Chapter 4 - Gravity and Blood
Friday morning.
The Montgomery County Courthouse.
The air was thick with humidity and impending doom.
Khloe stood at the top of the marble steps.
She wore a navy maternity dress.
She looked beautiful.
She looked untouchable.
Harrison stood ten feet away, speaking quietly with a judge he had known for twenty years.
Everything was going perfectly.
Richard had arrived looking like a hollowed-out shell of a man.
His suit was wrinkled.
His eyes were bloodshot.
He had lost his company, his reputation, and his fortune in four days.
He was ready to sign.
He had no choice.
But Harrison hadn't accounted for a desperate woman.
Vanessa Kensington burst through the courthouse doors.
She looked completely unhinged.
Her designer dress was a mess.
Her makeup was smeared.
The federal freeze had hit her accounts, too.
She had lost the penthouse.
She had lost the stolen money.
She had lost the future she had bought with someone else’s tears.
She saw Khloe standing near the railing.
Blind rage took over.
“You!”
Vanessa screamed, her voice echoing off the marble pillars.
“You did this! You ruined my life!”
Khloe turned around, startled.
Before she could process the danger, Vanessa was charging.
Richard stood frozen, watching his mistress lunge at his pregnant wife.
“Vanessa, stop!” he yelled, but he didn't move an inch.
Khloe put a hand out, trying to shield her belly.
“Please, don't—”
It was too late.
Vanessa’s hands slammed into Khloe’s chest.
The force was violent.
Intentional.
Khloe felt her heels slip over the edge of the top step.
Time stopped.
She saw the sky.
She saw the ceiling of the courthouse portico.
Then she felt nothing but the sickening sensation of falling backward.
Thirty unforgiving marble steps.
The sound of her body hitting the stone was sickening.
Gasps erupted from the crowd.
Briefcases dropped.
Screams pierced the air.
Khloe crumpled at the bottom, a broken doll in a navy dress.
Blood immediately began pooling on the white marble.
Harrison turned around.
He saw his sister lying at the bottom of the stairs.
The legal powerhouse disappeared.
The terrifying litigator vanished.
He sprinted down the steps, dropping to his knees so hard the skin tore from his palms.
“Khloe…”
His voice broke.
“Look at me. Stay with me. Don’t close your eyes.”
Khloe’s trembling fingers reached for his lapel.
She left bloody fingerprints on the expensive silk.
“Harry…”
She whispered, coughing weakly.
“The baby… please… save my baby.”
Her hand slipped away.
Her eyes rolled back.
Silence fell over the bottom of the stairs.
Harrison slowly lifted his head.
He looked up to the top landing.
Vanessa was staring at her hands, shaking violently.
Richard was staring at Khloe, paralyzed by cowardice.
Harrison didn't scream.
He didn't curse.
His gaze settled on them with a coldness that froze the blood in their veins.
He didn't need to say a word.
They both knew exactly what that look meant.
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They were dead.
It was just a matter of time.
