CHAPTER 2 – THE RECORDING
CHAPTER 2 – THE RECORDING
Marcus Thorne answered the call on the first ring.
He was standing outside Operating Room Three, staring through a narrow glass window that revealed nothing except moving shadows and cold fluorescent light.
“Marcus,” Adrian Grant said.
Marcus recognized the voice immediately.
Khloe’s uncle rarely called him directly.
“What is it?”
“We have the recording.”
Marcus straightened.
“What recording?”
“The hospital suite.”
For several seconds, Marcus said nothing.
He had assumed the room was private. Isabella had clearly assumed the same thing.
Adrian continued.
“The emergency security system activated when the glass shattered. It captured everything.”
Marcus slowly turned toward Isabella.
She was sitting at the opposite end of the hallway, surrounded by two members of her family’s legal team who had arrived with suspicious speed.
Her tears had stopped.
Her posture was perfect again.
She looked like a woman waiting for an inconvenience to disappear.
“Send it to me,” Marcus said.
“No.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“Why not?”
“Because someone has already tried to delete it remotely.”
Marcus glanced toward Isabella’s phone.
She immediately lowered the device.
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“I have locked the original recording inside the hospital system. I am creating three encrypted copies. One goes to the police. One goes to the district attorney. One stays with me.”
“Who attempted access?”
“We’re tracing it.”
Marcus looked through the operating-room window again.
“Is Khloe going to survive?”
There was a brief silence.
Adrian’s tone softened.
“I don’t know yet.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
He had negotiated billion-dollar acquisitions without raising his voice. He had faced hostile boards, federal investigations and competitors who had tried to destroy everything his family built.
None of those battles had prepared him for this hallway.
None had prepared him for the blood on his hands.
Behind him, heels clicked against the polished floor.
Isabella approached carefully.
“Marcus, may I speak to you privately?”
He ended the call.
“No.”
Her face tightened.
“You’re upset. I understand that.”
“You understand nothing.”
“She attacked me first.”
Marcus stared at her.
Isabella stepped closer.
“She was jealous. She has been unstable for months.”
“Stop.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“From my pregnant wife?”
“She isn’t who you think she is.”
Marcus said nothing.
That silence encouraged her.
Isabella lowered her voice.
“Khloe has been meeting with lawyers. She has been moving money. She planned to leave you after the baby was born.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“How would you know that?”
Isabella hesitated.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Marcus noticed.
“You’ve been watching her.”
“No.”
“You knew about her appointments.”
“She told someone.”
“Who?”
Isabella opened her mouth.
No answer came.
Marcus stepped closer, forcing her to look up at him.
“What else have you done?”
Her fear appeared briefly, then vanished behind practiced elegance.
“You’re confused.”
“I’m beginning to see clearly.”
Before she could respond, the operating-room doors opened.
A physician removed her mask.
Marcus moved toward her.
“Mr. Thorne?”
“Yes.”
“Your wife suffered severe trauma, but we stabilized her.”
Marcus released a breath he had not realized he was holding.
“And the baby?”
The doctor’s expression remained serious.
“The fetal heartbeat is stable for now. However, the impact caused complications. Mrs. Thorne must remain under constant observation.”
“Will she deliver tonight?”
“We’re doing everything possible to prevent that.”
Marcus looked through the open doors.
Khloe lay motionless beneath white sheets, surrounded by machines.
“She asked for you before the medication took effect,” the doctor said.
Marcus started forward.
Then the physician blocked his path.
“There is another matter.”
“What?”
“We found evidence of medication in her bloodstream that was not listed in her medical records.”
Marcus froze.
“What medication?”
“A sedative.”
He stared at the doctor.
“She didn’t take any sedatives.”
“That is why we are running additional tests.”
Behind him, Isabella’s face lost its color.
Marcus turned slowly.
She recovered too late.
He had already seen it.
“Why do you look afraid?” he asked.
“I don’t.”
“The doctor said Khloe was drugged.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“No one accused you.”
Isabella’s lips parted.
Marcus continued.
“Yet you defended yourself before anyone asked.”
One of Isabella’s attorneys stepped between them.
“My client will not answer any further questions.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Your client may need a criminal attorney.”
“She is the victim of a misunderstanding.”
Marcus’s voice fell to a whisper.
“You should hope that is true.”
The elevator doors opened at the end of the hall.
Adrian Grant stepped out with two police detectives and the hospital director.
He carried a black evidence case.
Isabella looked at the case.
Then at the detectives.
For the first time that night, she looked genuinely afraid.
Adrian stopped in front of her.
“Isabella Rossi?”
Her attorney answered.
“My client is represented.”
Adrian ignored him.
“You attempted to delete hospital security footage at 10:17 p.m.”
“That is absurd.”
“We traced the access request to a private server registered to Rossi Strategic Consulting.”
Her attorney raised a hand.
“Do not answer.”
Adrian continued.
“The server connected through a device inside this hospital.”
Isabella’s fingers tightened around her phone.
One of the detectives held out an evidence bag.
“Please place your phone inside.”
She stepped backward.
“You have no right.”
“We can obtain a warrant.”
“You’re treating me like a criminal.”
Adrian looked toward the operating room.
“My niece is fighting to keep her child alive.”
He turned back to Isabella.
“You should be grateful we are still using polite words.”
The hallway doors opened again.
This time, an elderly woman wearing a silver evening gown entered with two private security guards.
Eleanor Thorne.
Marcus’s mother.
She looked first at Isabella.
Then at Marcus.
Finally, at the blood on his tuxedo.
“What happened?” she demanded.
Isabella immediately ran toward her.
“Eleanor, thank God.”
She began crying again.
“Khloe attacked me.”
Eleanor embraced her.
Marcus watched in disbelief.
“Mother.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Isabella told me everything.”
“She lied.”
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“You don’t know that.”
“We have security footage.”
The color drained from her face.
Adrian lifted the evidence case slightly.
“Every second was recorded.”
Eleanor released Isabella.
The movement was small.
But Isabella felt it.
“Show me,” Eleanor said.
Adrian shook his head.
“The police will receive it first.”
“I am Marcus Thorne’s mother.”
“And I am protecting Khloe.”
Eleanor looked through the operating-room window.
For one brief moment, guilt appeared in her eyes.
Then Isabella whispered, “The footage could be manipulated.”
Marcus turned sharply.
Adrian did not blink.
“You seemed confident there was no footage five minutes ago.”
Isabella realized her mistake.
Everyone else realized it too.
The detective stepped forward again.
“Your phone.”
Isabella looked at Eleanor.
“Help me.”
Eleanor did not move.
The attorney whispered into Isabella’s ear.
Slowly, she placed the phone into the evidence bag.
The detective sealed it.
Adrian watched her carefully.
“You should also know something else.”
Isabella lifted her chin.
“What?”
“The recording has audio.”
Her composure shattered.
Not because it showed the kick.
But because of what she had said before it.
Smile for the cameras.
Give him an heir.
Then disappear.
Marcus saw the terror in her face and understood.
The violence was only part of the truth.
May you like
The recording contained something Isabella feared even more.
A motive.
