Chapter 17 - THE SHOT ACROSS THE STREETMarcus pulled Khloe away from the window.
The glass shattered.
A bullet struck the wall above the bed.
Hospital security ordered everyone onto the floor.
Police units surrounded the parking garage.
Jonathan disappeared before officers reached the roof.
He had left the rifle behind.
It was another message.
He could reach them whenever he wanted.
Detective Brooks found a phone attached to the weapon.
A video began playing automatically.
Jonathan sat inside a dark room.
Behind him was a framed photograph of Khloe as a child.
“You have been told that I abandoned you.”
“I did not.”
“I watched from a distance.”
“I protected you from people far more dangerous than me.”
Khloe watched without emotion.
Jonathan continued.
“Your mother wanted to expose everything.”
“She would have destroyed our lives.”
“The crash was never supposed to kill her.”
Adrian turned away.
Khloe remained still.
Her father had finally admitted responsibility for her mother’s death.
He called it an accident.
She heard only murder.
Jonathan offered a trade.
He would surrender evidence against every corrupt figure involved in the Thorne conspiracy.
In exchange, Khloe would meet him alone.
Marcus immediately refused.
“He wants to control you.”
Khloe looked at the screen.
“No.”
“He wants something I have.”
Jonathan’s video included a map coordinate.
It led to the old Thorne shipping terminal.
Edward explained that the facility once contained a private vault.
The archive files proved millions of stolen dollars had been converted into bearer bonds and hidden there.
Khloe’s identity was required to open the vault because Jonathan had registered it under her name when she was a child.
“He needs my biometric scan.”
Marcus said.
“Then we let him believe he will get it.”
Detective Brooks developed a plan.
Khloe would appear to arrive alone.
Police tactical teams would surround the terminal.
Marcus would remain inside a command vehicle.
Khloe agreed before anyone could stop her.
Three days later, Adrian cleared her for limited travel.
Grace remained in the hospital but continued improving.
Before leaving, Khloe placed her hand inside the incubator.
“I am coming back.”
Her daughter’s fingers curled around hers.
At the shipping terminal, Khloe entered the dark warehouse alone.
Jonathan stepped from behind a row of containers.
His hair was gray.
His face carried the same lines Khloe saw in her own reflection.
“You look like your mother.”
Khloe stared at him.
“You killed her.”
May you like
Jonathan raised a small trigger device.
“And unless the police outside lower their weapons, Marcus will die too.”
