Chapter 6 - the child in the trust
Khloe listened without interrupting as Marcus explained what Isabella had said.
They were alone in Margaret’s private sitting room, though Ethan’s officers stood outside every entrance. The music in the ballroom had stopped. Guests had been told there was a security issue and were being escorted from the property in groups.
Khloe sat near the fireplace.
Marcus remained several feet away.
The distance hurt more than any question he might have asked.
“My first job was at Brighton Strategy,” she said.
“Aurelia paid Brighton.”
“Brighton had hundreds of clients.”
“Isabella claims someone sent you to the bookstore where we met.”
“Isabella also claimed I attacked her.”
“Ethan verified the payment.”
Khloe placed both hands over her stomach.
“What exactly are you asking me?”
Marcus closed his eyes for a moment.
“I’m asking whether meeting me was an assignment.”
“No.”
“Did you know who I was?”
“Of course I knew who you were. Your face was on half the newspapers in the city.”
“Did Brighton ask you to approach me?”
“No.”
“Did anyone?”
“No.”
Marcus looked toward the fire.
Khloe understood his fear.
He had grown up around people who measured relationships by influence. His father’s death had taught him that loyalty could be manufactured. Isabella’s betrayal had reopened every doubt he had spent years burying.
Still, Khloe refused to let another person’s lie become the language of their marriage.
“Look at me,” she said.
Marcus did.
“I met you because you asked whether the chair beside me was free. I said it was not because my coat was on it. You moved my coat and sat down anyway.”
“I remember.”
“You complained about the book I was reading.”
“It was terrible.”
“You had not read it.”
“The cover was dishonest.”
“You spilled coffee on my notes.”
“You laughed.”
“I laughed because you looked terrified.”
For the first time since the corridor, Marcus’s expression softened.
Khloe continued.
“I did not know you would return the next day. I did not know you would remember my name. I did not know you would spend three weeks pretending you enjoyed that bookstore’s coffee.”
“It was awful.”
“It still is.”
Marcus moved closer.
“I believe you.”
“That was too fast.”
“I believed you before I entered this room. I needed to hear you say it.”
“Then next time, ask before you stand across the room like a prosecutor.”
“I’m sorry.”
Khloe looked at him for several seconds.
“Come here.”
Marcus crossed the distance and knelt beside her.
She placed his hand against her stomach.
The baby moved.
Marcus released a breath that sounded almost like a laugh.
“We’re all right,” Khloe said. “But we will not remain all right if people inside this family can access my medical records and use our child as a weapon.”
“I will dismantle every company involved.”
“Not before we know who controls them.”
Margaret entered carrying a locked document case.
“I may know.”
She placed the case on the table.
“After Thomas died, I found references to the children’s trust. I assumed it was a charitable account. I did not understand that it controlled company shares.”
“Why did you hide this?” Marcus asked.
“Because someone entered my room the night of the funeral and searched for Thomas’s private files. The next morning, your brake line had been damaged.”
Marcus went still.
“You told me the car had a manufacturing defect.”
“I told you what would keep you from investigating.”
“You lied to me for eight years.”
“I kept you alive.”
“By letting the people responsible remain inside our company?”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“I did not know whom to trust.”
Khloe looked toward the locked case.
“What is inside?”
Margaret entered a code.
The lid opened.
Inside were copies of old trust documents, board minutes, and a small velvet box.
Marcus opened the box.
It contained a gold key.
Margaret handed him a document.
“The trust does not activate simply when the child is born. Thomas added a second condition.”
Marcus read aloud.
“Upon confirmation that the heir’s parent has willingly rejected a financial settlement designed to dissolve the marriage, control shall transfer irrevocably.”
Khloe frowned.
“What settlement?”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“The agreement I offered you before the wedding.”
Marcus turned toward her.
“You offered Khloe money to leave me?”
“$25 million.”
Khloe remembered the meeting.
Margaret had presented it as a test of intentions. Khloe had torn the document in half and told Margaret that if she ever tried to purchase her again, she would never meet her grandchild.
Margaret had never mentioned it afterward.
“That refusal activated part of the trust,” Margaret said. “The remaining transfer occurs when the child is born.”
Marcus understood.
“Someone needs our marriage dissolved before the birth.”
“Or they need Khloe discredited,” Margaret said. “If she is charged with attacking Isabella, stealing my access card, and attempting to steal foundation records, the board can petition to suspend the trust.”
Khloe looked toward the corridor.
“Isabella was not trying only to frighten me.”
“She was creating a legal case,” Marcus replied.
Ethan entered without knocking.
“We traced the call to Khloe’s clinic.”
“Who made it?” Marcus asked.
“The number was routed through Aurelia’s medical data company, but the authorization code belongs to someone inside Vale Global.”
“Who?”
“Your uncle Julian.”
Margaret closed the document case.
“That is impossible. Julian has been in London for a month.”
Ethan held up his phone.
“His plane landed forty minutes ago.”
The security monitor behind him changed automatically.
A live feed from the east gate appeared.
Julian Vale stood outside in the rain, holding an umbrella.
May you like
Beside him was a woman no one expected to see.
Khloe’s former supervisor from Brighton Strategy.
