Chapter 4 - THE MASTER OF PUPPETS ⚡The federal agents led Marcus Thorne out of the hospital in handcuffs, past a wall of blinding camera flashes from news reporters who had gathered like vultures outside the main entrance. Headlines were already going viral across every social media platform:
🔥 BREAKING: BILLIONAIRE MARCUS THORNE ARRESTED AFTER PREGNANT WIFE ASSAULTED IN HOSPITAL SUITE! THORNE EMPIRE COLLAPSING! 🔥
Inside the private room, the noise had finally faded.
Khloe sat on the bed, her chest rising and falling heavily. Her uncle, Dr. Vance, was standing by the window, pouring himself a glass of water, a look of triumphant satisfaction on his face.
"We did it, Khloe," Dr. Vance said, raising his glass. "Ten years. Ten long years of planning, and your father is finally avenged. Marcus Thorne will spend the rest of his life in a federal penitentiary."
Khloe didn't celebrate. Marcus’s final words were echoing inside her head like a death knell.
“Check the baby's sonogram records from this morning. Look at the blood test results. I knew who you were the night I met you three years ago.”
"Uncle Arthur," Khloe said, her voice shaking slightly. "Bring up my medical portal on your tablet."
Dr. Vance paused, setting his glass down. "Khloe, you need to rest. The stress—"
"Bring up the medical records from my 28-week check-up this morning!" she demanded, her voice echoing off the walls.
Sensing her panic, Dr. Vance quickly opened his encrypted medical tablet, logging into the hospital's master database. He tapped on Khloe’s patient profile, scrolling down to the advanced prenatal genetic panel that had been processed six hours before the gala.
As Dr. Vance read the screen, his face drained of all color. The glass in his hand slipped, shattering against the floor—just as the crystal glass had hours earlier.
"This... this is impossible," Dr. Vance stammered.
Khloe snatched the tablet from his hand.
The screen displayed the complete DNA sequencing report for her unborn baby.
PATERNAL MATCH CONFIRMATION: FATHER: UNKNOWN / NON-MATCH WITH MARCUS THORNE. MATERNAL MATCH: CONFIRMED. GENETIC MARKERS DETECTED: PROJECT SENIX - CLONED EMBRYO INPLANTATION.
Khloe gasped, her mind spinning into complete chaos. "What is this?! What did he do to me?!"
A cold voice echoed from the doorway of the ICU room.
"He didn't do anything to you, Mrs. Thorne," a woman said.
Khloe looked up. Standing in the doorway was Dr. Elena Rostova, the head of Thorne Biotech's top-secret reproductive research division—a woman who was supposed to be in Geneva.
Dr. Rostova walked into the room, flanked by two private security guards wearing dark suits with high-tech communications earpieces. They weren't hospital security. They were Marcus Thorne’s elite personal force.
"What is the meaning of this?" Dr. Vance yelled, stepping between Dr. Rostova and Khloe. "Get out of here before I call security!"
"The security guards downstairs are already disarmed, Dr. Vance," Dr. Rostova said calmly, pulling a document from her leather briefcase. "Marcus knew three years ago that you and Khloe were planning to infiltrate his company. He allowed you to proceed. He let you steal the server files. He even let you leak them to the FTC."
Khloe’s hands were shaking uncontrollably. "Why? Why would he let me destroy him?!"
"Because the files you leaked were fake," Dr. Rostova revealed, her expression completely detached. "Marcus planted fabricated bio-data on that secondary server two months ago, knowing your uncle would eventually steal it. The FTC arrest? It was a trap. By tomorrow afternoon, the government will realize the evidence is forged, the charges will be dropped, and Marcus will walk free—while filing a massive counter-lawsuit that will liquidate every single asset owned by the Vance family."
Khloe stared at the doctor in sheer horror. "And the baby... what did he do to my baby?!"
Dr. Rostova looked at Khloe’s stomach with a unsettling glare.
"You were never pregnant with Marcus's biological child, Khloe," Dr. Rostova said softly. "The embryo implanted in your womb seven months ago wasn't created through normal IVF. It carries the exact, uncorrupted genetic sequence of your late father, Richard Vance."
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Khloe felt as if the room was spinning upside down. "My... my father?"
"Marcus didn't destroy your father's research ten years ago," Dr. Rostova revealed. "He saved it. Your father died trying to synthesize a revolutionary cellular regeneration gene. Marcus realized the only way to perfect the gene was to incubate it inside a direct maternal relative. He used you, Khloe. You aren't just taking revenge. You are carrying the living key to a multi-trillion-dollar medical technology."
