Chapter 2 - The Heartbeat Behind Glass.
The ambulance reached Saint Catherine Medical Center in eleven minutes.
To Khloe, it felt like an hour.
Every turn of the vehicle sent a dull ache through her lower back.
Every silence between the electronic beats on the fetal monitor felt like a threat.
A paramedic named Lena kept one hand near Khloe's wrist and spoke in a steady voice.
"Your baby's heartbeat is still there."
Khloe nodded, but she could not stop watching the monitor.
"Is it normal?"
Lena did not lie.
"It is faster than we'd like, and you're having contractions."
Khloe's eyes filled.
"I'm only thirty-four weeks."
"I know."
"He needs more time."
"Then we're going to do everything we can to give him that time."
The emergency doors opened before the ambulance had fully settled.
An obstetric trauma team was waiting.
Khloe disappeared behind swinging doors while Adrian arrived in a separate car three minutes later.
He entered the hospital without his briefcase, tie slightly crooked, one trouser knee streaked pale from the courthouse marble.
His phone had not stopped ringing.
He ignored every call except one.
Mara Quinn was his firm's senior investigator and the only person he trusted to preserve evidence before someone powerful could make it vanish.
"Talk to me."
Mara's voice came through crisp and fast.
"The courthouse security system logs remote access attempts."
"Whose credentials?"
"A contractor account assigned to Cole Strategic Consulting."
Adrian stopped walking.
Cole Strategic Consulting belonged to Harrison.
"Time stamp?"
"Four minutes after the fall."
Adrian looked toward the closed obstetric doors.
"Preserve everything."
"Already mirrored the access log through county IT."
"Who requested deletion?"
Mara hesitated.
"It wasn't a deletion request."
"What was it?"
"Someone attempted to export the camera file."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"Where?"
"External server registered to a shell company called North Vale Media."
The name meant nothing to him yet.
"Find ownership."
"Working on it."
The doors opened.
A nurse approached Adrian.
"Mr. Harrington?"
He put away his phone instantly.
"How is she?"
"Your sister is stable."
He exhaled.
"And the baby?"
"The baby's heart rate has improved, but she's showing signs of placental irritation and premature contractions."
"What does that mean?"
"It means we are admitting her for close observation."
The nurse's expression remained professional, but Adrian saw the caution beneath it.
"Her physician will explain the rest."
Khloe was lying in a private room when Adrian entered.
Her face looked smaller against the white pillow.
A fetal monitor curved around her belly.
Bruising had begun to darken along her forearm.
She tried to smile.
"You look terrible."
Adrian pulled a chair beside the bed.
"That's rich coming from you."
She gave a weak laugh.
Then her eyes filled again.
"I thought I lost him."
Adrian took her hand.
"He's still fighting."
"The doctor said they may need to deliver him tonight if anything changes."
"Then he'll have the best team in the state waiting for him."
Khloe looked toward the window.
"Harrison hasn't called."
Adrian knew Harrison had called fourteen times.
He had instructed the hospital not to connect him until Khloe decided otherwise.
"He has tried."
Khloe closed her eyes.
"I don't want to hear his voice."
"Then you won't."
A long silence followed.
Khloe finally whispered the question Adrian knew was coming.
"Did Bianca get arrested?"
"She was detained for questioning."
"That isn't what I asked."
"Not yet."
Her eyes opened sharply.
"Why?"
"Because she told deputies you attacked her first."
Khloe stared at him.
"What?"
"She says you grabbed her, threatened her, and lost your balance when she tried to get away."
The monitor beside the bed changed rhythm as Khloe's pulse rose.
Adrian leaned closer.
"Do not let her version become your stress."
"She pushed me."
"I know."
"Harrison saw it."
Adrian said nothing.
Khloe read his face.
"What did Harrison say?"
"He told deputies he was looking at his phone when you fell."
Khloe stared at the ceiling.
For several seconds, she did not speak.
Then something inside her hardened.
"Of course he did."
