Chapter 3
The hospital released me forty-eight hours later.
Harrison didn’t take me to the estate.
He took me to a secure, gated condominium downtown.
High security.
Private entrance.
No one knew I was there.
“Richard will look for you at the house,” Harrison said as he carried my bag inside. “He won’t think to look here. Not yet.”
I walked to the window.
The view looked out over the city.
Far away from everything I had known.
“What happens now?” I said.
Harrison placed a thick folder on the dining table.
“Now we build the case. Every message. Every transfer. Every piece of evidence. We file it all with the court. We ask for an emergency hearing. And we drop the bomb on him.”
He opened the folder.
Inside were the courthouse videos.
Bank records.
Printouts of every message between Richard and Vanessa.
Including the ones mocking my miscarriages.
“He’s been moving assets for months,” Harrison said. “Hiding money. Transferring properties. But he missed something. A signature requirement. Every major asset in your marriage requires both signatures. He forged yours.”
My eyes widened.
“Forged?”
“Expertly,” Harrison said. “But not perfectly. I’ve already sent the documents to a handwriting analyst. The report comes back tomorrow. Once we have that… fraud becomes a federal crime.”
He tapped a highlighted section of one document.
“Richard is selling the entire development portfolio to a shell company registered in the Caymans. The deal closes in three weeks. If he succeeds… everything disappears. Money. Evidence. Him.”
I gripped the back of a chair.
“We have three weeks to stop him.”
“Exactly,” Harrison said. “And he knows it. That’s why he’s pushing so hard. Threatening you. Trying to force a settlement. He needs you to sign before the judge sees the evidence.”
His phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His expression darkened.
“Speak of the devil.”
He held it up so I could see.
An email from Richard.
Sent to both of us.
Attached was a proposed settlement agreement.
And a message.
“Be reasonable, Harrison. Tell your sister to accept this. Before she loses everything.”
I read the terms.
One million dollars.
Keep the mortgaged estate.
Sign away all claims.
Never speak of the affair.
Never speak of the courthouse incident.
If I refused…
He would fight me in court for years.
Drag my name through mud.
Accuse me of instability.
Seek full custody of the baby.
Harrison scoffed.
“One million dollars. He thinks you’re desperate enough to take it.”
“He thinks I’m weak,” I said.
“He thinks you’re alone,” Harrison corrected. “He doesn’t know what we found. He doesn’t know about the signature expert. He doesn’t know the district attorney is already reviewing the assault footage.”
He closed the folder.
“Rest tonight. Tomorrow we go to the DA’s office. And then… we serve him with the lawsuit. Every crime. Every penny. Everything.”
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
I lay in bed, hand on my belly, thinking about everything.
The love I had felt.
The promises broken.
The danger I faced.
And then I thought about Vanessa.
Eager to welcome my baby.
Chilling words.
I got up and walked to the living room.
Harrison had left his briefcase on the table.
The folder lay open.
I shouldn’t look.
But I couldn’t stop myself.
I flipped through the pages.
More messages.
More transfers.
And then one message caught my eye.
Dated three weeks before my miscarriage.
From Richard to Vanessa.
“The doctor says she’s fragile. One more stress-related incident and she’ll lose it naturally. Perfect timing.”
My blood turned to ice.
He knew.
He had known.
My miscarriage hadn’t been natural at all.
He had caused it.
Stress.
Deliberate cruelty.
Late nights.
Coldness.
The secret messages.
The perfume.
He had pushed me to break me.
To lose that baby.
So he could be free.
Tears streamed down my face.
I gripped the edge of the table to steady myself.
Footsteps behind me.
Harrison.
He saw the message on the page.
He didn’t say anything.
He just walked over and put his arm around me.
“I found that yesterday,” he said quietly. “I was waiting until you were stronger to show you.”
“He killed our baby,” I whispered. “He killed it on purpose.”
Harrison’s voice was thick with rage.
“We don’t have absolute proof yet. But we will. We’ll subpoena his medical records. Phone location data. Everything. If he caused that miscarriage… it’s manslaughter. Or worse.”
I looked up at him.
My vision cleared.
My fear was gone.
Replaced by something colder.
Harder.
“I want him to pay,” I said. “For both babies.”
Harrison nodded slowly.
“Then we make sure he never sees the light of day again. But Khloe… this changes things. If he’s capable of that… he’s capable of anything. We need to be careful. Every step. Every move.”
He took the page from my trembling hand.
“Go back to bed. Get some rest. Tomorrow, the war truly begins. And I promise you… Richard Harrington will never hurt anyone again.”
I went back to bed.
But I didn’t sleep.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling.
Realizing something terrible.
Richard had tried to kill me at the courthouse.
And he had failed.
Which meant he would try again.
Soon.
And next time…
He wouldn’t send Vanessa to do it.
He would come himself.
Somewhere far away, Richard Harrington sat in a penthouse, reading the same files, planning his next move.
And I knew with absolute certainty.
May you like
Before this ended…
One of us would not survive.
