Chloe’s Version of Love
Chapter 08 - Chloe’s Version of Love
Chloe began to cry.
“Ryan told me the company was failing,” Chloe said. “He said you refused to face reality.”
Ryan turned toward her.
“Stop talking.”
Chloe pulled her hand away from him.
“He said the sale would protect the workforce.”
Victoria looked at the diamond on Chloe’s finger.
“And the Zurich account?”
Chloe’s face emptied.
Ryan stood again.
The flight attendant stepped forward.
“Please remain seated, sir.”
Ryan obeyed, but rage tightened every line of his face.
Chloe looked at Victoria.
“He said you were divorcing him after the sale.”
“I had no idea there was a sale.”
“I know that now.”
Victoria studied her.
“What did he promise you?” Victoria asked.
Chloe looked at the ring.
“Marriage. A partnership in the consulting company. A house in Switzerland.”
Ryan laughed without humor.
“You think confession will save you?”
Chloe faced him.
“You said she would never board this flight.”
That sentence landed like another piece of evidence.
Victoria’s phone continued recording the call with Martin’s consent. Every voice in the cabin was preserved.
Chloe removed the diamond ring.
Her hand trembled as she placed it on the walnut table between them.
“I knew it belonged to her mother,” she whispered.
Victoria looked at the ring.
“Then start telling the truth from the beginning.”
Chloe described hotel meetings disguised as legal conferences, private calls made from prepaid phones, and a dinner in Zurich where Ryan promised the buyer Victoria would be removed before the quarter closed. She admitted she had reviewed the false medical packet and had chosen not to ask where the physician’s notes came from.
Ryan interrupted twice.
May you like
Each time, Victoria raised one hand and Chloe kept speaking.
The younger woman’s confession did not make her innocent. It made the conspiracy visible. Victoria listened without shouting because rage would give Ryan a distraction, and she refused to let emotion become the only thing anyone remembered from the flight.
