Chapter 4 - The Hand Between Them
Chloe did not answer.
Alexander waited.
The clock on his office wall ticked once.
Twice.
Three times.
“Where is the missing page?”
“I don’t know.”
“You entered this office.”
“Yes.”
“You removed this folder.”
“Yes.”
“And now a page that financially protects my daughters is missing.”
“I did not take it.”
Alexander stared at her.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“You expect me to confess to something I didn’t do?”
Hector stood near the door.
Alexander opened the folder again.
He knew the documents almost from memory.
Elena had insisted on creating them after her diagnosis.
At the time Alexander had hated every meeting.
Every attorney.
Every signature.
Every conversation about a future without her.
Elena had understood something he had refused to accept.
Life could change before a person was ready.
So she had protected the girls.
Not from Alexander.
From uncertainty.
The missing provision ensured that if Alexander remarried, a large portion of Valeria and Sofia’s inheritance remained controlled by an independent trust until adulthood.
A future wife could live comfortably.
She could share Alexander’s lifestyle.
But she could never redirect the girls’ inheritance.
Alexander looked at Chloe.
Three months until their wedding.
Three months.
“You knew about this clause.”
“No.”
“You photographed it.”
Chloe blinked.
Alexander had guessed.
Her reaction confirmed it.
Hector noticed.
Alexander almost smiled bitterly.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“That half second before you lie.”
Chloe shook her head.
“You’re being paranoid.”
“No. I was paranoid when I suspected Marisol because you told me to.”
Chloe’s face tightened.
“You really want to make her innocent in all this?”
Alexander’s voice hardened.
“She protected my children while you intimidated them.”
“I never hurt them.”
“You frightened them.”
“They need structure.”
“They have structure.”
“They have no discipline.”
“They lost their mother.”
“So did you!”
The words exploded from Chloe.
Alexander stopped.
Silence.
Chloe breathed quickly.
Then her voice softened.
“You lost Elena too, Alec. And ever since then, this entire house has been frozen around her memory.”
Alexander said nothing.
“The photographs.”
Nothing.
“The rabbit.”
His jaw tightened.
“The letters.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“Every room has some reminder that I will always be entering another woman’s family.”
Alexander looked at her carefully.
“Is that what this is?”
Chloe wiped at the corner of one eye.
“I tried.”
“You punished Sofia with something Elena gave her.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You repeatedly made the same mistake when I wasn’t home.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Not yet.”
Chloe glanced toward Hector.
Alexander caught it.
“You’re still wondering how much footage exists.”
“No.”
“You are.”
“Alec—”
“Hector, preserve every recording involving Chloe for the last year.”
Chloe’s head snapped toward him.
“A year?”
“If the system has it.”
“It doesn’t,” Hector said. “But we have approximately six months in local and cloud rotation.”
“Preserve all six.”
Chloe stared at Alexander.
“You’re treating me like a criminal.”
“I’m treating you like someone who planted evidence against an innocent woman.”
“She’s not innocent.”
“Then prove it.”
“I can.”
Alexander paused.
Chloe saw her opening.
“She has been hiding things from you.”
“Such as?”
“Ask her.”
“No. You accused her. You tell me.”
Chloe looked toward the hallway.
“She keeps records.”
Alexander frowned.
“Records of what?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Your schedule. The girls. Visitors. When you leave. When you return.”
Hector’s expression sharpened.
Alexander felt suspicion trying to return.
This time he stopped it.
“Where?”
“In her room.”
“You searched Marisol’s room?”
“She lives in my future home.”
“This is my home.”
Chloe’s face tightened.
Alexander continued.
“And you still haven’t answered why you were searching an employee’s private belongings.”
“I told you. Things disappeared.”
“Things you were planting.”
“Not everything.”
Alexander studied her.
There was confidence in that sentence.
Real confidence.
Maybe another trap.
Maybe something true.
Either way, he would verify it himself.
“Where are the records?”
“A notebook. Bottom drawer.”
Alexander looked toward Hector.
“Get Marisol.”
Several minutes later, Marisol entered.
Her expression was guarded.
Alexander held up one hand before Chloe could speak.
“Marisol, Chloe says you keep written records involving my schedule and my daughters.”
Marisol’s face changed.
Not guilt.
Alarm.
“Yes.”
Alexander had not expected that.
Chloe folded her arms triumphantly.
“There.”
Alexander ignored her.
“Why?”
Marisol glanced toward the hallway.
“Can we speak alone?”
Chloe laughed.
“Convenient.”
Alexander looked at Hector.
“Stay.”
Then at Chloe.
“You leave.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“This concerns me.”
“It concerns my children.”
“I’m your fiancée.”
“Right now, that title gives you no authority in this room.”
The color left Chloe’s face.
She left.
Hector closed the door.
Marisol remained standing.
Alexander gestured toward the chair.
She did not sit.
“All right,” Alexander said. “Tell me about the notebook.”
Marisol looked down.
“I started writing things three months ago.”
“What things?”
“Incidents.”
Alexander’s chest tightened.
“With Chloe?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
He stared at her.
“When?”
“Twice.”
“I don’t remember.”
“The first time was after your trip to New York. I asked if I could speak privately.”
Alexander remembered.
He had been walking into a conference call.
He had told her later.
Later never happened.
“The second?”
“The morning you left for Dallas.”
He remembered that too.
His driver had been waiting.
He had told Marisol to email anything important to his assistant.
