Chapter 7
The woman’s name was Elena Cross.
I remembered her immediately.
Not romantically.
As a doctor.
Years ago, she treated Thorne men quietly when public hospitals created too many questions.
Isabella watched my face.
“There.”
“What?”
“You remember.”
“Of course I remember.”
Khloe looked at me.
“You knew her?”
“Yes.”
“Like that?”
“No.”
Isabella laughed.
“Ask her yourself.”
My face hardened.
“Where is she?”
Victor looked away.
I noticed.
“Victor.”
He said nothing.
Elaine found another hidden folder.
E.C.
Photographs.
Elena entering a private apartment.
Elena speaking with Victor.
Elena holding a newborn.
Khloe’s breathing changed.
I stared at the image.
The baby was wrapped in a blanket embroidered with the Thorne crest.
“What is this?”
Isabella leaned back.
“Your father knew.”
I looked at her.
“My father died nine years ago.”
“Exactly.”
The structure appeared before the details.
Old secret.
Old leverage.
Something Isabella had carried for years.
“What did my father know?”
Victor finally spoke.
“There was a child.”
I looked at him.
“Mine?”
He swallowed.
“No.”
Silence.
“Then whose?”
Victor glanced at Isabella.
She smiled.
“Your father’s.”
I went completely still.
Anthony Thorne had been fifty-eight when he died.
I had believed I was his only surviving child.
Apparently I was wrong.
Khloe looked toward Isabella.
“So this is about succession.”
Isabella’s eyes sharpened.
“You think everything is about you.”
Khloe touched her belly.
“No. I think everything you’ve done is about blood.”
That hit.
I saw it.
Isabella had not only been afraid of Khloe’s child replacing her influence.
She had been hiding another Thorne heir.
May you like
One who existed before Khloe ever entered our family.
And if she had hidden him for years, I wanted to know what she had done to keep him hidden.
