Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AFFAIR
I did not want to sympathize with Chloe.
That would have been easier if she had remained exactly the woman from my porch.
Smug.
Cruel.
Certain that my infertility made her more deserving of my home.
But when she arrived at Nathan's office that afternoon, she looked nothing like that woman.
She looked twenty-eight, pregnant, frightened, and furious.
Martin came with her.
He sat at one end of the conference table and said almost nothing.
Chloe placed her phone in front of Nathan.
"I brought everything."
"Everything means what?" Nathan asked.
"Texts, photos, voice notes, emails, the documents Ethan sent me, and the messages where he talked about Claire."
She looked at me.
"I know you probably hate me."
I kept my voice even.
"You stood in my doorway wearing my robe and told me my house needed a woman who could raise a family in it."
Her face flushed.
"I know."
"So yes, Chloe, I am not feeling generous."
She nodded.
"You shouldn't."
That answer disarmed me more than an excuse would have.
Nathan connected her phone to an evidence capture system.
"Start at the beginning."
Chloe folded her hands over her stomach.
"I met Ethan fourteen months ago at a logistics conference in Austin."
Fourteen months.
Long before three months of pregnancy.
Long before he had supposedly chosen a "different path."
She continued.
"He said he was separated."
"Did he wear his wedding ring?"
"Yes."
I looked at her.
She did not look away.
"He said you both still wore your rings publicly because of business relationships."
It was an absurd explanation.
It was also exactly the kind of explanation Ethan could make sound reasonable when someone wanted to believe him.
"When did you sleep with him?" Elena asked.
Chloe swallowed.
"About ten months ago."
I stared at the table.
Ten months ago, Ethan and I had spent a weekend in Santa Fe for our anniversary.
He had bought me a silver bracelet.
He had told me he wanted us to start looking into fertility specialists again.
Four days later, apparently, he had returned to Chloe.
My hands went cold.
Elena noticed.
She moved the water toward me without comment.
Chloe kept talking.
"He said the divorce was complicated because you controlled certain company resources."
"Did he say I was president?"
"No."
"What did he say I did?"
She looked embarrassed.
"Corporate administration."
Daniel, sitting near the wall, closed his eyes.
I almost smiled despite myself.
Chloe continued.
"He said he was the one with the important relationships."
"Of course he did."
"He said Sterling Crest depended on him for logistics expansion."
Martin finally spoke.
"That is what he told me too."
Nathan held up a hand.
"Let Chloe finish."
She nodded.
"About six months ago, Ethan started talking about North Harbor."
"What did he tell you?"
"At first, that it was a side consulting business."
"Then?"
"Then he said it was a way to move money away from people who would try to take it in the divorce."
"Did he say whose money?"
"His."
"Did he say where it came from?"
Chloe hesitated.
"He said consulting fees."
Nathan slid a printed invoice across the table.
"Did you ever see this format?"
She looked at it.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"On his laptop."
"When?"
"Several times."
"Did you see him create invoices?"
"Once."
Nathan's expression sharpened.
"Which one?"
Chloe studied the page.
"Not this one."
He placed three more in front of her.
She touched the third.
"This."
The invoice was for $44,700 in international supplier analysis.
It was one of the payments under review.
"What did you see?"
"He changed the date."
Nathan sat back.
"From what to what?"
"I don't remember exactly."
"Do not guess."
"I won't."
She took a breath.
"I asked why he was editing an old invoice."
"What did he say?"
"He said accounting had asked for a correction."
Martin cursed quietly.
Chloe looked at him.
"Dad, I didn't know."
"I know."
But his face showed how much that knowledge hurt.
Nathan opened her message archive.
A search for NORTH HARBOR produced ninety-three results.
We began reading.
One message from Ethan, nine months earlier, said he was "building a runway."
Another said that once he was free of me, he would have "real capital that Claire can never trace."
Another referred to Gordon as "the old man who signs anything if you make him feel important."
I stared at that line.
"He was using Gordon too."
Nathan did not answer.
He kept scrolling.
Then he stopped.
A message from six weeks earlier appeared on the screen.
ETHAN: Your dad needs proof I can get Sterling approval?
CHLOE: He needs something official before he commits staff.
ETHAN: I'll handle Claire's signature.
CHLOE: You can get her to sign it?
ETHAN: I don't need her to.
No one spoke.
Chloe covered her mouth.
"I didn't understand what that meant."
Nathan looked at her.
"What did you think it meant?"
"I thought he meant someone else could sign for the company."
"Did he ever tell you he was forging Claire's name?"
"No."
"Did you ever ask him to?"
"No."
Martin leaned forward.
"Can that message establish fraud?"
Nathan remained cautious.
"It establishes a reason to investigate."
He looked at Chloe.
"And it establishes that you asked a question and he gave an answer."
Her eyes filled with tears.
She blinked them back.
I did not comfort her.
But I no longer wanted to punish her simply for existing.
Then Daniel entered the room carrying a padded evidence bag.
"The Vale warehouse returned the items."
My heart jumped.
"My father's letters?"
"All there."
Relief hit so hard I had to grip the table.
"And the remaining archival case?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Still missing."
Nathan looked at Chloe.
"Do you know where Ethan is staying?"
She hesitated.
"He moved to a hotel after Sterling Crest told him he could not remain at River Oaks without Claire's consent."
"Which hotel?"
She named it.
Nathan made a note.
Then Chloe picked up her phone.
"There is something else."
She opened a voice message from Ethan sent that morning.
His voice filled the room.
"Don't talk to Claire."
A pause.
"Your father is panicking because he doesn't understand how corporate politics work."
Another pause.
"I can fix this, but I need the archive case for leverage."
My skin went cold.
The recording continued.
"Claire will fold when she realizes what I can prove about her father."
The message ended.
I looked at Nathan.
"What could he prove about my father?"
Nathan's expression was unreadable.
"I don't know."
Martin looked between us.
"Was your father involved in something?"
"Not that I know of."
But a memory surfaced.
Years earlier, my father had once told me that every old company had ugly pages in its history.
He had never explained what he meant.
At the time, I thought he was talking about failed deals.
Now Ethan had an archive case and believed it contained leverage.
Nathan stood.
"We find that case before he decides to publish whatever is inside it."
My phone buzzed.
A news alert appeared.
STERLING CREST PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF USING CORPORATE POWER IN BITTER DIVORCE.
Margaret's story had reached a local business blog.
And beneath the headline was a photograph of me leaving the River Oaks house with security.
The war had officially left the family.
May you like
Now it was coming for the company.