“I thought it was about household management.”
“I know.”
The shame came quickly.
Marisol continued.
“After that, I began writing everything down.”
“Why not email me?”
Her expression became uncomfortable.
“Because Miss Chloe told me she had access to your personal correspondence.”
Alexander looked toward Hector.
“She doesn’t.”
Marisol nodded.
“I know that now.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That you had asked her to monitor staff complaints because you were concerned employees were trying to create conflict before the wedding.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Chloe had built separate realities for each person.
To Alexander: Marisol was suspicious.
To Marisol: Alexander distrusted the staff.
To the girls—
He opened his eyes.
“What did Chloe tell my daughters?”
Marisol hesitated.
“Everything.”
“What does that mean?”
Marisol finally sat.
“She told them you were tired.”
Alexander frowned.
“Tired of what?”
“Them.”
The word felt physical.
He gripped the edge of the desk.
Marisol’s eyes filled with tears.
“She told Valeria that you traveled because being home reminded you of their mother.”
Alexander turned away.
“And Sofia?”
“She told Sofia that if she behaved badly enough, you might decide to send her away to boarding school.”
Alexander’s face drained.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
He began walking toward the door.
Hector stepped slightly into his path.
“Sir.”
Alexander stopped.
His breathing had changed.
“I need to see them.”
Marisol stood.
“Yes.”
They went upstairs.
Alexander crossed the hall toward the girls’ shared sitting room.
He heard whispers inside.
He opened the door gently.
Valeria and Sofia sat together on the window seat.
Sofia held nothing.
Her rabbit was still downstairs.
Both girls stared at him.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Sofia jumped down.
“Daddy?”
Alexander crouched.
She ran into his arms.
He held her.
Hard.
Not hard enough to hurt.
Hard enough to reassure himself she was there.
Valeria remained near the window.
Alexander looked over Sofia’s shoulder.
“Val?”
She looked uncertain.
“You missed your plane?”
“There was no plane.”
Confusion crossed her face.
Alexander released Sofia slowly.
“I need to tell you both something.”
Valeria’s eyes immediately became guarded.
Alexander saw it.
He hated it.
“I pretended to leave.”
Sofia blinked.
“Why?”
“Because I thought something might be happening here when I was gone.”
Valeria’s face changed.
Marisol stood quietly near the doorway.
Alexander looked at his eldest daughter.
“Valeria.”
She stared at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Chloe?”
Valeria’s eyes filled.
She looked at Sofia.
Then Marisol.
Then back at her father.
“You said you loved her.”
Alexander swallowed.
“I do love you.”
“No. Chloe.”
The room became painfully quiet.
Valeria’s voice trembled.
“You said she was going to be our family.”
Alexander moved closer.
Valeria stepped backward.
Not much.
Half a step.
It destroyed him.
“Sweetheart.”
“She said if we made trouble, you’d think we were trying to ruin your wedding.”
Alexander felt his throat close.
Sofia whispered, “She said you might leave more.”
Alexander looked at her.
“What?”
“If we made you sad.”
Marisol lowered her eyes.
Alexander sat on the edge of the window seat.
All his wealth.
All his power.
All the people who answered his calls within seconds.
And his daughters had been frightened to speak to him inside their own home.
Because he had made himself too busy to notice.
Valeria wiped her cheek angrily.
“I tried to be good.”
Alexander stood and crossed the small distance between them.
She did not move away this time.
“You were good.”
Her chin trembled.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But you believed her.”
The words cut deeper than anything Chloe had said.
Alexander nodded.
“For a little while, yes.”
Valeria looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
Alexander’s eyes burned.
“No.”
He knelt.
“No, Valeria. You never apologize for an adult failing to protect you.”
She looked at him.
“I should have listened before anyone had to be afraid.”
Valeria started crying.
Quietly.
Alexander opened his arms.
She stepped into them.
Sofia joined them seconds later.
Alexander held both girls as they cried.
Behind them, Marisol turned away to give them privacy.
Then Sofia lifted her face.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Can we get Bunny?”
Alexander smiled through tears.
“We’re getting Bunny.”
They walked downstairs together.
Alexander removed the stuffed rabbit from the high shelf himself.
He handed it to Sofia.
She hugged it against her chest.
Then she looked toward the hallway.
“Is Chloe mad?”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“You don’t need to worry about Chloe.”
“Is she staying?”
Alexander did not answer immediately.
He looked at Valeria.
She was watching him carefully.
Waiting to see whether his promises meant anything.
“No,” Alexander said.
“No, she isn’t.”
A sound came from the front of the mansion.
A door.
Hector immediately checked his phone.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“The west gate.”
Alexander frowned.
“I locked the gates.”
“You did.”
“Then?”
Hector looked toward the front hall.
“Someone just used Chloe’s private access code.”
Alexander turned.
Footsteps approached outside.
More than one person.
A vehicle door closed.
Then another.
Hector’s hand moved toward his radio.
Alexander stepped in front of the girls.
Marisol moved beside them.
The front bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then Alexander’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
If Chloe is still inside your house, do not let her leave with any documents. You have no idea what she has been planning.
Alexander stared at the screen.
A second message arrived.
And whatever you do, do not tell her I warned you.
Alexander slowly lifted his eyes toward the staircase.
Somewhere upstairs, Chloe was still inside his home.
May you like
And suddenly, sending her away no longer seemed like the end of the problem.
It looked like the beginning.
