For several interminable seconds, no one moved.

Dr. Caldwell’s voice was calm, yet urgent.

“Your wife is stable.”

Marcus let out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“However…”

That single word sent tension rippling through his muscles once again.

“The blunt trauma caused a partial placental abruption. The baby is still alive, but Mrs. Thorne will require constant monitoring. Any additional stress could be fatal.”

Marcus closed his eyes.

“Can I see her?”

“Yes.”

“However, there is something else.”

Dr. Caldwell hesitated.

“When we examined Mrs. Thorne, she specifically asked us not to say anything to you until she could speak with you herself.”

Marcus frowned.

“What is it?”

A long silence followed.

Then came the words that changed everything.

“Mr. Thorne…”

“…your wife has been keeping something from you for nearly three months.”

Marcus felt the blood drain from his face.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s not an affair.”

“This has nothing to do with your marriage.”

Dr. Caldwell lowered his voice.

“It’s about understanding why someone wanted to eliminate your wife—and your unborn child.”

Marcus stared at the floor, unable to utter a word.

Whatever was waiting for him up there…

It was far bigger than a jealous rival.

Marcus arrived at the obstetric intensive care unit a few minutes later.

The hallway was quiet; the low hum of medical equipment had replaced the glitz and glamour of the charity gala downstairs. Two bodyguards stood outside Khloé’s room, acting under direct orders from David Sterling.

Khloé was awake when Marcus walked in.

She looked pale, her face devoid of color, but instinctively, she placed her hand over her belly the moment she saw him.

“How is the baby?” he asked gently, pulling a chair close to her bed.

Khloé offered a faint smile.

“The heartbeat is strong.”

Marcus closed his eyes in relief before taking her hand.

“I am so sorry.”

She looked at him, bewildered.

“I should have believed you,” he continued. “Every time you told me Isabella had crossed a line… I told myself she was just ambitious. I thought you were imagining things.”

Khloé squeezed his hand.

“It’s not your fault.”

“No.”

He shook his head.

“It is.”

A silence settled between them.

Finally, Khloé looked toward the window.

“There was something I couldn’t tell you.”

Marcus remembered Dr. Caldwell’s words.

He nodded.

“I’m listening.”

Khloé took a deep breath.

“Three months ago, I visited Uncle David.”

Marcus frowned.

“Regarding the pregnancy?”

She shook her head.

“He asked me to help him audit several charitable donations funded by the Thorne Foundation.”

Marcus immediately recognized the program. It funded children’s hospitals, orphanages, and emergency medical research nationwide.

“What did you find?”

Khloé hesitated.

“Millions of dollars vanished.”

Marcus sat up straight.

“What?”

“The accounting ledgers appeared normal.”

She swallowed hard.

“Yet the hospital invoices were forged.”

“The vendors didn’t exist.”

“The equipment was never delivered.”

Marcus stared at her.

“Someone was laundering money.”

Khloé nodded.

“And whoever orchestrated it had access to both the Sterling Medical Group and the Thorne Foundation.”

Marcus’s expression darkened.

“How many people knew?”

“Only Uncle David.”

“And now, you.”

With trembling fingers, she reached into the nightstand drawer.

Inside lay a small silver flash drive sealed in a clear evidence bag.

“I made backups.”

Marcus picked it up carefully.

“The complete financial records are on here.”

“Every transaction.”

“Every forged signature.”

“We were able to trace all the offshore accounts.”

Marcus looked at her in disbelief.

“You’ve had this the entire time?”

“I was waiting until after the gala.”

She looked down.

“We were supposed to meet with federal investigators tomorrow morning.”

Marcus suddenly realized.

Isabella’s attack…

It wasn’t just jealousy.

Someone had tried to silence Khloé before that meeting could take place.

A knock at the door broke the silence.

David Sterling walked into the room, followed by a woman wearing a dark blue FBI windbreaker.

She introduced herself without hesitation.

“Special Agent Rebecca Collins.”

She placed a case file on the nightstand.

“We reviewed the hospital’s surveillance recordings.”

Then she looked Marcus dead in the eye.

“And after seeing what’s on that flash drive…”

“This attack is no longer a simple assault.”

She opened the file, revealing its contents: photographs, bank records, and surveillance stills.

“This is part of a much larger criminal conspiracy.”

Marcus and Khloé exchanged a stunned glance.

Neither of them suspected that the enemy hiding behind Isabella Rossi was far more powerful than they had ever imagined.

And somewhere across the city, a man watching the evening news quietly picked up his cell phone.

“She survived,” he said coldly.

A voice answered on the other end of the line.

“Then we must finish what Isabella couldn’t.”

The penthouse office offered a breathtaking view of the city, like a throne perched above the clouds.

Damian Voss stood silently before the floor-to-ceiling windows, one hand clutching an untouched glass of crystal whiskey. On the television behind him, footage played of guests departing the charity gala, while news anchors speculated about an “unexpected medical emergency.”

No one outside the hospital knew the truth.

Not yet.

A nervous man lowered his cell phone on the other side of the room.

“Isabella has been arrested,” he announced.

Damian didn’t turn around.

“And the footage?”

“Hospital security locked down all recordings before our personnel could access them.”

For several seconds, there was only silence.

Then Damian smiled.

A calm, almost pleasant smile.

“She disappointed me.”

The assistant swallowed.

“What do we do now?”

Damian finally turned to face him.

His tailored navy suit and silver tie made him look more like a respected philanthropist than the mastermind of a financial empire built on deceit.

“Nothing desperate.”

He set the glass down on his desk.

“Desperate people make mistakes.”

Meanwhile, inside the Sterling Medical Group, David Sterling stood in a secured conference room alongside Special Agent Rebecca Collins.

A digital map covered an entire wall.

Names.

Corporations.

Offshore accounts.

Charities.

Almost every line ultimately traced back to a single enterprise.

Voss International Holdings.