The deposition was brutal.

Harrison did not raise his voice. He did not need to.

He placed bank records in front of Richard. Wire transfers. Forged invoices. Messages. Corporate filings. Offshore account numbers.

“Is this your signature?” Harrison asked.

Richard swallowed. “It appears to be.”

“Did you authorize this transfer?”

“I would need to review—”

“You did review it. You approved it at 11:43 p.m. from a hotel in Manhattan while Ms. Kensington was checked into the same suite under your company’s travel account.”

Vanessa shifted in her chair.

Harrison turned one page.

“Ms. Kensington, did you receive two hundred and seventy thousand dollars from a Harrington Commercial consulting entity?”

“My company received design fees.”

“For work you never performed?”

“That’s not true.”

Harrison slid a photograph across the table.

Vanessa looked down and went silent.

The photo showed her on a yacht in St. Barts the same week she had billed forty-seven hours for staging a Philadelphia condominium that had not yet finished construction.

The court reporter typed.

Richard’s attorney sweated.

Vanessa exploded.

“This is ridiculous!” she shouted. “She is doing this because she can’t keep a man.”

Harrison looked up slowly.

“Say one more word about my sister and I will ask the mediator to recommend contempt.”

Vanessa laughed harshly. “You think you scare me?”

“Yes,” Harrison said. “But you have not accepted that yet.”

By lunch, Richard and Vanessa understood the truth. The money was gone. The lies were documented. The civil case was turning criminal.

Harrison closed his briefcase.

“We reconvene at one.”

He turned to Khloe, and his voice softened. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get you some soup.”

Khloe smiled weakly. “I’d kill for a grilled cheese.”

“I’ll enter that into evidence.”

They stepped through the brass doors into the cold.

Behind them came the sharp click of heels.

“Hey!”

Khloe froze.

Vanessa stormed out of the courthouse, her face twisted with rage. Richard followed, saying her name under his breath.

“Vanessa, stop.”

She ignored him.

“You think you won?” Vanessa screamed. “You think because you cried to your lawyer brother, you get to steal my life?”

Harrison moved in front of Khloe. “Step back.”

Vanessa pointed around him at Khloe’s stomach.

“He hates you. He told me he wished that thing was never born.”

Khloe flinched as if struck.

Richard’s face went white. “Vanessa.”

Harrison’s voice turned deadly calm. “Back away now.”

Khloe felt a sharp tightening across her belly. She gasped and grabbed Harrison’s sleeve.

“Harry, please. I don’t feel right.”

For one second, everyone shifted.

One second was enough.

Vanessa lunged around Harrison.

“Don’t you turn away from me!”

Both of her hands slammed into Khloe’s chest.

Khloe’s heel slipped off the marble edge.

Time broke apart.

She saw Harrison reaching for her. She saw Richard’s mouth open. She saw Vanessa’s anger collapse into horror.

Then she was falling.

The first impact stole her breath. The second cracked through her shoulder. The third sent white pain exploding behind her eyes. She curled around her belly with every ounce of strength she had, protecting her daughter as the stairs tore at her body.

When she hit the bottom landing, the sound silenced the plaza.

Then someone screamed.

Harrison reached her in seconds.

“Do not move her!” he roared at the crowd. “Call 911!”

Khloe’s eyes opened halfway.

“Harry,” she whispered.

“I’m here.”

“The baby.”

His hands shook. “Help is coming.”

“Promise me.”

He bent close, tears dropping onto her hair. “I promise.”

Her eyes rolled back.

At the top of the stairs, Vanessa backed away. “I didn’t mean—”

Richard stepped away from her.

Police sirens wailed in the distance.

At Montgomery General Hospital, surgeons fought for two lives.

Khloe had suffered a severe placental abruption. Her ribs were fractured. Her collarbone was shattered. Her skull was bleeding. Her daughter was losing oxygen by the second.