Chapter 15 - WHAT CHLOE FINALLY TOLD LINDA
Two years later, Linda asked Chloe one question she had avoided.
“Did you love him?”
They were alone.
Chloe answered:
“Yes.”
Linda expected hesitation.
There was none.
“Do you still?”
“No.”
“How?”
Chloe smiled sadly.
“I think I loved the version where he chose me.”
Linda understood.
That had been the addiction.
Not Adam himself.
Winning.
Being selected over Emma.
Chloe had spent her childhood believing Emma was the stable one.
The respected one.
The one who did not need rescuing because she rarely created disasters.
Adam’s interest gave Chloe something toxic and irresistible.
Proof she could take something Emma had.
That realization shamed her more than sex ever did.
“Did you hate your sister?” Linda asked.
“Sometimes.”
Linda flinched.
Chloe continued.
“But mostly I hated myself around her.”
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t need the excuses I needed.”
Linda looked down.
“That sounds like jealousy.”
“It was.”
There was no elegant ending to that truth.
Some betrayals begin because somebody wants what another person has.
Not because the thing is magical.
Because taking it feels like becoming equal.
Chloe had learned the cost.
May you like
Years later than she should have.
But she learned.
