Chapter 4 - Someone Inside the Hospital
By midnight, the charity gala had been shut down.
Guests were quietly escorted from the building.
Hospital administrators were furious.
Sebastian did not care.
Someone had entered a protected network.
Someone had attempted to destroy evidence of an attack against his niece.
He wanted names.
Khloe remained under observation.
Marcus refused to leave the hospital.
She refused to speak to him.
He sat outside her room anyway.
At 12:43 a.m., Sebastian entered the security command center.
His chief of security, Daniel Reeves, had already traced the unauthorized deletion.
“It came from Terminal Seven.”
“Location?”
“The administrative office beside the ballroom.”
Sebastian frowned.
“That office was being used for tonight’s charity event.”
“Yes.”
“Who had access?”
Daniel turned his monitor.
Seven names appeared.
Hospital director.
Two IT supervisors.
Sebastian.
Elaine Parker.
Marcus Thorne.
And one temporary event assistant.
Sebastian stared at the list.
“Where’s Elaine?”
“In Interview Room Two.”
Elaine looked terrified when Sebastian entered.
“I didn’t delete anything.”
“I didn’t accuse you.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Sebastian sat opposite her.
“Who used your office tonight?”
“Half the event staff.”
“Who knew your login?”
“Nobody.”
“Think carefully.”
Elaine rubbed her forehead.
Then she stopped.
“There was one person.”
Sebastian waited.
“Isabella.”
His eyes narrowed.
“She was in your office?”
“She came in around eight.”
“She said Marcus had asked her to retrieve a donor list.”
“Did you verify that?”
Elaine’s face filled with shame.
“No.”
“How did she know Marcus?”
“I assumed she was part of his team.”
Sebastian leaned back.
“What else?”
Elaine hesitated.
“That wasn’t the first time I’d seen them together.”
Sebastian’s attention sharpened.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“The Halston Hotel.”
“They were in the lobby.”
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“How did they seem?”
Elaine swallowed.
“Serious.”
“Arguing?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
Sebastian stood.
“Why didn’t you tell Khloe?”
Elaine looked embarrassed.
“Because it wasn’t my marriage.”
“And because I hoped I was mistaken.”
Sebastian understood that answer better than she knew.
People often chose silence because truth was inconvenient.
That silence was becoming expensive.
Marcus was waiting in the corridor when Sebastian left.
“You met Isabella three weeks ago.”
Marcus did not deny it.
“Yes.”
“Khloe thinks the affair ended eight months ago.”
“It did.”
“Then why were you meeting your former mistress secretly at a hotel?”
Marcus looked toward Khloe’s room.
“Because she was blackmailing me.”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“With what?”
Marcus pulled out his phone.
He opened a locked folder.
Inside were dozens of messages.
Photographs.
Hotel receipts.
Private conversations.
Evidence of his affair.
“Isabella contacted me five months ago.”
“She said she would send everything to Khloe unless I paid her.”
Sebastian stared at him.
“Did you?”
“Twice.”
“How much?”
“Three hundred thousand dollars.”
Sebastian laughed without humor.
“You paid your mistress three hundred thousand dollars and somehow thought that was protecting your wife?”
“I was a coward.”
“At least you understand one thing.”
Marcus ignored the insult.
“Three weeks ago, Isabella changed her demand.”
“What did she want?”
Marcus’s voice lowered.
“She wanted me to sign a voting proxy.”
“For whom?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
Sebastian became still.
“I refused.”
“What happened?”
“She told me I was making a mistake.”
“And?”
Marcus looked directly at him.
“She said by the time Khloe understood what was happening, it would already be too late.”
Sebastian felt something cold move through him.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I hired investigators.”
“You hid this from your pregnant wife and tried handling it privately.”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t protection.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
“It was arrogance.”
“I know.”
A security officer hurried toward them.
“Mr. Kane.”
Sebastian turned.
“We searched Ms. Rossi’s purse.”
“And?”
The officer handed him a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a second phone.
A cheap prepaid device.
One message remained visible on the screen.
DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN UNTIL K.T. IS OUT OF THE PICTURE.
The sender was saved as a single letter.
D.
Marcus stared at it.
Sebastian looked at him.
“Who is D?”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“There are three people on my board whose names start with D.”
Sebastian waited.
Marcus continued.
“But only one of them knew about my affair.”
May you like
“My uncle.”
“Damian Thorne.”
