Chapter 1 - Thirty Marble Steps
The first thing Harrison Cole noticed was not Vanessa Kensington standing at the top of the courthouse steps.
It was the blood.
It ran in thin red lines between the white seams of the marble beneath his sister's body.
For one terrible second, Harrison forgot every law he had ever memorized, every courtroom he had ever conquered, and every powerful man he had ever forced to lower his eyes.
He was only Khloe's older brother.
"Call an ambulance!"
His voice cracked across the courthouse plaza.
People who had been frozen in shock suddenly moved.
A deputy sprinted toward the entrance.
Someone shouted for a medic.
A woman nearby began crying.
Harrison dropped to his knees beside Khloe and gently placed one hand beneath her head.
"Don't move."
Khloe's face had lost almost all its color.
Her breathing came in short, painful bursts.
One hand was wrapped protectively around her stomach.
"Harry."
"I'm here."
"The baby."
"I know."
"Something's wrong."
Harrison swallowed hard.
"No."
He leaned closer.
"You listen to me."
"You're going to the hospital."
"You're going to see your baby."
"And I'm going to be right beside you."
Khloe looked into his eyes.
She knew her brother too well.
She could see the fear he was trying to hide.
"Promise me."
Harrison took her trembling hand.
"I promise."
At the top of the stairs, Vanessa finally stepped backward.
Richard Harrington stood three feet from her.
Khloe's husband had not gone to his injured wife.
He had not called for help.
He had not even moved.
His face looked strangely blank.
Harrison slowly raised his head.
His eyes found Richard first.
Then Vanessa.
The people around them seemed to disappear.
"Deputy."
The courthouse officer stopped beside Harrison.
"Yes, Mr. Cole?"
"Do not let either of them leave."
Vanessa's face changed.
"What?"
Harrison didn't raise his voice.
"Do not let either of them leave this property."
Vanessa looked at Richard.
"Tell him it was an accident."
Richard finally moved.
"Harrison, maybe we should calm down."
Harrison stared at him.
It was the kind of stare that had destroyed witnesses on cross-examination.
"Your wife is bleeding on the ground."
Richard opened his mouth.
Harrison's voice dropped lower.
"And your first concern is protecting the woman who pushed her."
"That's not what I'm doing."
"No?"
Harrison looked toward the courthouse security cameras above the entrance.
Then he looked at the dozens of witnesses surrounding them.
"Good."
"Then you won't mind staying."
The ambulance arrived less than six minutes later.
To Harrison, it felt like six years.
The paramedics placed a cervical collar around Khloe's neck and carefully transferred her onto a stretcher.
One medic pressed a monitor against her abdomen.
Harrison watched his expression.
"What?"
The medic didn't answer immediately.
"What is it?"
"We're getting a fetal heartbeat."
Harrison closed his eyes for half a second.
Then the medic continued.
"But we need to move."
Khloe caught Harrison's sleeve.
"Come with me."
"Nothing could stop me."
As the stretcher rolled toward the ambulance, Vanessa suddenly called from the courthouse steps.
"I didn't mean for her to fall!"
Harrison stopped.
He turned slowly.
Vanessa's eyes widened when she realized what she had just admitted.
Richard whispered something to her.
Too late.
Harrison pointed toward a young man holding a phone.
"You."
The young man stiffened.
"Me?"
"Were you recording?"
The man nodded.
"I was filming the courthouse for a school project."
"Save that video."
Vanessa took another step backward.
Harrison turned toward a deputy.
"Get his information."
Then he followed his sister into the ambulance.
Richard watched him leave.
For the first time that afternoon, fear entered Richard's face.
Because Richard Harrington knew something Vanessa did not.
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The shove had not started the war.
It had simply given Harrison permission to finish one that had been building for months.
