Chapter 5 - the missing three minutes
The first security recording showed an empty corridor.
At 9:17 p.m., Khloe stepped out of the elevator.
At 9:18 p.m., the screen turned black.
At 9:21 p.m., the picture returned.
Isabella stood outside Suite 1708, screaming for help. Khloe was inside near the broken table.
Three minutes were missing.
Owen Shaw blamed the ballroom power failure.
Officer Reyes did not believe him.
“The emergency system has a separate power source,” he said.
Owen folded his arms.
“Not every system switched correctly.”
“Then provide the maintenance report.”
“It has not been written yet.”
“Provide the access log.”
“The server is restarting.”
“Provide the internal recording from the camera above the suite door.”
“It is not a camera.”
Officer Reyes looked at Elaine.
“Do you trust this man?”
Elaine’s answer was immediate.
“I trust evidence.”
Owen’s jaw tightened.
Khloe was moved into the private hospital suite under medical supervision. The baby’s heartbeat remained steady, but the doctors wanted her monitored overnight.
Marcus refused to leave her side.
Isabella was placed in a separate examination room with a guard outside.
Elaine stood near the window, reviewing hospital records on her tablet.
“Someone knew exactly how to disable the corridor feed,” she said.
Marcus looked at his mother.
“Someone with executive access.”
“Yes.”
“Your access?”
Elaine’s expression sharpened. “Be careful.”
“I am trying to understand what happened.”
“You are trying to ask whether I helped Isabella.”
Khloe reached for Marcus’s hand.
“This is what the person behind it wants. They want us looking at each other.”
Elaine glanced toward her.
“You heard a man speaking to Isabella?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Very little. She told him I had signed the amendment.”
Elaine closed the tablet.
“What amendment?”
Marcus explained.
For the first time, Elaine appeared genuinely alarmed.
“You signed a trust amendment without my office reviewing it?”
“I believed it came from Marcus.”
“Nothing involving the family trust is sent anonymously.”
Khloe described the law office listed on the envelope.
Elaine searched for it.
The address belonged to an empty building in Brooklyn.
Marcus paced toward the door.
“Someone forged the document.”
“Not necessarily,” Elaine said. “The Vale trust has dozens of dormant clauses. A forged cover letter attached to a valid amendment could still activate one.”
“What clause?”
“One created by your grandfather.”
Marcus frowned. “My grandfather died before I met Khloe.”
“He prepared for every possible heir.”
Elaine’s voice became quieter.
“The original trust allows temporary control of an unborn beneficiary’s assets if both parents are considered medically or legally incapable.”
Khloe stared at her.
“Isabella tried to make me look violent.”
“And someone has been trying to make Marcus look unstable for months,” Elaine said.
Marcus stopped pacing.
“What are you talking about?”
“The reports from the board. The allegations that you threatened executives. The recording of you shouting at the London office.”
“That recording was edited.”
“I know.”
Khloe understood before Marcus did.
“If the camera showed me attacking Isabella, and the board accepted the reports about Marcus, someone could declare both parents incapable.”
Elaine nodded.
“Then control of your child’s trust would pass to the next appointed guardian.”
“Who is that?” Marcus asked.
Elaine looked toward the closed door.
“According to the last version I saw, Isabella.”
A knock sounded.
Officer Reyes entered carrying a small black object sealed inside an evidence bag.
“We found this beneath the carpet outside Suite 1708.”
It was Khloe’s missing phone.
May you like
The screen had been shattered.
But the recording application was still running.
