Chapter 9 - THE FIRST TIME KHLOE HOLDS GRACEKhloe held Grace for the first time four days after the fall.
A nurse named Marisol placed the tiny bundle against Khloe’s chest with the tenderness of someone handling a miracle that had almost been lost.
Grace wore a little pink cap too big for her head.
Her face was small and wrinkled and perfect.
Khloe started crying before she could speak.
“Hi, baby,” she whispered. “Hi, my brave girl.”
Grace made a small sound, no louder than a kitten’s sigh.
Khloe laughed through tears.
Harrison stood near the window with his arms crossed, pretending not to cry so badly that Marisol discreetly handed him a tissue without looking at him.
“I’m fine,” Harrison muttered.
Marisol smiled. “Of course.”
Khloe looked up. “Harry.”
He cleared his throat. “Yes?”
“Come meet your niece properly.”
“I’ve met her.”
“You stared through glass like a suspicious landlord.”
Marisol laughed.
Harrison approached with the caution of a man entering sacred ground. He looked down at Grace, and all the steel in him softened.
“She’s very small,” he said.
“She’s early,” Khloe replied. “Not small.”
Harrison nodded solemnly. “Important distinction.”
Grace’s tiny hand shifted against the blanket.
Harrison offered one finger.
She grabbed it.
His face changed completely.
Khloe saw it.
For a moment, he was not the feared attorney, not the man dismantling empires, not the brother who made powerful men afraid to sleep.
He was Uncle Harry.
And he was conquered.
Khloe smiled. “She likes you.”
“She has excellent judgment.”
Then Grace sneezed.
Harrison looked alarmed.
Khloe laughed harder than her stitches allowed.
For ten minutes, the world became almost kind.
Then Harrison’s phone vibrated.
He checked it, and the warmth vanished.
Khloe noticed. “What happened?”
He hesitated.
“Don’t protect me by keeping me stupid,” she said.
Harrison looked at her.
It was exactly the kind of sentence she had said as a little girl when he tried to hide their parents’ fights from her.
He put the phone away.
“Richard visited Vanessa.”
Khloe’s expression stilled.
“In jail?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That’s what I’m finding out.”
Khloe looked down at Grace.
“Can he do that?”
“As her former lover, no. As someone connected to the case, also no. As a wealthy man with attorneys, apparently he thought doors were suggestions.”
“What did she do?”
“She refused to see him.”
Khloe blinked.
Harrison watched her process that.
“Vanessa refused?”
“Yes.”
Khloe looked toward the NICU monitors.
“Good.”
Harrison studied his sister.
“Good?”
“If he went there, it wasn’t to help her. He only helps people when saving them saves himself.”
That was the first time since waking that Khloe sounded angry.
Harrison was relieved.
Anger meant something in her was coming back online.
Later that night, Khloe asked to speak to Detective Reed.
Harrison objected.
Khloe ignored him.
Detective Reed arrived with tired eyes and a coffee she clearly hated.
“I can come back tomorrow,” Reed said.
“No,” Khloe replied. “I want to understand.”
Reed glanced at Harrison.
Khloe said, “Don’t look at him. I’m the one who fell.”
Reed almost smiled.
Then she sat.
Khloe’s voice remained steady. “Was Vanessa alone in this?”
Reed took a breath. “We don’t think so.”
“Richard?”
“Possibly. But maybe not in the way people assume.”
Harrison crossed his arms.
Reed continued, “There are messages from a blocked contact. We’re tracing them. Whoever sent them knew Vanessa was unstable, knew the hearing schedule, and may have encouraged confrontation.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
“So she was used.”
“Maybe.”
“But she still pushed me.”
“Yes.”
Khloe opened her eyes.
“Both things can be true.”
Reed nodded slowly. “That’s usually where the ugly cases live.”
Khloe looked down at Grace.
“I want Vanessa protected.”
Harrison turned sharply. “Absolutely not.”
Khloe did not look at him.
“If someone manipulated her into attacking me, they may try to silence her.”
Reed studied Khloe with new respect.
“You understand what you’re asking?”
“I’m not forgiving her,” Khloe said. “I’m making sure the person behind her doesn’t get away because we were too busy hating the easiest target.”
Harrison’s jaw tightened.
Khloe finally looked at him.
“You taught me that.”
He said nothing.
Because she was right.
The next morning, Vanessa Kensington was moved to a protected medical wing after reporting severe cramping.
By evening, her attorney contacted Harrison’s office.
Vanessa wanted to talk.
Not to prosecutors.
Not to Richard.
To Khloe.
Harrison refused before Khloe even heard the request.
Khloe overruled him.
And somewhere in Washington, Lydia Vale received the update.
Vanessa Kensington had failed to meet Richard.
Worse, she had asked for Khloe.
Lydia stood in her townhouse kitchen and slowly poured her tea into the sink.
Then she made one call.
“Move up the timeline,” she said.
A voice on the other end asked, “How far?”
May you like
Lydia looked at the dark window.
“Before the woman in the hospital teaches the woman in custody how to become brave.”
