Chapter 11 - Chloe’s Real Timeline
Chloe cried before answering.
The affair had not begun during her divorce.
It had begun eighteen months earlier.
While Chloe was still married.
While Jennifer was trying to become pregnant.
Daniel had contacted Chloe after a college reunion.
Coffee became lunch.
Lunch became secret hotel rooms.
Chloe stopped pretending there was an innocent version.
“I wanted to believe he still loved me.”
Jennifer looked at her across Rachel’s conference table.
“You helped him lie to me.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me announce my pregnancy online.”
Chloe lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And you continued.”
“Yes.”
Jennifer’s throat tightened.
For a moment, the room disappeared.
She remembered every prenatal appointment Daniel had missed.
Every night he had supposedly worked late.
Every time he kissed her forehead and told her he was exhausted.
Chloe whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
Jennifer stood.
“I don’t need your apology.”
She walked to the window.
“What I need is the truth.”
Chloe told the rest.
Daniel had promised to leave Jennifer after Lily was born.
He claimed Jennifer was financially dependent on him.
He claimed he could manage the divorce.
Then Chloe became pregnant too.
That changed everything.
Daniel told Chloe they needed to hide Evan’s paternity until he reorganized certain accounts.
“He kept saying exposure would trigger audits.”
Rachel looked sharply at her.
“What audits?”
“I don’t know.”
Chloe remembered one argument.
Daniel had shouted that if Robert ever discovered how much money had moved through Westbridge, “everybody would go down.”
Everybody.
That word mattered.
Not Daniel alone.
Not Patricia alone.
Possibly Robert too.
Jennifer returned home that night feeling more isolated than ever.
Her phone rang after midnight.
Daniel.
She declined.
He called again.
Then again.
Finally, Jennifer answered.
“What?”
His voice was strange.
Not angry.
Afraid.
“Is Lily with you?”
Jennifer sat up.
“Of course.”
“Lock the doors.”
Her pulse jumped.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
“Daniel, what happened?”
She heard traffic.
A car horn.
Then his breathing.
“Someone broke into the Westbridge condo.”
Jennifer stood.
“What was there?”
“Records.”
“What records?”
Daniel hesitated.
Jennifer’s voice sharpened.
“What records?”
“Original ledgers.”
Her skin went cold.
“About what?”
Daniel said nothing.
Jennifer understood.
“Money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“More than anyone knows.”
Then Daniel said something she never expected.
“I didn’t break into the condo.”
Jennifer frowned.
“I didn’t say you did.”
“I know.”
His voice dropped.
“But whoever did knows about you.”
Jennifer’s grip tightened.
May you like
“How?”
“Because the only thing they took besides the ledgers was a folder with your name on it.”
