Chapter 18 - The False Victory
Security doubled at the hospital.
Sebastian wanted Khloe moved.
She refused.
“My doctor is here.”
“So are fifty armed officers.”
“Then I’m staying.”
Marcus did not argue.
He had finally learned the difference between protecting Khloe and controlling her.
At 5:40 p.m., police found Damian’s car abandoned three blocks away.
At 5:48, the hospital went into full lockdown.
At 6:03, a maintenance badge registered in the basement.
The employee assigned to the badge was home sick.
Sebastian stared at the security map.
“He’s inside.”
Every elevator stopped.
Stairwell doors locked automatically.
Security teams searched floor by floor.
Marcus remained with Khloe.
She looked at him.
“You should go.”
“No.”
“You aren’t security.”
“No.”
“You’ll get in the way.”
“Probably.”
Khloe almost smiled despite herself.
It vanished quickly.
Marcus sat near the window.
“I met my mother for five minutes downstairs.”
Khloe looked at him.
“How was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“That bad?”
“That impossible.”
He rubbed his hands together.
“She apologized.”
“I wanted to be angry.”
“I wanted to hug her.”
“I did both.”
Khloe nodded.
“That sounds human.”
Marcus looked at her.
“I told her you were alive because of a camera.”
Khloe glanced toward the black lens above the door.
“What did she say?”
“That truth always needs somewhere to survive.”
Khloe looked away.
Marcus continued.
“I should have given ours somewhere to survive.”
She understood.
“You mean our marriage.”
“Yes.”
Before Khloe could respond, the lights went out.
Emergency lights immediately turned red.
Marcus stood.
The fetal monitor continued on battery power.
Khloe’s heart started racing.
The door remained locked.
Then the camera above it went dark.
Marcus reached for his phone.
“No signal.”
A mechanical sound came from the ventilation system.
Sebastian’s voice crackled through an emergency radio.
“Marcus?”
“I’m here.”
“Stay inside.”
“What happened?”
“Someone cut the local power feed to this wing.”
“Damian?”
“We think so.”
Footsteps sounded outside.
Marcus moved between the bed and the door.
Khloe stared at him.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“That eliminates most of my natural instincts.”
Despite everything, she almost laughed.
Then came a knock.
Three slow taps.
“Hospital security.”
Marcus looked at Khloe.
Sebastian’s voice had told them not to open the door.
The knock came again.
“Mr. Thorne, we’re evacuating the floor.”
Marcus approached but did not unlock it.
“Give me your badge number.”
Silence.
Then the handle moved.
Khloe’s face hardened.
Someone tried again.
Marcus picked up the emergency fire extinguisher.
Khloe grabbed the bedside alarm.
The door stopped moving.
Footsteps retreated.
Thirty seconds later, Sebastian came over the radio.
“Do not open the door.”
“We know.”
“Damian stole a hospital security uniform.”
Marcus looked toward the hallway.
“Where is he?”
“We lost him.”
Then Khloe felt something.
A sharp tightening across her abdomen.
She inhaled.
Marcus turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Another contraction came.
Stronger.
Khloe gripped the rail.
Marcus’s face changed.
“Khloe?”
She looked at the monitor.
Then at him.
“I think we have a new problem.”
The attack.
The stress.
The lockdown.
Everything had finally pushed her body too far.
Her water broke.
Marcus stared at the floor.
Khloe closed her eyes.
May you like
She was only thirty-one weeks pregnant.
And somewhere inside the hospital, Damian Thorne was still moving toward them.
