A tear moved down her face.
“Because hatred was safer than being found.”
Khloe remained silent.
Then Marcus’s phone rang again.
This time…
The caller ID appeared.
Daniel Thorne.
Marcus answered.
“Where is Sofia?”
Daniel laughed.
“Straight to the important questions.”
“Answer me.”
“You always were impatient.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Daniel.”
A pause.
Then Daniel said:
“Come to Thorne Manor.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“You want Sofia.”
“Yes.”
“You want the truth.”
“Yes.”
“You want to save Khloe.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Then come alone.”
“No.”
Daniel laughed.
“I knew you would say that.”
A pause.
“That’s why I prepared another option.”
The call changed.
A video appeared.
And everyone froze.
Because the video showed Sofia Bellini.
Alive.
Sitting in a dark room.
Her face tired.
Her eyes frightened.
Daniel stood behind her.
Marcus’s expression changed instantly.
“Sofia.”
She looked at the camera.
“Marcus…”
Her voice was weak.
“I’m sorry.”
Marcus stepped closer to the screen.
“What did he do?”
Daniel smiled.
“Nothing.”
Sofia looked down.
“I came willingly.”
Nobody believed it.
Especially Isabella.
“Sofia…”
Isabella whispered.
Sofia looked up.
Her expression changed.
Pain.
Guilt.
Love.
“Isabella.”
The two women stared at each other.
And Khloe realized something.
They weren’t enemies.
They were family.
Sofia continued.
“Marcus.”
“I need you to listen.”
“Do not come here.”
Marcus froze.
“What?”
Sofia looked terrified.
“Daniel wants you here.”
“Because he needs something from you.”
“What?”
Sofia looked at the camera.
At Daniel.
Then whispered:
“He needs you to choose.”
Marcus frowned.
“Choose what?”
Daniel stepped forward.
His smile disappeared.
“Choose between the company…”
“And your wife.”
The screen went black.
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Alexander’s phone received an alert.
A financial notification.
His face changed.
“What?”
Marcus looked at him.
“What happened?”
Alexander turned the screen.
The entire Thorne Global Holdings board had voted.
The result was official.
Marcus Thorne was removed as CEO.
Daniel Thorne was now the legal chairman.
The empire was gone.
But Daniel wasn’t finished.
Because another message appeared.
A countdown.
71 HOURS REMAINING.
Khloe stared at it.
“He wants me to panic.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Yes.”
“He wants me to make a mistake.”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
She looked at the people around her.
Her mother.
Her husband.
Isabella.
Alexander.
All the people connected to the truth.
Then she asked the question nobody expected.
“Who says we have to play his game?”
Everyone looked at her.
Khloe took the inheritance document.
The one everyone had fought over.
The one that had controlled her life without her knowing.
She tore it in half.
Marcus stared.
“Khloe…”
She looked at him.
“I’m done being protected.”
A pause.
“And I’m done being used.”
For the first time…
Everyone understood.
Daniel thought he was fighting a frightened woman.
He was wrong.
He had created someone who had nothing left to lose.
But then…
Alexander’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face slowly changed.
Marcus noticed.
“What happened?”
Alexander looked at Khloe.
And whispered:
“Someone inside this room just sent Daniel our location.”
Everyone froze.
Slowly…
Everyone looked at each other.
Because the enemy was not only outside.
The enemy was still among them.
CHAPTER 15-THE NIGHT EVERYTHING COLLAPSED
The room became silent.
Not the peaceful kind of silence.
The kind that came before something broke.
Someone had betrayed them.
Again.
Alexander’s words remained hanging in the air.
“Someone inside this room just sent Daniel our location.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because every person understood what that meant.
The enemy was not watching from a distance.
The enemy was standing beside them.
Khloe looked around slowly.
The faces she had spent the last hours studying.
Marcus.
Her husband.
The man who loved her but hid years of secrets.
Claire.
Her mother.
The woman who returned after twenty years but still carried unanswered questions.
Isabella.
The woman who attacked her but might have been trying to expose a bigger danger.
Alexander.
The man who protected Marcus for years.
The man who had guided them toward the truth.
And now…
One of them had betrayed them.
Marcus immediately moved closer to Khloe.
“No one leaves.”
His voice was cold.
The billionaire was back.
Not the broken son.
Not the guilty husband.
The man who knew how to take control.
Alexander nodded.
“I already locked down the floor.”
Khloe noticed something.
“Wait.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You said someone sent our location.”
Alexander nodded.
“Yes.”
“Through what system?”
Alexander hesitated.
“The hospital network.”
Khloe looked at him.
“Not the Thorne system?”
“No.”
“Not company security?”
“No.”
“Then how would anyone inside this room access it?”
The question changed everything.
Alexander looked down.
Because he realized what she realized.
The betrayal did not necessarily come from someone physically inside.
It could have come from someone who had access before.
Someone who had prepared this.
