Isabella looked at him.
“Yes.”
“You think I always wanted your life?”
A bitter smile appeared.
“You never understood anything about me.”
Khloe watched them carefully.
There was history here.
A history nobody had explained.
Isabella continued.
“Sofia was my cousin.”
Marcus froze.
The room became silent.
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Marcus whispered.
“I thought…”
“You thought she was just another person who disappeared from your past.”
Isabella’s voice became sharper.
“But Sofia was family.”
She looked at the security footage.
“At first, I hated you.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You hated me?”
“Yes.”
“Because Sofia trusted you.”
“She believed you would protect her.”
“She believed you would protect the child.”
“And what did you do?”
Marcus looked down.
Isabella stepped closer.
“You listened to your father.”
The words hit him.
Because they were true.
Six years ago, Marcus had made a choice.
A choice he had spent years regretting.
Khloe looked at her husband.
“What choice?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Isabella did.
“He abandoned Sofia.”
“No.”
Marcus immediately responded.
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then tell her.”
Isabella pointed at him.
“Tell your wife what you did.”
Marcus remained silent.
Khloe’s heart sank.
“Marcus…”
Finally, he spoke.
“I believed my father.”
A pause.
“I believed Sofia was trying to destroy our family.”
Khloe stared.
“You believed she was lying?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Because my father showed me evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Marcus looked at the floor.
“Documents.”
“Messages.”
“Financial records.”
“He convinced me Sofia was stealing from the company.”
Khloe whispered:
“And you believed him.”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
A painful silence.
“And later?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Later I discovered the evidence was fake.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
Because now she understood.
The secret was not only that Sofia existed.
The secret was that Marcus had helped destroy someone innocent.
But before she could ask another question…
The hospital room lights suddenly flickered.
Everyone turned.
Then Alexander’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed after only five seconds.
“Say that again.”
Everyone watched him.
“What happened?”
Alexander slowly lowered the phone.
His expression was serious.
“The security footage backup…”
A pause.
“Someone just deleted it.”
Marcus immediately looked toward the screen.
Impossible.
The footage was gone.
But Alexander continued.
“That’s not the worst part.”
Khloe looked at him.
“What could be worse?”
Alexander looked directly at Marcus.
“The person who accessed the system…”
“He used your personal authorization code.”
Marcus froze.
“My code?”
“Yes.”
Nobody spoke.
Because only one person had access to Marcus Thorne’s private security credentials.
Marcus himself.
Or someone who knew him better than anyone.
Then Isabella quietly whispered:
“He’s here.”
Khloe looked at her.
“Who?”
Isabella’s face turned pale.
“The person who started all of this.”
A pause.
“The person who made Sofia disappear.”
The hospital door slowly opened.
And standing outside…
Was a man everyone believed had been dead for four years.
Richard Thorne.
Marcus’s father.
Alive.
And smiling.
CHAPTER 4-THE LIE THAT PROTECTED A BILLIONAIRE
For four years…
Marcus Thorne had lived with one certainty.
His father was dead.
Richard Thorne had died in a private plane crash over the Atlantic.
At least…
That was the story everyone believed.
The world had mourned him.
The business magazines had called him a visionary.
The financial networks had replayed his greatest achievements.
The man who built Thorne Global Holdings from a small investment firm into a worldwide empire was remembered as a legend.
A ruthless one.
A complicated one.
But a legend.
Marcus had stood at his father’s funeral.
He had watched the coffin being lowered into the ground.
He had listened to thousands of people speak about Richard Thorne’s genius.
And secretly…
He had felt something he was ashamed to admit.
Relief.
Because Richard Thorne’s death meant the end of fear.
The end of control.
The end of the man who had spent Marcus’s entire life teaching him that love was a weakness and trust was a mistake.
But now…
Standing in the hospital doorway…
Richard Thorne was alive.
Not a memory.
Not a ghost.
Not a photograph.
A living man.
Older.
Thinner.
With gray hair replacing the dark hair Marcus remembered.
But the eyes were exactly the same.
Cold.
Calculating.
Unforgiving.
The same eyes that had watched Marcus as a child and asked why he cried after falling.
The same eyes that had told him:
“Pain is a lesson.”
The same eyes that had convinced him Sofia Bellini was a traitor.
The same eyes that had destroyed everything.
Nobody moved.
Even Isabella looked shocked.
That was the first thing Marcus noticed.
And it terrified him.
Because if Isabella Rossi was surprised…
Then this was not her plan.
Richard slowly entered the room.
His expensive black coat moved quietly behind him.
