first time I feel comfortable saying we may have bought some time.”
Khloe released a breath she had been holding for days.
“How much?”
“I can’t promise.”
“I know.”
“But every day matters.”
Marcus stepped toward the window.
Khloe watched him.
“You haven’t gone to the office.”
“No.”
“The board vote is coming.”
“David handles the urgent issues.”
“Marcus.”
He turned.
“You don’t have to choose between being here and protecting the company.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
“Khloe.”
She raised one hand.
“You said you were going to listen.”
He stopped.
“Then listen.”
Marcus sat down.
Khloe continued.
“If Mercer did this to destabilize Thorne Global, then staying here while the company collapses gives him part of what he wanted.”
“My family comes first.”
“I am your family.”
“Yes.”
“And I’m telling you to fight for what belongs to our child too.”
Marcus studied her.
There was no fear in her expression now.
Only resolve.
“You want me at the board meeting?”
“I want you prepared for it.”
He almost smiled.
“That sounds like the woman I married.”
Khloe’s expression softened.
“Don’t ruin the moment.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Samuel entered with Detective Mills.
Marcus immediately stood.
“What happened?”
Mills held a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a phone.
“We recovered this from Owen Pike.”
Khloe looked at it.
“What’s on it?”
“An audio recording.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“Of whom?”
“Isabella and Julian Mercer.”
Detective Mills placed the phone on the table.
“The recording was made six days before the gala.”
Khloe looked toward Marcus.
Mills pressed play.
Isabella’s voice came first.
“If she refuses to leave him, what then?”
Julian answered.
“Then make Marcus believe she should.”
Isabella laughed bitterly.
“And if that still doesn’t work?”
There was a long pause.
Then Julian spoke.
“Create a crisis he cannot control.”
The recording ended.
Khloe stared at the phone.
Marcus’s voice was almost a whisper.
“That’s not enough to prove he ordered an attack.”
“No.”
Detective Mills agreed.
“But there’s another recording.”
He pressed play again.
This time Julian’s words were clearer.
“The board meeting is August thirty-first.”
Isabella answered.
“I know.”
“By then, Marcus needs to be distracted, discredited, or divided from his wife.”
“And if Khloe gets hurt?”
Julian paused.
May you like
Then said four words.
“That is your problem.”
