Chapter 5: The Hour Before Dominic Arrived
Nora laid it out quickly, the way a person speaks when time is the only resource left.
"The footage gives us a clear civil case against Isabella for the physical assault.
That's straightforward.
What's more complicated — and more useful — is what the footage does to her credibility as a party to any legal action.
If Dominic tries to invoke the debt agreement tonight, and we can demonstrate that his daughter just committed a documented assault on your pregnant wife inside a hospital, we have grounds to argue the entire Rossi position is operating in bad faith."
"Will that hold?" Marcus asked.
"Not on its own," Nora said.
"But it buys time.
And time is what we need to get to the second piece."
"Which is?"
Nora looked at him.
"The shell company."
Marcus went still.
"Dominic has held his stake in Thorne Capital through a company called Meridian Consulting Group.
It's registered in Delaware.
Has been for eleven years." She turned the tablet toward him.
"Three weeks ago, our forensic accounting team flagged an anomaly in Meridian's filing history.
A discrepancy in the declared ownership structure."
"What kind of discrepancy?"
"The kind that suggests Dominic Rossi is not the sole beneficial owner of that stake." She paused.
"There is a second name on the internal records.
A name that does not appear anywhere in the public filing."
Marcus stared at the tablet.
His face went through several things in rapid succession.
"Who?" Khloe asked.
Nora looked at her.
Then at Marcus.
"We believe it's your father."
The monitor beeped.
Marcus sat down.
"My father has been d\*ad for four years," he said.
"Yes," Nora said.
"Which raises the question of how his name appears on a document amended fourteen months ago."
---
Richard, who had been standing near the window, turned around.
"Someone is using a d\*ad man's identity to maintain a hidden ownership position."
"That's our working theory," Nora said.
"If it's accurate, the entire debt agreement may be built on a fraudulent foundation.
You can't legally enforce a contract when one of the underlying parties to the financial structure doesn't legally exist."
"Or has been forged," Khloe said.
"Or has been forged," Nora confirmed.
Marcus stood up again.
He couldn't seem to stay in one position.
"How long have you known about this?"
"Seventy-two hours," Nora said.
"I was preparing to brief you Monday morning.
Then tonight happened."
"Does Dominic know you've found it?"
"No.
Not yet."
Marcus walked to the window.
He stood with his back to the room for a moment, looking out at the city.
"If we show him we have this," he said slowly, "he won't call in the debt.
He can't.
The moment he tries, we file on the fraud and everything unravels for him."
"Correct," Nora said.
"But if he arrives here tonight not knowing we have it—"
"He'll come in confident.
He'll try to use the debt as leverage to make the assault footage disappear quietly.
He'll offer a deal — Isabella walks, the footage gets buried, and in exchange he extends your repayment timeline."
"And we let him make that offer," Khloe said.
Everyone looked at her.
She was sitting up straighter now, both hands resting on her stomach, her voice entirely steady.
"We let him walk in here thinking he has all the power.
We let him make the offer.
And then we show him what you have."
Nora Chen looked at her for a long moment.
"That's exactly right."
"I want to be in the room," Khloe said.
"Khloe—" Marcus started.
"I'm in a hospital bed because of his daughter." Her eyes moved to her husband.
"I want to be in the room."
Marcus looked at her.
Then at Richard.
Richard gave the smallest shrug — the kind that means *you already know the answer.*
"We bring the meeting here," Marcus said to Nora.
"To this room."
Nora nodded and picked up her phone.
---
Forty minutes passed.
A nurse came in, checked the monitor, adjusted something on the IV line, and left without asking questions.
Richard stepped out to coordinate with the two staff members in the lobby.
Khloe asked Marcus to hand her a glass of water.
He did.
Their fingers touched on the glass.
Neither of them said anything.
Then Richard appeared in the doorway.
"He's here," he said.
"And he didn't come alone."
"Who's with him?" Marcus asked.
"His lawyer.
And Isabella."
May you like
Khloe set the glass down on the bedside table.
"Send them up," she said.
