Chapter 11 - The Woman I Blamed
Chloe asked to see me.
My answer was immediate.
“No.”
Then Mara said:
“You may want to.”
“Why?”
“She’s testifying against Beatrice.”
“Good for her.”
“She also has something belonging to you.”
That got my attention.
We met at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Neutral room.
Two lawyers.
Mara.
No phones.
Chloe entered looking nothing like the woman at the baby shower.
No cream dress.
No perfect makeup.
Hair tied back.
Stomach now clearly showing.
She sat opposite me.
“Hi.”
I said nothing.
She swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
Her eyes lowered.
“You’re right.”
I hated that too.
Villains were easier when they resisted accountability.
“Why did you ask for me?”
Chloe opened her bag and removed a small envelope.
Mara checked it before sliding it toward me.
Inside was a silver mechanical pencil.
My father’s.
I recognized the scratch near the clip.
My entire body went cold.
“Where did you get this?”
“Beatrice.”
“What?”
“She kept a box of old things at the townhouse. She showed me when she was explaining who you were.”
I stared.
“Explaining me?”
“She knew about your father.”
Of course she did.
“She said Arthur kept something from every person who tried to hurt him.”
My stomach twisted.
“A trophy.”
Chloe nodded.
I closed my hand around the pencil.
For the first time, I wanted to hurt Beatrice.
Not expose.
Not defeat.
Hurt.
The feeling frightened me.
So I breathed.
And put the pencil down.
“What else?”
Chloe looked at me.
“I knew the baby wasn’t Julian’s.”
“I know.”
“I knew before I slept with him.”
“I know.”
“I let him believe it might be his.”
“I know.”
Her eyes filled.
“Then why aren’t you screaming?”
“Because you’re not important enough to make me lose control.”
That hit.
Good.
Maybe I was not above small cruelties yet.
Chloe nodded.
“Fair.”
She told me everything.
Beatrice paid her medical bills.
Moved her into an apartment controlled by a Vance subsidiary.
Promised $1.5 million after the baby was legally acknowledged.
Chloe’s actual father?
A former boyfriend named Evan Cole.
A graduate student.
No connection to the Vances.
He had offered to help raise the baby.
Chloe rejected him because Beatrice’s offer looked like security.
“I thought I was saving my child,” she whispered.
“You were selling his identity.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
“Why stop?”
Chloe wiped her face.
“Because the day Julian hit you, I saw what this family expected people to become.”
I stared at her.
“You told him I shouldn’t have yelled.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside him.”
“I know.”
“You smiled.”
Her voice broke.
“I know.”
I leaned back.
“Then don’t make yourself part of my healing. Testify. Tell the truth. Raise your child better than you behaved. That’s all.”
Chloe cried quietly.
I felt nothing.
Maybe someday I would.
Maybe not.
Before leaving, she said:
“There’s one thing you don’t know.”
I almost laughed.
“There’s always one thing.”
“Beatrice didn’t choose me because I was pregnant.”
I frowned.
“She approached me before she knew.”
“Why?”
Chloe looked at me.
“Because Arthur wanted Julian divorced before the next board election.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Julian had begun questioning the company.”
That made no sense.
“Julian didn’t know about the fraud.”
“Not the fraud.”
“Then what?”
Chloe hesitated.
“His father’s succession plan.”
“What succession plan?”
May you like
She looked directly at me.
“Arthur was going to replace Julian with someone else.”
