Chapter 3 - The Name on the Medical Form
The baby's heartbeat filled the examination room.
Fast.
Strong.
Alive.
Khloe cried harder hearing it than she had when she saw the blood.
“Placental irritation,” Dr. Rachel Levin explained. “Your cervix remains closed, and the baby looks stable. But stress isn't helping. I want observation tonight and strict rest afterward.”
Khloe nodded.
Dominic stood near the door.
He had remained throughout admission but deliberately stayed outside during examinations.
Now his tuxedo jacket was gone, his bow tie loosened.
“Father's information?”
The nurse held a tablet.
Khloe froze.
“Derek Hale.”
Dominic's expression changed.
The nurse continued.
“Emergency contact?”
Khloe opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
Her parents were dead. Her closest college friend lived in Oregon. Derek had slowly turned every friendship into an argument until isolation became easier than resistance.
“Leave it blank.”
The humiliation returned.
Dominic stepped toward the door.
“I'll give you privacy.”
“Dominic.”
He stopped.
Khloe couldn't believe what she was about to say.
“Can I put you?”
His eyes met hers.
“As emergency contact?”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand that you met me tonight?”
A laugh escaped through her tears.
“You're making an excellent argument against yourself.”
His mouth twitched.
Then he gave the nurse his number.
At 2:17 a.m., Derek arrived.
He wasn't alone.
Vanessa followed him.
Khloe stared from the hospital bed.
“You brought her?”
Derek closed the door.
“This isn't about Vanessa.”
“It became about Vanessa when you brought her into my hospital room.”
Dominic rose from the chair beside the window.
Derek stopped.
Apparently he hadn't expected him.
“What are you doing here?”
Dominic's voice was flat.
“Being her emergency contact.”
Derek's face turned crimson.
“She's my wife.”
“For now,” Khloe said.
Three people looked at her.
She surprised herself most.
“I want a divorce.”
Derek laughed.
“No.”
Khloe blinked.
“No?”
“You think one theatrical kiss makes you independent? You don't understand what you're doing.”
He stepped closer.
Dominic moved once.
That was enough.
Derek stopped.
Khloe studied her husband's face.
“I understand that I don't want to live with you.”
“You'll come home.”
“No.”
“The house is mine.”
“Keep it.”
“The cards are mine.”
“Cancel them.”
“The car?”
“Take it.”
Derek's confidence began cracking.
He had spent years believing objects were bars around her cage.
He had never considered she might simply walk out without them.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Where will she live?”
Khloe looked at Dominic before she could stop herself.
He immediately understood the danger of answering for her.
“Wherever she chooses.”
That mattered.
More than he knew.
Derek smiled cruelly.
“You think Moretti wants you? Look at yourself, Khloe. You're six months pregnant with another man's child.”
Dominic became perfectly still.
Khloe recognized that stillness now.
Danger.
But she didn't need rescuing.
“Get out.”
Derek blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“I said get out.”
A nurse appeared after hearing raised voices.
Khloe pointed toward Derek and Vanessa.
“I don't want them here.”
The nurse didn't hesitate.
“You need to leave.”
Derek looked around the room and realized something fundamental had changed.
People were listening to Khloe.
He left.
But before the door closed, he looked at Dominic.
“This isn't finished.”
Dominic answered quietly.
“No. It isn't.”
The next morning, Khloe woke to forty-three missed calls.
Photos from the gala had exploded across social media.
DEREK HALE'S PREGNANT WIFE KISSES DOMINIC MORETTI.
But another story was spreading too.
Witnesses claimed Derek had grabbed Khloe moments before the kiss.
More importantly, Derek's investors were asking questions.
Dominic stood at the window reading his phone.
“What happened?”
“The Riverfront board postponed its vote.”
Khloe stared.
“Because of me?”
“Because Derek's business isn't as healthy as he pretends.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
Dominic hesitated.
“I've been investigating Hale Development for four months.”
Khloe felt suddenly cold.
“So last night wasn't coincidence.”
“Seeing you was.”
“Knowing Derek wasn't?”
“No.”
Dominic placed his phone down.
“Derek approached my company for financing. Our audit discovered inconsistencies.”
“What kind?”
“Missing money.”
Khloe swallowed.
“How much?”
“Potentially eighteen million dollars.”
She stared at him.
Dominic continued.
“Some transfers were authorized under your name.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“I never authorized anything.”
“I believe you.”
Khloe's hand instinctively covered her stomach.
Derek's threats suddenly meant something different.
The accounts.
The insistence she stay.
The fear of divorce.
Perhaps Derek wasn't afraid of losing his wife.
He was afraid of what she might discover.
Dominic pulled a chair beside her bed.
“There is something else.”
Khloe looked at him.
He placed a photocopied document on the blanket.
Her signature appeared at the bottom.
It looked almost perfect.
Above it was authorization for a shell company called KHB Holdings.
Khloe stared at the initials.
K.H.B.
Her maiden name was Khloe Harper Bennett.
She had never told Dominic that.
“Derek created a company using my initials.”
Dominic nodded.
“And if federal investigators follow the paperwork?”
Her voice barely worked.
“They find you.”
Khloe looked toward the door Derek had walked through hours earlier.
Her husband hadn't merely betrayed her.
He had prepared to bury her.
Then she noticed the date on the document.
May you like
Her blood ran cold.
It had been created three weeks after she told Derek she was pregnant.
