Chapter 6 - The House of Glass

Khloe listened without interrupting.

Marcus told her everything from the chair beside her bed.

Elaine's father.

The old fraud.

The forged trust.

The plan to force an early delivery.

The plan to kill Marcus.

The plan to frame Khloe afterward.

When he finished, the room was silent.

Khloe looked at Daniel.

"Did you know Arthur named you as successor trustee?"

"No."

"Would you have accepted?"

"No."

Marcus frowned.

"Why not?"

Daniel looked at him.

"Because I am a physician, not a financier."

Khloe almost smiled.

"You're also pathologically controlling."

"Only about medicine."

"And me."

"Especially you."

Marcus looked between them.

"If something happened to me, the trust would put eleven percent of Thorne Capital under your control for my child."

Daniel's expression hardened.

"Then nothing is happening to you."

Marcus gave a small laugh.

"That's not legally binding."

"No, but it's emotionally satisfying."

Khloe leaned back.

"Police are at the house?"

Naomi nodded.

"They cleared the staff."

"Victor?"

"No sign yet."

"Then why do I feel like we're behind?"

Marcus answered.

"Because we keep discovering plans after someone else starts them."

Khloe looked at him.

"Exactly."

Her phone rang.

Everyone froze.

Naomi checked the screen.

"Unknown number."

Marcus reached for it.

Khloe pulled it away.

"My phone."

"Don't answer."

"It's my phone."

"Khloe."

She answered.

"Hello?"

A man's voice spoke.

"Mrs. Thorne."

She went still.

Marcus saw her face.

"Who is it?"

Khloe raised one hand.

"Victor."

Marcus stood.

Naomi signaled for Brooks.

Khloe put the call on speaker.

Victor Rossi's voice remained calm.

"I am sorry for what happened tonight."

Khloe stared at the phone.

"That's your opening?"

"My daughter lost control."

"Your daughter tried to force me into labor."

Silence.

Then Victor sighed.

"Thomas talks too much when he's frightened."

"So it's true."

"You don't understand what he understood."

"What did he misunderstand?"

Marcus leaned closer.

Victor heard him.

"Marcus."

"Where are you?"

"Still asking the wrong questions."

Marcus's jaw tightened.

"You paid Vane to sabotage my brakes."

"I paid Vane for information."

"Don't lie."

Victor laughed quietly.

"You always were your father's son when angry."

"Do not mention my father."

"Why? He mentioned me often."

Marcus looked at Khloe.

Victor continued.

"Robert wanted to destroy everything his father built over a few accounting irregularities."

"Millions of dollars."

"Money that never left the enterprise."

Elaine entered with Brooks.

She heard the call and stopped.

Khloe spoke.

"You stole."

Victor replied, "You think billion-dollar companies are built by people who never cross lines?"

"No."

Khloe's voice was cold.

"I think weak men cross lines and call them necessary."

Victor was silent.

Marcus almost smiled.

Victor changed direction.

"Khloe, you are intelligent. More intelligent than Marcus gives you credit for."

Marcus flinched.

Khloe looked at him, then said, "Trying to divide us is late."

"I am trying to save you."

"From you?"

"From what comes next."

Brooks quietly signaled that technicians were tracing the call.

Khloe kept Victor talking.

"What comes next?"

"The truth about your husband."

Marcus stared at the phone.

Khloe's voice remained steady.

"What truth?"

"Ask him why he married you."

Marcus went still.

Khloe looked at him.

Victor continued.

"Ask him what the board demanded three years ago."

Marcus shook his head slightly.

"Khloe—"

She raised one hand.

"What did the board demand?"

Victor answered.

"A stable public image before the merger."

Khloe's expression changed.

"Marcus?"

Victor laughed.

"There it is."

Marcus spoke quickly.

"That is not why I married you."

"But it is why you proposed when you did," Victor said.

Khloe's eyes did not leave Marcus.

"Is that true?"

Marcus hesitated.

Victor's voice became almost gentle.

"Honesty is painful when delayed."

Khloe closed her eyes.

"Is it true?"

Marcus answered.

"The board wanted stability."

"Yes or no."

"Yes."

Khloe inhaled slowly.

"And you proposed."

"Because I loved you."

"After they told you marriage would help."

"Yes."

She looked away.

Victor said, "You see?"

Khloe spoke into the phone.

"No."

Victor paused.

"No?"

"You told me something Marcus should have told me himself."

She looked at Marcus.

"That hurts."

Then she turned back toward the phone.

"But it doesn't make you honest."

Victor's voice hardened.

"Do not confuse loyalty with intelligence."

"Do not confuse finding someone else's secret with becoming trustworthy."

Brooks pointed toward her phone screen.

Trace progressing.

Khloe continued.

"Where are you, Victor?"

