Chapter 3 - The Storage Bill
Anthony Rossi had undergone fertility treatment with Isabella’s mother decades earlier.
That much Khloe knew.
The marriage ended.
Isabella was their only child.
Years later Anthony married Khloe’s mother and had Khloe naturally.
Nobody talked about fertility treatment again.
Until six weeks before Khloe entered the hospital.
A storage facility contacted Khloe.
Not Isabella.
Khloe.
Anthony had apparently maintained cryogenic storage through a fertility center whose records had later transferred to another provider.
There were preserved embryos created with Isabella’s mother.
The storage contract was ancient.
Anthony had continued paying annual fees until his death.
Afterward, payments came from a family trust.
Then the trustee began winding down old obligations and requested clarification regarding disposition.
“Why did they contact you?”
“I’m listed in Dad’s estate records as one of the people who has to be notified.”
“Not decide?”
“I don’t know.”
That distinction mattered.
Khloe had contacted an attorney specializing in reproductive law.
She hadn’t told me.
I was angry about that.
Then ashamed of being angry.
“Why hide it from me?”
“Because every time Isabella and I fight, you want to fix it.”
“I’m your husband.”
“I know.”
Her eyes filled.
“Sometimes I need you to be my husband instead of my bodyguard.”
That landed.
I had built a career acquiring and restructuring hospitality companies. Problems came to my desk because people expected decisions.
I brought that habit home.
Khloe didn’t always need decisions.
She needed room.
Isabella, meanwhile, believed the embryos belonged solely to her because they were created by her biological parents.
But Anthony’s estate documents apparently complicated that.
Khloe wouldn’t sign Isabella’s proposed consent because her attorney told her not to sign anything until ownership and disposition rights were established.
“So yesterday?”
“She brought papers.”
“And?”
“I refused.”
“Did she hurt you?”
Khloe looked toward the shattered champagne glass still being documented from the incident.
“No.”
Not yesterday.
“But she said something.”
“What?”
Khloe hesitated.
“She said Dad never wanted me to exist.”
That was the first serious consequence.
Isabella wasn’t only fighting over frozen embryos.
May you like
She was trying to turn their dead father into a weapon.
And Khloe had started believing her.
