Chapter 4: The Woman Before Me
Chloe placed the file on the nearest table.
Ethan stared at her.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“That’s what you told me five years ago when I tried to warn your next girlfriend.”
Carol looked at her son.
“You said Chloe was obsessed with you.”
“He says that about every woman who discovers the truth,” Chloe replied.
She opened the file.
Inside were bank records, emails, loan documents, and photographs of Ethan with a younger Chloe outside a small house.
“He proposed after six months,” she said. “He told me his business needed temporary help. I added him to the title of the condo my father left me.”
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
“Three months later, he borrowed against it, emptied our joint account, and disappeared.”
“Why wasn’t he arrested?” I asked.
“Because everything had my signature. I trusted him, so I signed what he put in front of me. By the time I realized what he had done, the condo was in foreclosure.”
Arthur examined the records.
“Why come forward now?”
Chloe looked at the frozen image of Ethan kissing Lauren on the ballroom screens.
“Because Megan’s wedding announcement went viral in a local society magazine. I recognized him. Then I saw the address of the wedding venue and contacted Mr. Hale.”
Arthur nodded.
“She provided evidence of a pattern. We were still verifying it when Megan sent me tonight’s recording.”
Ethan looked toward the exits.
Security blocked both doors.
He turned back to me.
“Megan, listen to me. This can still be fixed.”
I almost laughed.
“Our wedding video shows you kissing my sister and discussing how to steal my inheritance.”
“We can say it was taken out of context.”
“Which context makes it acceptable?”
He lowered his voice.
“You don’t want this scandal attached to your name.”
There it was.
The final weapon he thought would work against me.
Shame.
He believed I would protect my reputation even if it meant protecting him.
“You were right about one thing,” I said.
His expression shifted.
“I used to hate public conflict. I spent my entire life keeping the peace because my mother taught me that Lauren’s feelings mattered more than mine.”
Diane began to cry.
I kept looking at Ethan.
“But you mistook my silence for weakness.”
He stepped closer.
“You loved me.”
“I loved the person you pretended to be.”
“We can leave tonight. Just you and me.”
Lauren gave a broken laugh.
“I’m carrying your child, and you’re still proposing an escape with her?”
Ethan turned toward her.
“I don’t even know whether that child is mine.”
“It is.”
“That’s your problem.”
My father moved toward him, but I stopped him.
Ethan wanted anger.
He wanted chaos.
He wanted someone to make a mistake big enough to distract from his crimes.
I would not give him one.
Arthur handed the investigators Chloe’s file and Lauren’s phone.
The lead investigator turned to Ethan.
“We need you to come with us.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“At this moment, you are being detained while we verify evidence connected to multiple fraudulent filings.”
Ethan looked at me one last time.
“You did this.”
“No,” I said. “You did. I just stopped hiding it.”
As security escorted him away, he twisted toward Lauren.
“Tell them the truth! It was your idea!”
Lauren stood beside our mother, one hand resting protectively over her stomach.
“I’m going to tell them everything.”
The ballroom doors closed behind Ethan.
The man I had almost married was gone.
But the damage he had exposed remained in the room.
My mother approached me again.
“Megan, I made a terrible mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting a birthday. You handed my personal information to someone trying to steal my home.”
“I thought Lauren deserved security.”
“So you took mine.”
“I never wanted you to get hurt.”
“You just decided my pain was an acceptable price.”
Diane began sobbing.
For years, her tears would have made me apologize.
Not tonight.
Lauren stepped between us.
“Mom, stop asking her to make you feel better.”
Diane stared at her favorite daughter.
Lauren’s voice shook.
“You taught me that Megan would always forgive us. You taught me that anything she had could become mine if I needed it badly enough.”
“I was trying to help you.”
“You helped me become someone I hate.”
My mother collapsed into a chair.
Lauren turned to me.
“I’ll sign a statement admitting what I did. I’ll return every document. I’ll cooperate with the investigation.”
“That won’t repair what you broke.”
“I know.”
She removed the diamond bracelet Ethan had given her and placed it on the table.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I’m done lying.”
For a moment, I believed the worst was over.
Then Arthur’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, and looked sharply at my mother.
“What is it?” I asked.
He ended the call.
“The original deed is missing from the hotel safe.”
Everyone turned toward Diane.
May you like
Her chair was empty.
And so was my grandfather’s leather folder.
