Chapter 2
I followed Isabella’s eyes.
The blinking red light seemed brighter now.
Marcus finally noticed.
His head snapped toward the corner of the ceiling.
“There’s a camera?”
Isabella moved before either of us could stop her.
She lunged toward the wall.
Marcus caught her around the waist.
“NO!”
Her scream tore through the room.
“LET ME GO!”
She kicked wildly, one red heel flying off and skidding across the marble.
I was still on the floor.
My stomach cramped so hard that I couldn’t straighten my back.
“Marcus,” I whispered.
He looked at me.
That single look changed everything.
His rage vanished.
“Khlóe?”
I pressed both hands against my belly.
“The baby.”
Marcus released Isabella so fast she stumbled backward.
He dropped beside me.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.”
Another pain tightened across my stomach.
I gasped.
Marcus shouted toward the hallway.
“NURSE! SOMEBODY GET IN HERE!”
Isabella stood frozen near the window.
Her cheek was red from the slap.
Her breathing was fast.
But she wasn’t watching me.
She was still watching the camera.
That terrified me almost as much as the pain.
Two nurses rushed inside.
Then a doctor.
“What happened?”
“I fell,” I managed.
Marcus looked at Isabella.
“She didn’t just fall.”
Isabella’s face twisted.
“I never touched her.”
“You had your foot on her when I walked in!”
“I was trying to stop her from getting up!”
“By standing on her?”
The doctor raised his voice.
“Everyone out except the patient’s husband.”
“No,” I said.
The doctor turned.
I pointed at Isabella.
“Don’t let her leave.”
Isabella stared at me.
For the first time since I had known her, she looked genuinely afraid of me.
Not angry.
Not jealous.
Afraid.
“Khloe,” she said softly, “you’re confused.”
I laughed through the pain.
“I’m confused?”
The nurse helped me onto the bed.
The fetal monitor was strapped around my stomach.
Seconds later, the room filled with the fast rhythm of my baby’s heartbeat.
I started crying.
Marcus squeezed my hand.
“Is she okay?”
The doctor stared at the screen.
“For now, the heartbeat is strong.”
“For now?” Marcus asked.
“We need to monitor contractions. Trauma at seven months can cause complications.”
Marcus’s face changed.
He looked toward Isabella with murder in his eyes.
A hospital security officer appeared in the doorway.
“Sir, is there a problem?”
“Yes,” Marcus said immediately.
Isabella stepped forward.
“No. This is a family misunderstanding.”
“She assaulted my wife.”
“I DID NOT!”
Her scream made everyone look at her.
She lowered her voice.
“I didn’t.”
The security officer glanced toward the camera.
“If this room is part of the executive wing, there should be footage.”
Isabella swallowed.
“The camera might not be working.”
Everyone went silent.
The officer looked at her.
“How would you know?”
Her lips parted.
Nothing came out.
Marcus slowly stood.
“That’s a very good question.”
Isabella shook her head.
“I—I don’t. I’m just saying cameras malfunction.”
The security officer touched the radio attached to his shoulder.
“Control, this is Dennis in 814. Preserve all footage from this room for the last twenty-four hours. Do not overwrite. Lock access under incident protocol.”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
“Twenty-four hours?”
I saw it.
Marcus saw it too.
That was the moment we understood.
Whatever frightened Isabella wasn’t only what had happened five minutes earlier.
There was more.
The officer’s radio crackled.
“Copy. Preserving footage.”
Isabella suddenly grabbed her purse.
“I’m leaving.”
Marcus blocked the doorway.
“No, you’re not.”
“You can’t imprison me.”
“I don’t have to. Security can.”
The officer nodded.
“Ma’am, until we establish what happened, I need you to remain available.”
“This is insane.”
“No,” I whispered from the bed.
“What you did to me was insane.”
She turned on me.
“You want to tell them what you did first?”
My heart stopped.
Marcus frowned.
“What is she talking about?”
Isabella smiled.
It was a strange smile.
Too confident.
Too sudden.
“She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
My mouth went dry.
I had no idea what Isabella was talking about.
“She invited me here,” Isabella said.
“What?” I asked.
“You texted me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
She opened her purse and pulled out her phone.
“I have the messages.”
Marcus took the phone.
I watched his eyes move across the screen.
