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She thought the hospital cameras had a blind spot. She didn't know her own reflection would condemn her to a lifetime behind bars! / Chapter 3 / 6

Chapter 3 - The Shadow Investor

HOOK: Isabella was just the puppet. The real monster behind the attack on Khloe is someone Marcus calls 'family'!

The darkness in the hospital wasn't an accident. Security Director Daniel Cruz stared at his tablet, which was now flashing a red skull icon with the words: SYSTEM COMPROMISED. All security footage, including the backup copies of Isabella’s assault, was being systematically wiped from the local servers.

"They're erasing the evidence in real-time!" Daniel shouted to Marcus in the dim hallway. "Someone is remoting into our network from an outside source. It’s a military-grade wipe. In five minutes, the footage of Isabella dragging Khloe will be gone forever!"

Marcus’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was an unknown number. He answered it, his voice tight. "Who is this?"

"A tragic accident, isn't it?" a disguised, distorted voice laughed over the line. "A clumsy pregnant wife, a blackout at the hospital... it’s a shame the backup systems are failing. If I were you, Marcus, I’d drop the charges against Isabella. If you do, the hospital power might magically turn back on. If you don't... well, let's see how long an infant can survive in an unventilated incubator."

Marcus’s blood ran cold. The caller knew details only an insider would know. He looked through the OR window. The surgeons were working by the light of handheld medical flashlights, their foreheads beaded with sweat as they carefully delivered the baby.

"You monster," Marcus growled. "Who are you?"

"Let's just say, your father's estate was meant to be divided equally, Marcus. But he left everything to you and your perfect little family. Isabella was supposed to inherit it with me. Now, make your choice. Call off the cops, or watch your family fade in the dark."

The line went dead.

Marcus realized with a shock of horror who the voice belonged to. It wasn't a stranger. The cadence, the phrase "father's estate"—it was his estranged stepbrother, Julian, who had supposedly been living in exile in Europe for the last three years. Julian had been using Isabella as a pawn to destroy Marcus's life and claim the multi-billion-dollar family trust.

Marcus turned to Daniel. "Can you trace the IP address of the hacker?"

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The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure terminal on my desk flashed a violent crimson. I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours, my eyes burning from staring at columns of ghost figures, duplicate invoices, and shell corporations linked to Dominic Rossi. But the red alert wasn’t from Rossi’s faction. It was an internal security flag originating from the estate’s main vault deep beneath the west wing.

The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure ter...

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scattering the light from the chandeliers. The muffled laughter died instantly, replaced by a suffocating, heavy silence that crept outward from the grand staircase.

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scatter...

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking out the clinical, terrifying silence of the kitchen. Evelyn Crane stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, her hands folded over her apron with the rigid precision of someone who had spent decades micromanaging every square inch of my estate. Behind her, Norah hovered near the doorway, clutching her clipboard like a shield.

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking...

"Only if we get into the hospital's central server room on the sub-floor," Daniel said. "But the electronic doors are locked shut due to the security override. We’d need a physical master key—and only the CEO has that."

"Then we break the doors down," Marcus said, his eyes burning with a deadly light. "Because nobody threatens my child."

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