Adrian studied her.
"Khloe, there is something else."
He explained the false financial disclosure.
Her expression changed from pain to confusion.
"Eleven million?"
"The trust was funded when your father sold Harrington Medical Logistics."
"I know what the trust is."
"Harrison's filing claims most of it was distributed and spent."
Khloe shook her head slowly.
"I never approved a distribution."
"That is exactly the problem."
She turned toward him.
"Can he move money without me?"
"Not legally."
"Could he forge my approval?"
Adrian did not answer immediately.
Khloe's face went still.
"Adrian."
"Yes."
Her hand moved toward her belly again.
"Then check everything."
"I already am."
A soft knock interrupted them.
A woman in hospital scrubs stood in the doorway.
She wore an identification badge reading DR. EMILY ROSS, MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE.
"Khloe, I'm Dr. Ross."
Khloe nodded.
Dr. Ross stepped closer to the monitor.
"Your baby has stabilized for the moment."
"For the moment?"
"You experienced significant trauma."
Dr. Ross sat beside the bed.
"There is a small placental separation that we need to watch very carefully."
Khloe's face drained.
"Is he going to survive?"
"Right now his heartbeat is reassuring."
"That's not an answer."
Dr. Ross met her eyes.
"Right now, both of you are stable, and that is what matters."
Khloe nodded once.
The doctor continued.
"No visitors unless you approve them."
Khloe looked at Adrian.
"Only him."
"Understood."
Dr. Ross left.
Ten minutes later, Adrian's phone buzzed again.
Mara had sent a corporate registration file.
NORTH VALE MEDIA LLC.
Registered agent: Bianca Mercer.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Bianca had attempted to obtain the courthouse footage through a company she controlled within minutes of the fall.
That was not panic.
That was preparation.
He sent Mara one instruction.
Find every payment between Harrison Cole and North Vale Media.
The reply came faster than expected.
Already found one.
Adrian opened the attached bank record.
Three weeks earlier, Harrison had transferred $175,000 from a family investment account to Bianca's company.
The memo line contained only two words.
PHASE TWO.
Adrian looked at Khloe.
She had finally fallen asleep.
He did not wake her.
He walked into the hallway and called Mara.
"There was a phase two."
"I see it."
"Which means there was a phase one."
"I'm searching backward."
"Search everything."
Mara exhaled softly.
"Adrian, you should know something before I continue."
"What?"
"North Vale Media didn't exist six months ago."
"When was it formed?"
"The morning after Harrison purchased the life insurance policy on Khloe."
Adrian stopped breathing for half a second.
"What life insurance policy?"
"Ten million dollars."
The hospital corridor suddenly felt very cold.
Before Adrian left the hospital corridor, he called the insurer directly through the firm's fraud-response contact.
The policy application contained more than a forged signature.
It contained a recorded telephone verification.
A woman had answered questions in Khloe's name and confirmed her height, date of birth, medical history, and pregnancy status.
The voice was not Khloe's.
Adrian requested the audio be preserved immediately.
Twenty minutes later, a secure copy reached Mara.
They listened from opposite ends of a conference call.
The woman sounded calm, educated, and rehearsed.
She knew details about Khloe that a stranger would not know.
When the insurer asked whether the applicant understood that Harrison Cole would receive the death benefit, the woman answered yes without hesitation.
Mara replayed one phrase.
The accent was slight, but the cadence was familiar.
"That's Bianca," she said.
Adrian did not answer.
He was thinking about how many times Bianca had sat at Khloe's kitchen island while pretending to be merely Harrison's employee.
She had heard family stories.
She had watched Khloe enter passwords.
She had learned the shape of a life before trying to step inside it.
Then Mara found the most damaging detail.
The verification call originated from Harrison's private office line.
The policy was no longer an isolated secret.
It was another project carried out from the same place where the forged trust approvals and fake messages had been created.
May you like
Adrian wrote one sentence on his legal pad.
THE OFFICE IS THE CRIME SCENE.