His face slowly hardened.
He turned it toward me.
A message thread showed my name.
KHLOE.
And underneath it:
Come to my room. We need to settle this before Marcus finds out.
Another:
Come alone.
Another:
I know about you and Marcus.
My breath disappeared.
“I didn’t send those.”
Marcus looked at me.
“I swear.”
Isabella crossed her arms.
“She knew.”
“Knew what?” Marcus demanded.
Isabella stared directly at him.
“That you and I slept together.”
The room went silent.
Even the monitor seemed louder.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I looked at Marcus.
He didn’t speak.
That was worse than any denial.
“Marcus?”
He looked sick.
My fingers went cold.
“Tell me she’s lying.”
“Khloe…”
“Tell me.”
He closed his eyes.
That was enough.
Something inside me cracked.
I pulled my hand away from his.
“When?”
“It was before—”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
My stomach twisted.
Six months.
I had been pregnant.
Marcus stepped closer.
“It happened once.”
I laughed.
The sound came out broken.
“Once?”
“It was a mistake.”
Isabella smiled faintly.
“A mistake that lasted an entire weekend?”
Marcus spun around.
“Shut up.”
“No,” she said.
“You wanted honesty.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“An entire weekend?”
Marcus looked at me.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?”
He had no answer.
I turned my face away.
The doctor stepped closer.
“Mrs. Hale, you need to keep your stress level down.”
I almost laughed again.
“How?”
Nobody answered.
The security officer’s radio crackled.
“Dennis, we have footage. You need to see this.”
Isabella became completely still.
Dennis lifted the radio.
“What do you have?”
“Possible assault confirmed.”
Marcus stared at Isabella.
Her lips trembled.
But the voice continued.
“And something else.”
Dennis frowned.
“What?”
“There’s footage from earlier today. Same woman entered the room before the patient arrived.”
My blood turned cold.
Marcus looked at Isabella.
“You were here before Khloe?”
“No.”
The radio answered for her.
“She was in the room approximately thirty-eight minutes. Appears to access the patient’s overnight bag and bedside cabinet.”
Marcus stepped toward her.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you put in her things?”
“Nothing!”
The officer raised his radio.
“Can you identify whether she removed or deposited anything?”
A pause.
Then:
“She appears to place something inside a medication bottle.”
Everyone looked at me.
I remembered the vitamins.
The prenatal supplements Marcus had brought from home.
They were inside my bag.
I had taken one only an hour before Isabella arrived.
My face went numb.
“The bottle,” I whispered.
Marcus rushed to the bag.
He pulled it open.
My prenatal vitamins were inside.
The doctor took them immediately.
“Do not touch these.”
Isabella backed toward the wall.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You put something in my pregnant wife’s medication?”
“No!”
The security officer grabbed her wrist.
“Ma’am, sit down.”
“GET OFF ME!”
She struggled.
The nurse stepped between her and my bed.
My contractions suddenly tightened again.
The doctor watched the monitor.
“Khloe, breathe.”
I tried.
But all I could see was Marcus.
My husband.
The man who had promised me there was nobody else.
The man whose mistress had apparently tampered with my medication.
“Was she trying to hurt my baby?” I whispered.
Marcus looked destroyed.
“I don’t know.”
Isabella screamed from across the room.
“I NEVER WANTED THE BABY DEAD!”
Silence.
She froze.
So did everyone else.
My whole body went cold.
Marcus stared at her.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
He said:
“Who said anything about the baby dying?”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
She had made a mistake.
And she knew it.
The security officer tightened his hold.
The doctor looked at the pill bottle.
Then at Isabella.
“Call the police,” he said.
Isabella’s face collapsed.
“No.”
Dennis reached for his radio.
“No, no, no!”
She fought harder.
Marcus moved between her and me.
The hatred in his face frightened even me.
“You came into this hospital before my wife arrived.”
Isabella shook her head.
“You touched her medication.”
“No.”
“You attacked her.”
“She attacked me first!”
“And now you just admitted you knew something could happen to our baby.”
Isabella started crying.
Real tears this time.
“You don’t understand.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Then make me understand.”
Her eyes moved toward me.
Then toward my stomach.
Then back to Marcus.
May you like
And she whispered the words that turned the room upside down.
“Because that baby was never supposed to be yours.”
