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Chapter 329: Ask Him About Miami
Ethan sat on the edge of the hotel bed in Frankfurt with the curtains open and the gray morning light coming in over the river, and he told his wife the story he had never told anyone."It was five years ago," he said. "Before I met you. Back when I still had the system."On the other end of the line, Chloe said nothing, but he heard her settle into a chair, and he knew she was listening."You remember how it worked. It would give me tasks, and when I finished them, it paid me. Some of them were small. Some of them were huge. That spring it gave me one that came with a ten million dollar reward, which was more than it had ever offered me." He rubbed his eyes. "The task said: Expose Kessler Capital before it collapses. Protect the investors.""Kessler," Chloe repeated."Lucas Kessler ran a hedge fund out of Miami. On paper, it was the best-performing fund in Florida. In reality, it was a Ponzi scheme, and almost all the money in it came from retirees. Teachers, nurses, firefighters. Th
Chapter 328: Benson
The fire trucks were still pouring water on what was left of St. Mary's when Vance drove Chloe and Natalia back through the gates of the Caldwell estate at a quarter past one in the morning.Natalia hadn't stopped shaking since the chapel. She sat in the back seat wrapped in Vance's coat, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes fixed on nothing, whispering her son's name every few minutes as though saying it might bring him back. Chloe sat beside her and held her hand the whole way, and neither of them said much, because there was nothing either of them could say that would make it better.The lights were still on in the study.Chloe walked straight through the front door, past the startled housekeeper, and down the hallway without taking off her coat. It still smelled of smoke. Her hair smelled of smoke. When she pushed the study door open, her grandfather looked up from his chair by the fire, and the relief that flooded his face would have been touching if she hadn't know
Chapter 327
Chloe turned around, and for the first time she saw the man who had nearly destroyed her family.He was standing by the chapel door with the key still dangling from his fingers, and he looked nothing like a monster. He was somewhere in his mid-thirties, tall and easy in his body, with sandy hair that fell over his forehead and a face so open and handsome that a stranger would have trusted him with their car keys. He wore a camel overcoat over a navy sweater, and when he smiled at her, the corners of his eyes crinkled warmly.The gun in his other hand ruined the effect."Adrian," Chloe said. Her voice came out smaller than she wanted."Just Adrian," he agreed pleasantly, walking down the aisle toward her. "Surnames are such a commitment. Please, sit. You've had a long week.""Let her go." Chloe stepped in front of Natalia, putting herself between the gun and the bound woman. "Whatever you want, you don't need her.""Oh, I need everyone, Chloe. That's the secret to my whole career." He
Chapter 326
Chloe looked at the envelope for a long time without touching it.Her grandfather waited across the table, his hands folded on the white cloth, the way he used to wait when she was a little girl trying to decide whether to confess to breaking something. Through the tall windows behind him, the October sun lay across the frosted lawn, and somewhere upstairs a nanny was humming to Alexander."I'm not signing anything today," Chloe said finally."I didn't expect you to." Henry Caldwell nodded, as if she'd passed a test. "The offer stands until the board vote. Take the papers. Read them when you're ready."She picked up the envelope and held it against her chest, and she hated how light it felt for something that could end her marriage.---In Frankfurt, Ethan saw the photograph at six in the morning, when Marcus sent it to him and a single word: Fuck.He called Chloe fourteen times. On the fifteenth, she picked up, but she didn't say anything. He could hear her breathing, and he could he
Chapter 325
Chloe didn't ask her grandfather about the phone call until Alexander was asleep in her old nursery, tucked into the same white crib her mother had once slept in.She found Henry Caldwell in his study, sitting in the leather wingback chair by the fire with a glass of brandy on the table beside him. The room smelled of old books and wood smoke, exactly the way it had when she was eight years old and came here after the funeral, too numb to cry. He looked up when she came in and gestured to the chair across from him."Sit, sweetheart. You look dead on your feet.""Why were you talking to Victoria?"He took a sip of brandy before he answered. "Because she called me. She's been calling me for three days.""About what?""About my shares." He set the glass down. "When Cross Financial absorbed Caldwell Trust after your wedding, I kept six percent of the combined company. With Alexander's stake frozen, those six percent decide the board vote next week. Victoria wants them. She's offered to ma
Chapter 324
"I know her," Ethan said again, and Chloe felt the words land somewhere under her ribs and stay there.She pressed her free hand flat against the cool leather of the seat, because she needed to hold onto something solid. Outside the cabin window, there was nothing but black sky and the blinking light on the end of the wing."Did you sleep with her?" she asked."No.""Did you pay her two hundred thousand dollars?"The pause was shorter this time, but it was there. "Yes."Chloe closed her eyes. "Is that little boy yours, Ethan?""No," he said, and his voice was firm and clear and absolutely certain. "Chloe, I swear to you on Alexander's life, Noah is not my son."She wanted to believe him so badly that it hurt. She could hear the truth in his voice, or at least she thought she could, but she'd thought she could hear the truth last night too, when he'd paused for half a second before saying Seraphina's name."Then tell me why," she said. "Why would you pay a woman in Miami two hundred th
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