Chapter 15
Victor lost his rank first.
He accepted it quietly.
Maybe Adrian was the reason.
Maybe shame finally outweighed loyalty.
I did not care which.
“You helped her hurt Elena.”
He nodded.
“You helped her target Khloe.”
Another nod.
“You hid Adrian.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
Victor took a breath.
“Every time I tried to step away from her, she reminded me what she knew about me.”
Isabella laughed.
“Pathetic.”
Victor turned toward her.
For once, he did not flinch.
“You made everybody pathetic around you.”
That silenced her.
Then I looked at Isabella.
“You lose every Thorne channel.”
Her face hardened.
“No crews. No private access. No foundation authority. No information network.”
She laughed.
“You can’t erase twenty years.”
“I don’t need to.”
I looked toward the capos.
“I only need them to stop asking you what they’re allowed to know.”
Several men lowered their eyes.
That was enough.
Power had never been Isabella’s title.
It was access.
She knew who was fighting.
Who was hiding children.
Who owed favors.
Who was afraid.
Remove the access, and the aura vanished.
She looked at Khloe.
“This is what you wanted.”
Khloe shook her head.
“No.”
“To replace me.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Khloe placed one hand over her stomach.
“I wanted my child to be born without someone rehearsing how to make us disappear.”
Silence.
Isabella looked away.
For the first time, she had no cruel answer ready.
Not because she suddenly felt remorse.
May you like
Because there was no version of that sentence she could twist back onto Khloe.
The truth was too clean.
