CHAPTER 2 – THE BILLIONAIRE CHOSE THE WRONG WOMAN
No one spoke.
The only sound inside the surveillance room came from the monitors humming softly against the wall.
Marcus Thorne stood motionless.
Dr. Adrian Bennett folded his arms.
The head of hospital security clicked the mouse.
The timestamp resumed.
8:41:17 P.M.
Khloe entered the private suite alone.
She looked exhausted.
Her shoulders sagged beneath the weight of the evening.
She slipped off her heels.
Sat carefully on the sofa.
One hand rested over her swollen belly.
A small smile crossed her face as she whispered something no microphone could capture.
Adrian recognized the movement immediately.
She was talking to her baby.
Then—
The door opened.
Isabella Rossi walked inside.
She didn't knock.
She closed the door behind her.
Locked it.
Marcus felt his chest tighten.
The video continued.
There was no audio.
Only images.
But the body language said everything.
Isabella walked straight toward Khloe.
Aggressive.
Demanding.
Khloe stood.
She remained calm.
She never raised her hands.
She never stepped forward.
Instead...
She stepped back.
Again.
And again.
Trying to create distance.
Marcus frowned.
"Zoom in."
The technician enlarged the image.
Khloe's lips moved.
She pointed toward the door.
Leave.
That much was obvious.
Instead...
Isabella smiled.
Not kindly.
Cruelly.
She kept advancing.
Khloe continued backing away until there was nowhere left to go.
Marcus felt his pulse pounding.
Then it happened.
Without warning...
Isabella shoved her.
Both hands.
Full force.
Khloe flew backward.
Her body slammed violently into the marble table.
Marcus instinctively grabbed the edge of the desk.
His knuckles turned white.
"No..."
The crystal glass exploded across the floor.
Khloe tried to stand.
She never made it.
Isabella stepped forward.
Lifted one stiletto heel.
Then—
She drove it directly into Khloe's side.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
Marcus stared at the screen in horror.
His breathing stopped.
"My God..."
On the monitor...
Khloe never fought back.
She never struck Isabella.
She never even reached toward her.
Every movement she made had only one purpose.
Protecting her unborn child.
Marcus closed his eyes.
For several seconds...
No one spoke.
Finally...
The technician paused the video.
The room fell into complete silence.
Marcus slowly looked toward Isabella.
She had lied.
About everything.
—
She attacked me.
The words echoed endlessly inside his mind.
He remembered every tear.
Every trembling breath.
Every desperate plea for him to believe her.
None of it had been real.
He felt sick.
"I left my wife alone..."
His voice was barely audible.
"...with a monster."
Adrian didn't answer.
He was watching Marcus instead.
Watching the realization destroy him from the inside.
Marcus turned back toward the screen.
"Is that everything?"
The security chief hesitated.
"No, sir."
Marcus looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"We reviewed more than tonight."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"What else did you find?"
The technician inserted another encrypted drive.
"This investigation uncovered something unusual."
Another video appeared.
Different date.
Three months earlier.
Marcus frowned.
"What is this?"
The technician clicked play.
The footage showed Isabella meeting a man inside the underground parking garage beneath Thorne Global Headquarters.
She handed him a thick envelope.
The man looked around before slipping it inside his jacket.
Marcus didn't recognize him immediately.
Then the man turned.
Marcus froze.
"That's impossible."
Adrian looked at him.
"You know him?"
Marcus nodded slowly.
"Richard Collins."
"The Vice President of Corporate Security."
One of the oldest executives inside Thorne Global.
A man Marcus had trusted for nearly fifteen years.
The next clip appeared.
Two months earlier.
Richard entered Marcus's private office after hours.
He opened confidential files.
Photographed documents.
Then locked everything again.
Marcus stared in disbelief.
"What is he stealing?"
The technician opened another file.
Financial records.
Wire transfers.
Private emails.
Security logs.
Everything connected.
Richard had been feeding Isabella information for months.
Marcus felt the room spinning.
"This wasn't just jealousy."
Adrian's voice remained calm.
"No."
"This was preparation."
Another recording appeared.
This one from a luxury restaurant.
Isabella sat across from Richard.
Neither noticed the camera mounted above the entrance.
Richard slid a folder across the table.
Isabella smiled.
Then handed him another envelope.
Money.
Marcus whispered the conclusion himself.
"They planned this."
Adrian nodded once.
"For months."
"They knew exactly where Khloe would be tonight."
Marcus remembered something.
"The hospital suite..."
He looked at Adrian.
"It was supposed to be private."
"It was."
"Then how did Isabella know?"
The technician opened one final document.
An internal reservation request.
Someone inside Thorne Global had forwarded Khloe's itinerary.
The sender's name appeared.
Richard Collins.
Marcus clenched his fists.
The betrayal cut almost deeper than the assault itself.
Everything had been orchestrated.
Every encounter.
Every coincidence.
Every argument.
Someone had been clearing Isabella's path all along.
—
Meanwhile...
On the opposite side of the hospital...
Isabella sat comfortably inside a private family lounge.
She crossed one elegant leg over the other.
Her attorney had already arrived.
"So?"
he asked.
She smiled confidently.
"There isn't a witness."
"The husband only arrived afterward."
"The victim can't even speak."
"And fear makes people remember things differently."
She took a slow sip of mineral water.
"By tomorrow..."
"...everyone will believe I acted in self-defense."
She had no idea that less than two hundred feet away...
Marcus had already watched the truth.
Frame by frame.
—
The door to the surveillance room opened.
A detective from the Major Crimes Unit entered.
"The footage has been secured."
He accepted the encrypted drive from hospital security.
"This is enough for aggravated assault."
Marcus stopped him.
"No."
The detective looked back.
"No?"
Marcus's expression hardened.
"This doesn't leave this room until every person involved is identified."
"If Richard Collins had help..."
"...I want all of them."
The detective nodded.
"We'll widen the investigation."
Adrian finally spoke.
"And freeze every security record connected to Thorne Global."
"No one deletes a single file."
"Not tonight."
The detective left immediately.
Marcus stared at the dark monitor.
He had spent months defending Isabella.
Ignoring Khloe's quiet concerns.
Calling them misunderstandings.
Now every memory felt different.
Every warning Khloe had tried to give him.
Every uncomfortable silence.
Every forced smile.
He had chosen the wrong woman.
And the price might be unbearable.
—
Suddenly—
The surveillance room door burst open.
A young resident physician stood there, still wearing surgical gloves.
His face had gone completely pale.
"Mr. Thorne..."
Marcus turned instantly.
"How's my wife?"
The doctor struggled to answer.
"It's not your wife."
Marcus's heartbeat stopped.
"What?"
"It's the baby."
Silence swallowed the room.
The physician looked directly into Marcus's eyes.
"The baby's heart rate is crashing."
"The surgeons don't know if they can keep the child alive."
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For the second time that night...
Marcus felt his entire world collapse.
