CHAPTER 3 The Woman Who Knew My Secret
By noon, the story had changed.
Chloe wasn't pregnant.
At least, that was what Ethan claimed.
But I wasn't interested in whether she was pregnant.
I was interested in why she had spent months investigating my company.
Nathan ordered a full background investigation.
Within two hours, we had a preliminary report.
Chloe Harper.
Age thirty-one.
Originally from San Antonio.
Moved to Houston four years earlier.
No significant criminal history.
No obvious connection to Sterling Crest.
No immediate family members working for the company.
No public record connecting her to Ethan before eighteen months ago.
It looked clean.
Too clean.
Nathan stared at the report.
“This isn't a background check.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“It's a constructed identity.”
Daniel looked up.
“Meaning?”
“Someone has cleaned her records.”
My skin prickled.
“Can you prove it?”
“Not yet.”
He flipped another page.
“Look at the addresses.”
I did.
Apartment.
Luxury apartment.
Short-term rental.
Another apartment.
Then a condominium.
All paid in cash.
“Who paid?”
Nathan tapped the document.
“That's what we're trying to find.”
Daniel entered another command.
“Got it.”
He turned the laptop around.
A company appeared.
Harper Strategic Consulting LLC.
I stared.
“That company belongs to her?”
“No.”
Daniel zoomed in.
“It's registered to a man named Marcus Vane.”
Nathan's face changed.
“Marcus Vane.”
“You know him?”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“He was a corporate restructuring consultant.”
“Was?”
“He disappeared from the legitimate business world five years ago.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He specializes in distressed companies.”
I didn't understand.
Nathan explained.
“When a company is struggling, someone hires him to buy its debt, restructure it, strip assets, and sell the pieces.”
I looked at the screen.
“Why would he care about Sterling Crest?”
Nathan stared at me.
“Because Sterling Crest isn't struggling.”
I nodded.
“Exactly.”
He looked at the bank transfers.
“Unless someone intends to make it look like it is.”
The room went silent.
Daniel whispered,
“Ethan.”
Nathan nodded.
“Ethan has been moving money out.”
“Creating losses.”
“Yes.”
“Then reporting them as operational expenses.”
Nathan looked at me.
“Exactly.”
My stomach tightened.
The affair.
The pregnancy lie.
The changed locks.
The $2,500.
Maybe none of it had been about Chloe.
Maybe the marriage itself had become a weapon.
I stood.
“I want Ethan brought here.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because if he knows what we know, he'll destroy evidence.”
I stared at him.
“Then what do we do?”
“We let him think you're still emotionally devastated.”
Daniel smiled.
“He's already convinced of that.”
I looked at him.
“Then let's keep him convinced.”
At 3:15 p.m., Ethan arrived at my office.
He looked terrible.
His shirt was wrinkled.
His hair was disheveled.
The confidence was gone.
He entered my private conference room and stopped when he saw Nathan.
Then Daniel.
Then three attorneys.
His face went pale.
“What's happening?”
I looked at him.
“Sit.”
He sat.
Nathan placed a folder in front of him.
“Mr. Bennett, this is a preliminary notice concerning suspected misappropriation of Sterling Crest funds.”
Ethan looked at me.
“You're doing this?”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“The documents are doing it.”
He opened the folder.
His hands started shaking.
“Claire…”
“Don't.”
He swallowed.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
He stared at the papers.
“The money wasn't for me.”
“Where did it go?”
He didn't answer.
Nathan asked again.
“Where did the money go?”
Ethan looked toward the door.
Then whispered,
“Chloe.”
I felt nothing.
“Why?”
“She said she needed it.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
“You gave her $1.4 million and you don't know why?”
“I trusted her.”
I almost laughed.
“You didn't trust your wife.”
He looked at me.
“I didn't know.”
“That's your excuse?”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“I was stupid.”
“You were.”
He looked down.
“I thought she loved me.”
I stared at him.
“And what did you think I did?”
He didn't answer.
I stood.
“You didn't just cheat on me.”
He looked up.
“You used me.”
“Claire—”
“You used my company.”
His face went white.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
I smiled coldly.
“Because everything you touched belonged to me.”
He stared at me.
For the first time in seven years, Ethan finally looked at me without seeing the woman he thought he had married.
He saw the woman behind the company.
The woman who had been signing the documents.
The woman who had approved his opportunities.
The woman whose name was on the property deed.
His voice became barely audible.
“You own Sterling Crest.”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you were a corporate strategy director.”
“I was.”
“You never said—”
“You never asked.”
He covered his face.
I watched him silently.
Then Nathan pushed another document across the table.
“There's something else.”
Ethan looked at it.
His face drained of color.
It was a transfer agreement.
Ethan had signed a document authorizing a third party to acquire a controlling interest in one of Sterling Crest's subsidiaries.
His signature was there.
My eyes narrowed.
“I never approved this.”
Ethan looked at Nathan.
“I didn't understand what it was.”
“You signed it.”
“Chloe told me it was an investment document.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“It transferred voting rights.”
Ethan stared.
“To whom?”
Nathan turned the document around.
The name appeared.
VANE CAPITAL PARTNERS.
Ethan stopped breathing.
I looked at Nathan.
“Marcus Vane.”
He nodded.
Ethan whispered,
“Chloe said he was her uncle.”
I stared at him.
“She told you that?”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed the folder.
“She lied.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Who is Marcus Vane?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan answered.
“The man trying to take your wife's company.”
Ethan's eyes widened.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
The name was Chloe.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Nobody spoke.
Then Chloe's voice came through.
“Did you tell Claire?”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“You weren't supposed to tell her.”
I stood.
Ethan put the phone on speaker.
Chloe continued.
“You were supposed to get the deed first.”
My blood turned cold.
Ethan whispered,
“What are you talking about?”
“The house.”
She laughed softly.
“Did you really think I wanted the house?”
Nobody moved.
Chloe continued.
“I wanted Claire angry.”
“Why?”
“Because angry people make mistakes.”
I looked at Nathan.
He was already recording.
Chloe's voice became colder.
“Now she's going to fight.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then Chloe said:
“You really don't remember me?”
Ethan's face changed.
“What?”
“You should.”
“Who are you?”
Her voice dropped.
“Ask your mother.”
The call ended.
Silence.
I looked at Ethan.
“What does your mother know?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
For the first time, I believed him.
But that made everything worse.
Because if Ethan genuinely didn't know who Chloe was…
May you like
Then someone had planned this long before he met her.
And the person with the answers was Margaret.
