CHAPTER 22 — THE MAN WITH MARCUS’S FACE
Marcus smashed the NICU door with a fire extinguisher.
Gabriel’s guards rushed inside.
Emergency lights flickered on.
The incubator was empty.
Khloe screamed.
Then Dr. Reed appeared from the adjoining treatment room holding Hope against her chest.
“I moved her when the power failed.”
Khloe collapsed with relief.
The shadow near the incubator was caught.
It was not Peter Voss.
It was Victor Hale, the Thorne family attorney.
Security found a sedative injector in his pocket.
Marcus grabbed him by the collar.
“You tried to take my daughter.”
Victor looked at him calmly.
“I was trying to protect her.”
“From whom?”
“From the woman coming up the elevator.”
The hidden service elevator opened at the end of the corridor.
A woman stepped out.
Black coat.
Silver veil.
White scar across her hand.
Security raised their weapons.
“Stop!”
The woman removed the veil.
Gabriel’s face emptied of color.
Khloe could barely breathe.
The woman looked older than the photographs, but her eyes were unmistakable.
Celeste Cole.
Khloe’s mother.
Alive.
Gabriel whispered, “Celeste?”
She looked at him without warmth.
“You were always too late, Gabriel.”
Khloe moved toward her.
“Mom?”
Celeste’s expression broke for one second.
Then she looked at Hope.
“We have to take the baby.”
Khloe shielded the child.
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Celeste looked toward the stairwell.
Footsteps echoed from below.
“They know I’m here.”
“Who?”
Celeste pulled a small pistol from her coat.
Every guard raised his weapon.
She did not point it at Khloe.
May you like
She pointed it at Marcus.
“The man you married is not Marcus Thorne.”
