Chapter 6 - The Story Chloe Told
Julian met Chloe the following morning.
I did not stop him.
Trying to control him would only prove the story she was already telling.
He returned three hours later.
His face looked exhausted.
“She showed me photographs.”
I was waiting in the breakfast room.
“Of what?”
“Bruises.”
I said nothing.
“She said Andrew hurt her.”
“That may be true.”
Julian looked surprised.
“You believe her?”
“I believe we should verify everything.”
He paced toward the window.
“She says Andrew forced her to sign financial documents.”
“She says the money was hers.”
“She says he threatened her when she left.”
“Did she explain why she lied about being engaged?”
“She was ashamed.”
“And the agreement you signed?”
“She said her financial planner prepared it.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
That answer mattered.
I stood.
“Julian, abusive relationships are real.”
“If Andrew hurt her, then he should be held accountable.”
“But being harmed by one person does not explain humiliating our staff.”
Julian looked away.
“She apologized for that.”
“To them?”
“No.”
“Then she apologized for being caught.”
He frowned.
“You don’t know that.”
“You’re right.”
I picked up my coffee.
“But we can find out.”
That afternoon, I called Andrew Mercer.
He agreed to speak only after I promised not to record him secretly.
His voice was tired.
“I wondered when Chloe would find another family.”
“What happened between you?”
He laughed without humor.
“Which version did she give you?”
I told him about the photographs.
Silence.
Then he said, “Ask to see the original files.”
“Why?”
“Because the bruises are real.”
I felt my stomach turn.
“But I didn’t cause them.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“She arrived at my apartment with them.”
“Two days later, she photographed herself and told me her ex-boyfriend had attacked her.”
“Then after she left me, she told people I did it.”
“Did you report that?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you settle?”
His answer was quiet.
“Because she had recordings of my father admitting to tax fraud.”
I closed my eyes.
“Where did she get them?”
“She hid a recorder in his office.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
The irony was almost unbearable.
Before hanging up, Andrew added one thing.
“Mrs. Vance.”
“Yes?”
“Check your private rooms.”
“Why?”
“Because Chloe never enters a rich family without collecting insurance.”
That night, Elena found something taped beneath the desk in my late husband’s study.
A tiny microphone.
May you like
And it was still transmitting.
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