Chapter 6
Khloe asked the question before I did.
“How far were you willing to go?”
Isabella looked at her.
Her hatred was almost calm.
“As far as necessary.”
Victor whispered her name.
Too late.
Khloe’s face changed.
“To kill me?”
Isabella smiled faintly.
“To stop what you were doing.”
I stepped between them.
“What was she doing?”
Isabella looked at me.
“Replacing us.”
I almost laughed.
“With a baby?”
“With permanence.”
The room went silent.
She continued.
“You can divorce a wife.”
Khloe stared.
“You can remove a confidante.”
Then Isabella pointed toward Khloe’s stomach.
“But a child rewrites everything.”
My jaw tightened.
“You thought if she lost the baby—”
“She would leave.”
Khloe flinched.
There it was.
In Isabella’s head, apparently that made the plan different from murder.
Destroy the pregnancy.
Break my wife.
Wait for grief to finish the marriage.
I stared at her.
“You planned to destroy my child because you wanted your position back.”
Her face hardened.
“Your child?”
She laughed.
“You don’t even know if it’s yours.”
Khloe went still.
I felt it.
Victor closed his eyes.
Again.
Too late.
I looked at Isabella.
“What did you say?”
She smiled.
“You heard me.”
Khloe looked at me.
The insult reached her before the implication did.
I did not turn on her.
I turned toward Victor.
“You know something.”
He said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“What did she mean?”
Victor swallowed.
Isabella answered for him.
“Khloe wasn’t the first woman carrying a Thorne child.”
Silence.
I looked back at her.
“That sentence better have a very good explanation.”
“It does.”
Then she looked at Khloe.
“And you’re going to hate him when you hear it.”
Khloe’s hand closed around my sleeve.
Not from fear.
Warning.
She knew Isabella wanted division.
So did I.
I looked at my wife.
“Whatever she says next, I hear it with you standing beside me.”
May you like
Isabella’s smile disappeared.
That ruined the performance she had been waiting to give.
