Chapter 3 - The Mistress Who Stayed
The front door closed behind Luca.
Chloe remained beside the dining table.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered, “He lied to me.”
I looked at the champagne dress, the gold jewelry, the expensive handbag sitting beside my chair.
“Yes.”
She flinched.
Perhaps she expected sympathy.
I didn’t have any yet.
“You knew he was married.”
Her eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
“You came into my home planning to replace me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me there was nothing left for me here.”
Her cheeks reddened.
“Yes.”
“Then don’t confuse discovering that Luca lied to you with innocence.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she nodded.
“I know.”
That answer surprised me.
She reached for her handbag.
“I should go.”
Evelyn spoke.
“Not yet.”
Chloe looked at her.
“If Luca used your identity in corporate transactions, leaving before we understand what happened may not be wise.”
“I didn’t sign anything.”
“Are you sure?”
Chloe went pale.
That was how we discovered the second secret.
Eight months earlier, Luca had asked Chloe to sign what he described as paperwork for a luxury-brand consulting business he wanted to create for her.
She had signed.
She had never read it.
By midnight, Evelyn had copies.
Chloe Ruiz wasn’t merely Luca’s mistress.
On paper, she was the managing member of CR Lifestyle Holdings.
And CR Lifestyle had received $640,000 from Vance Capital.
Chloe stared at the transfer records.
“I never got this money.”
“Then somebody did,” I said.
Her hands began trembling.
That night, the woman who had entered my house believing she was taking my life became the first witness who might help me save everything I had built.
But before dawn, Chloe remembered something else.
A storage unit.
A key.
May you like
And a warning Luca had once given her never to ask what was inside.
By sunrise, I knew exactly where we were going next.
