Chapter 9 - Chloe's Bargain
Claire did not go alone.
She simply made Chloe believe she did.
The address led to a quiet parking structure downtown.
Claire wore a concealed microphone while investigators monitored from two levels below.
Chloe waited beside a black sedan.
Without the immaculate office clothes and confident posture, she looked different.
Smaller.
Tired.
Scared.
"You brought police."
Claire stopped.
"Why would you assume that?"
"Because that's what I'd do."
Claire almost smiled.
"Maybe we're more alike than either of us wants."
Chloe looked away.
"Did you bring the watch?"
"You left it."
"Keep it."
"I don't want it."
"Neither do I."
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Claire asked:
"Who forged my signature?"
Chloe opened the car door and removed a laptop.
"Victor hired a document specialist."
"Name?"
"Marcus Bell."
"Evidence?"
"Everything's here."
Claire didn't touch the computer.
"What do you want?"
"Immunity."
"I can't give you immunity."
"Then protection."
"From Victor?"
Chloe laughed bitterly.
"From everybody."
Claire studied her.
"Why did you pour the drink on me?"
Chloe looked embarrassed for the first time.
"Because I thought you were nobody."
The answer was ugly.
But honest.
"And that's supposed to help you?"
"No."
"Why treat employees that way?"
"Because people treated me that way when I started."
Claire stared at her.
"So you became them."
Chloe flinched.
"I thought power meant nobody could humiliate me again."
"And instead?"
"I became someone who humiliated everyone else."
Claire let the silence sit between them.
"Julian."
Chloe's expression changed.
"We never slept together."
"Did you want to?"
"At first."
Claire appreciated the painful honesty.
"He liked being admired. I liked being important. We flirted. He crossed lines. So did I. But the affair everyone assumes happened never happened."
"The watch?"
"I demanded it."
"Why?"
"Because I'm an idiot."
Claire almost laughed.
Chloe continued.
"I knew he'd told you it was for his mother."
Claire's expression hardened.
"So you wanted something that belonged to me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Chloe looked at the ground.
"Because I was jealous of you."
Not because of Julian alone.
Because Claire had the name, the family, the authority Chloe desperately wanted.
The watch had been a trophy.
Then Chloe handed Claire a small encrypted drive.
"Victor's private records."
"How did you get them?"
"I've spent seven years making sure powerful men couldn't destroy me."
Claire looked at the drive.
"And how many people did you destroy instead?"
Chloe had no answer.
Suddenly headlights appeared at the far end of the garage.
Chloe went pale.
"That's him."
"Who?"
"Marcus."
A car accelerated toward them.
Claire stepped backward.
Investigators moved.
The vehicle stopped abruptly when two unmarked cars blocked its exit.
A man jumped out and ran.
Officers pursued him.
Chloe collapsed against the sedan.
Claire watched the scene unfold.
The encrypted drive in her hand could clear her name.
It could also destroy half the leadership structure of Whitmore Holdings.
And perhaps her marriage.
Chloe looked at her.
"There's one file you need to see first."
"What?"
"Video."
"Of what?"
"Your father."
Claire froze.
"He recorded Victor."
"Where?"
"On that drive."
Claire tightened her grip.
"What did Victor say?"
May you like
Chloe's voice became quiet.
"He told your father exactly what would happen if he refused to cooperate."
