CHAPTER 11 — THE CRASH
Elaine finally agreed to leave the hospital.
Two security vehicles escorted her through the underground garage.
She had driven less than five miles when her brakes failed.
The car accelerated toward a crowded intersection.
Elaine pulled the emergency brake.
Nothing happened.
She swerved, struck a barrier, and crashed into a delivery truck.
The security vehicle behind her stopped immediately.
Paramedics pulled her from the wreckage with blood running down the side of her face.
Before losing consciousness, Elaine grabbed an officer’s sleeve.
“My bag.”
“What?”
“They want my bag.”
Inside the bag was a memory card.
Elaine had copied part of the hospital footage before anyone knew it existed.
At the hospital, Gabriel received the call.
“Is she alive?”
“For now.”
“Bring her here.”
Khloe heard everything from her bed.
“They tried to kill her because she saw Isabella attack me.”
Gabriel looked toward the corridor.
“Or because she copied something else.”
Security delivered Elaine’s damaged bag thirty minutes later.
The memory card was still inside.
A technician loaded it onto an isolated computer.
The recording began with Isabella entering Khloe’s suite.
But Elaine’s copy included footage from the corridor camera.
Marcus stood outside the door.
He heard the argument.
He reached for the handle.
Then another person stepped into frame.
Evelyn Thorne.
Marcus’s mother.
She placed one hand on his arm and stopped him from entering.
The footage had no sound.
But her lips were easy to read.
LET IT HAPPEN.
Marcus shook his head.
Evelyn spoke again.
THE CHILD CANNOT BE BORN.
Then she walked away.
Marcus remained outside for forty-seven seconds.
Khloe stared at the screen.
May you like
Her husband had not planned the attack.
But he had obeyed his mother.