"Somewhere your family should have looked years ago."

Elaine's eyes widened.

She mouthed, The house.

Khloe asked, "What are you looking for?"

Victor laughed.

"Your friend Elaine knows."

Elaine stepped closer.

"You knew my father hid the ledger."

Silence.

Then Victor said, "Hello, Ellen."

Elaine went rigid.

That had been her childhood name.

No one in the room except her late parents should have known it.

"How do you know that?"

"I knew your father better than you think."

"You threatened him."

"I offered him choices."

"He spent twenty-four years hiding."

"He spent twenty-four years pretending he was a hero after taking money from me."

Elaine's face went white.

"What money?"

Victor paused.

Marcus watched her.

Elaine whispered, "What money?"

Victor answered.

"Your father did not discover my system. He helped build it."

The room changed.

Elaine shook her head.

"No."

"He was my accountant."

"He exposed you."

"After he stole from me."

"No."

"He kept twelve million dollars."

Elaine's breathing quickened.

"You are lying."

"Open the second envelope in the box."

She stared at Brooks.

Brooks shook her head, indicating she had not seen such an envelope.

Victor continued.

"He kept his confession separate."

Elaine's voice cracked.

"My father was terrified of you."

"He was terrified of prison."

"Then why did you hunt him?"

"Because he had documents that could destroy Arthur."

Marcus frowned.

"Not you?"

"Not only me."

Victor's voice sharpened.

"Arthur approved every scheme once the company began failing in the recession. He used me as the dirty hand and then removed me when Robert threatened exposure."

Marcus looked sick.

"My grandfather..."

"Built your inheritance from the same money you call stolen."

Khloe watched Marcus.

Victor was attacking the one structure Marcus had always trusted: the moral mythology of his family.

Brooks signaled again.

Trace locked.

She whispered to Naomi, "Thorne residence."

Naomi nodded.

Khloe kept talking.

"Victor, if you are inside our house, the police are already there."

Victor chuckled.

"Are they?"

Then an alarm sounded faintly through the phone.

Naomi looked at Brooks.

Brooks grabbed her radio.

"Units at Thorne residence, status."

Static.

Then a voice.

"Fire alarm activated. Smoke in the east library."

Marcus stood.

"The library."

Elaine whispered, "The ledger."

Victor said, "Some truths are better as ash."

The call ended.

Marcus moved.

Brooks blocked him again.

"Police are already inside."

"My grandfather's library has a sealed archive room."

"Where?"

"Behind the north shelves."

Naomi turned to him.

"Can it be opened remotely?"

"No."

"Another entrance?"

"Service corridor."

Brooks relayed the information.

Khloe grabbed Marcus's hand.

He looked down.

"Don't go."

He stared at her.

"I won't."

That answer surprised both of them.

Minutes dragged.

Then Brooks's radio came alive.

"Suspect located. East service corridor. One civilian found unconscious."

Marcus's face changed.

"Who?"

Another burst of static.

"Female, approximately sixty. House staff."

Marcus whispered, "Mrs. Hale."

His longtime housekeeper.

Khloe squeezed his hand.

The radio continued.

"Suspect barricaded in archive room."

Brooks spoke into it.

"Victor Rossi?"

"Confirmed."

Elaine closed her eyes.

Victor had not escaped.

He had gone back to the place where the old secrets began.

Brooks received another message.

"They found fire accelerant."

Marcus stared.

"He was going to burn the archive."

"Yes."

"Can they get him out?"

"They're negotiating."

Daniel checked Khloe's monitor.

Her heart rate had risen.

"So has the baby's."

Khloe forced herself to breathe slower.

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

"I need to hear this."

"No argument."

Marcus sat beside her.

"He's right."

She glared.

"Do not team up."

"I'm learning survival skills."

A nurse entered.

"Mrs. Thorne, your contractions are returning."

Khloe froze.

Daniel looked at the monitor.

"How far apart?"

"Four minutes."

Marcus's face drained of color.

"Is she in labor?"

Daniel examined the tracing.

"Maybe."

Khloe closed her eyes.

"No."

Daniel touched her shoulder.

"We knew this was possible after the trauma."

"The baby is only thirty-one weeks."

"We have neonatal support ready."

Marcus took her hand.

She let him.

Then Brooks's radio crackled again.

"Suspect surrendering."

Everyone looked up.

A second voice followed.

"Archive secured. Fire contained."

Elaine exhaled.

Marcus whispered, "It's over."

Khloe shook her head.

"No."

He turned.

She looked at the monitor.

"Not yet."

A contraction tightened across her abdomen.

She gripped his hand so hard his knuckles whitened.

Daniel called for obstetrics.

Khloe breathed through the pain.

The conspiracy might finally be collapsing.

Victor might finally be in handcuffs.

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