Chapter 7 - The Marriage Was the Target
The challenge had been filed under seal in Delaware.
The petitioner was a holding company Khloe had never heard of.
Ashbourne Capital Partners.
Sebastian’s lawyers traced it within hours.
Its registered address belonged to a corporate services firm.
Its ownership disappeared behind three shell companies.
The fourth company finally revealed a name.
Damian Thorne.
Khloe stared at the report.
“So he started this before Isabella attacked me.”
“Long before.”
Sebastian placed another document beside it.
“His legal argument is that the succession trust is invalid if the marriage is materially fraudulent.”
Khloe frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He claims you and Marcus have an unstable marriage and that Marcus concealed an extramarital relationship before your pregnancy.”
Marcus stood near the opposite wall.
His face hardened.
“He’s using my affair.”
“Yes.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“Which means your affair was not just useful to Damian.”
“It may have been cultivated.”
Marcus stared back.
“You think Isabella approached me because of him.”
“I think it’s possible.”
Marcus remembered Boston.
The hotel bar.
Isabella appearing beside him after a disastrous investor dinner.
The effortless conversation.
The way she already seemed to know which deals frustrated him.
Which directors he hated.
Which insecurities he hid.
At the time, he had mistaken familiarity for connection.
Now it looked like research.
“I was an idiot.”
Khloe did not look at him.
“You were willing.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
She finally faced him.
“Don’t turn yourself into a victim because she may have manipulated you.”
“I’m not.”
“You betrayed me because you chose to.”
“Yes.”
“Whatever Damian did comes after that.”
“I understand.”
For the first time since the attack, Marcus was not asking for forgiveness.
Khloe appreciated that more than she wanted to admit.
Sebastian’s phone rang.
He answered.
A moment later, his expression became sharp.
“What?”
He listened.
“Send it.”
A video file arrived.
It came from a traffic camera outside the Halston Hotel.
Three weeks earlier.
Marcus entered through the front doors at 6:14 p.m.
Isabella arrived at 6:21.
They met in the lobby.
At 6:58, Isabella left.
Marcus remained.
Eleven minutes later, another man entered through a side door.
Damian Thorne.
Marcus stared.
“I never saw him.”
Sebastian replayed the footage.
Damian did not enter the lobby.
He went directly toward the private elevators.
“Could he have met Isabella upstairs?”
Marcus asked.
“Possibly.”
Sebastian’s investigator called again.
This time the news was worse.
They had obtained elevator logs.
Isabella had gone to Room 1804 after leaving Marcus.
Damian’s access card opened the same room twelve minutes later.
Khloe felt a chill.
Marcus looked sick.
Sebastian folded his arms.
“Your uncle wasn’t merely aware of Isabella.”
“He was meeting her secretly.”
Marcus whispered.
“How long?”
“We’re checking.”
Khloe looked toward the folder containing the trust challenge.
“What happens now?”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“The court scheduled an emergency hearing.”
“When?”
“Forty-eight hours.”
Marcus looked up.
“That fast?”
“Damian requested temporary control before your board votes on the maternity trust.”
Khloe rested both hands over her stomach.
“So we have two days.”
“To prove the challenge was manufactured.”
“And if we can’t?”
Sebastian hesitated.
“Damian could temporarily gain voting control.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“And once he has it?”
Sebastian looked at him.
“He can remove you as CEO.”
Khloe understood the real strategy.
Damian had not been trying to destroy only her marriage.
May you like
He had been trying to destroy Marcus too.
And Marcus’s greatest mistake had given him the weapon.
