Chapter 3
At the hospital, they took Khloe through double doors and left me in a hallway with her blood on my suit.
A nurse asked if I wanted to wash my hands.
I looked down.
My palms were torn.
Red.
Raw.
I had not noticed.
“No,” I said. “Not yet.”
I needed the blood visible.
Not for drama.
For memory.
For rage with a timestamp.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man said, “Mr. Cole, this is Nolan Price. I represent Richard Harrington.”
I almost laughed.
“He got a lawyer before checking if his child lived.”
Silence.
Then Nolan cleared his throat.
“My client is deeply concerned.”
“For himself?”
“For his wife, obviously.”
“Then tell him to come to the hospital.”
“He has been advised not to.”
“Smart.”
Nolan’s voice hardened.
“Vanessa Kensington claims your sister assaulted her first.”
“She can claim the moon filed for custody. There are cameras.”
“We are aware footage may be unclear.”
I went still.
“What did you say?”
Another pause.
“I said courthouse footage can be unreliable.”
There it was.
The first move.
Not grief.
Not panic.
Evidence.
I ended the call and called my investigator, Maya Torres.
“Courthouse cameras,” I said.
“I’m already moving,” she answered.
“How?”
“Your aunt called me before you did.”
Of course she had.
“Find every angle. Lobby. street. security desk. traffic cameras. phones. Everything.”
“What about Khloe?”
I looked at the operating doors.
“I don’t know yet.”
My voice almost broke.
Maya softened.
“I’m on it.”
A doctor came out thirty minutes later.
I stood too fast.
“Khloe?”
“She’s alive,” he said.
My knees nearly failed.
“And the baby?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation aged me ten years.
“We’re monitoring fetal distress. We may need an emergency C-section.”
“Do whatever saves them.”
“We need consent.”
“I’m her medical proxy.”
Richard had tried to change that after the wedding.
Khloe had refused.
Thank God.
I signed the forms with blood-stained fingers.
Then I sat in the waiting room and stared at the wall.
For the first time since she fell, I let one tear drop.
Only one.
Then my phone buzzed.
Maya had sent a still image.
Vanessa’s hands on Khloe’s chest.
May you like
Richard watching.
Clear as daylight.
