“For a person who could legally protect Sofia’s evidence.”
Marcus froze.
Khloe stared.
“You think I was involved?”
“No.”
Isabella answered.
“You were selected.”
The word felt wrong.
Selected.
Like she was an object.
Not a person.
Marcus stepped between them.
“Explain.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Richard created a legal structure.”
“A hidden agreement.”
“A protection contract.”
“It was designed so that if anything happened to Sofia…”
“The evidence would automatically transfer to someone outside the Thorne family.”
Alexander’s eyes widened.
“And that person was Khloe.”
“Yes.”
Khloe felt dizzy.
“But why me?”
Nobody answered.
Then Marcus looked at Alexander.
“Find the contract.”
Alexander nodded.
Immediately.
But Khloe grabbed Marcus’s arm.
“Wait.”
He looked at her.
“Why are you not surprised?”
The question stopped him.
“What?”
“You heard that my name was connected to your family before we met.”
“And you look shocked.”
“But not confused.”
Marcus said nothing.
Khloe’s heart sank.
“You knew something.”
“No.”
“Marcus.”
“I didn’t know about the contract.”
“Then why do you look like you’re remembering something?”
The silence answered for him.
Khloe slowly stepped away.
“Tell me.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Six years.
Too many secrets.
Too many things buried.
Finally, he spoke.
“When I first met you…”
A pause.
“I recognized your name.”
Khloe stared.
“What?”
“I had seen it before.”
“Where?”
“In my father’s files.”
The room went silent.
Khloe felt like the floor moved beneath her.
“My name was in your father’s files?”
“Yes.”
“Before you knew me?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“And you still married me?”
Marcus looked devastated.
“Because I thought it was a coincidence.”
Khloe laughed softly.
A painful laugh.
“A coincidence?”
“Yes.”
“You thought the woman whose name appeared in your father’s secret files was a coincidence?”
Marcus had no answer.
Because there wasn’t a good one.
Khloe looked away.
“Maybe I was never the person who entered your world.”
“Maybe your world found me first.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Alexander’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face slowly changed.
“What?”
Everyone looked at him.
He ended the call.
“The contract has been found.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Where?”
Alexander looked at Khloe.
“It wasn’t in Thorne archives.”
“Then where?”
Alexander’s voice became quiet.
“It was registered six years ago.”
“Under Khloe Thorne’s identity.”
Khloe froze.
“But I didn’t sign anything.”
Alexander nodded.
“I know.”
“Because the person who signed it…”
A pause.
“Was not you.”
Marcus stared.
“Who?”
Alexander looked at the document.
Then said:
“Your mother.”
Khloe went completely still.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
Alexander looked at her.
“I know.”
“Then how?”
He handed her the file.
And on the first page…
Was a signature.
A signature Khloe had never seen before.
But the name underneath made her blood run cold.
CLAIRE THORNE.
Marcus looked at Khloe.
Because he knew that name.
Everyone in the Thorne family knew it.
The woman Richard Thorne had spent years trying to erase.
The woman who disappeared before Marcus became the heir.
His mother.
And the woman who was supposed to be dead.
CHAPTER 9-THE BETRAYAL NOBODY SAW COMING
For several seconds…
Khloe could not understand the words in front of her.
Not because they were complicated.
Because they were impossible.
The file was real.
The signature was real.
The date was real.
Everything about it existed.
Except the person who supposedly signed it.
Her mother.
Claire Thorne.
A woman who had been dead for twenty years.
Khloe stared at the document.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
“No.”
The word came out quietly.
Then stronger.
“No.”
Marcus watched her.
He wanted to say something.
Anything.
But every explanation sounded meaningless.
Because the woman he loved had just discovered that her entire life might have been connected to his family before they ever met.
Khloe looked at Alexander.
“You’re wrong.”
Alexander didn’t react.
“I wish I was.”
“My mother was Claire Bennett.”
“Yes.”
“She wasn’t a Thorne.”
Alexander slowly looked at Marcus.
“She was.”
Khloe turned.
Marcus looked away.
That was when she knew.
There was something else.
Something he knew.
Something everyone knew except her.
“Marcus.”
He looked at her.
“Tell me.”
His expression changed.
Because this time…
He knew there was no place left to hide.
“Your mother…”
He stopped.
Khloe waited.
“Your mother was Richard Thorne’s younger sister.”
The room became silent.
The information didn’t make sense.
It felt like someone had rewritten her entire history while she was standing there.
“My mother was your aunt?”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Khloe stepped backward.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
Marcus had no answer.
Because the truth was humiliating.
He had known pieces.
Not everything.
But enough.
Enough to ask questions.
Enough to investigate.
Enough to tell her.
And he didn’t.
