Chapter 4 - CHLOE’S SECOND SECRET
Chloe agreed to meet Jessi without Luca or Frank present.
Maya insisted the meeting take place in her office, with no promises of confidentiality beyond ordinary attorney-client boundaries and no attempt to pressure Chloe into a confession.
Chloe arrived wearing the silver bracelet.
Jessi noticed immediately.
“You can take that off.”
Chloe looked down.
“I know.”
She removed it and placed it on the table.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Jessi asked the question she cared about most.
“How long?”
Chloe began crying.
“Since February.”
Nine months.
The answer hurt in a way Jessi had not prepared for. The motel incident was not a one-time mistake or a confusing encounter. Luca and Chloe had been sleeping together for most of the year.
“Did you love him?”
Chloe hesitated.
“I thought I did.”
Jessi looked away.
She had imagined that hearing regret might help.
It did not.
Maya shifted the conversation to Commonwealth.
Chloe admitted preparing the initial referral package, accessing Jessi’s property records and sending Luca draft documents. She insisted Luca told her Jessi had already agreed to the refinance and wanted everything ready before announcing it publicly.
“Then why did you write that she was hesitant?” Maya asked.
Chloe lowered her eyes.
“Because he said she changed her mind sometimes.”
Jessi almost laughed.
“He told you I was unstable?”
“Not unstable.”
“What word?”
“Controlling.”
That was the second betrayal inside the first. Luca had spent months describing Jessi’s refusal to risk her inheritance as an unreasonable need for control.
Chloe believed him because Luca also described their marriage as effectively over.
He told her Jessi was staying only until the house transaction completed.
Jessi felt sick.
“And you still slept with him.”
Chloe nodded.
“Yes.”
Maya did not let the emotional exchange consume the meeting. She asked when Chloe learned Luca’s version was false.
Chloe said she became suspicious after seeing the ownership-transfer document. She asked why Luca needed a forged-looking authorization if Jessi had already agreed.
Luca told her the bank required preliminary signatures.
Chloe checked the title system herself.
There was no legitimate signed authorization from Jessi.
She confronted Luca.
He threatened to tell Frank about their affair and claim Chloe had independently created the fraudulent file.
That explained part of her panic in Room 607.
It did not absolve her earlier choices.
Jessi asked why Chloe did not come to her.
“I was ashamed.”
“Before or after you helped him take my house?”
Chloe began crying again.
Jessi did not comfort her.
Then Chloe revealed something unexpected.
She had not arranged the motel meeting.
Luca did.
He texted her that morning saying they needed to talk privately because Jessi was beginning to suspect the financial paperwork.
When Chloe arrived, Luca told her he was going to leave Jessi.
He asked Chloe to wait in the room while he made a call.
Then he put his gray jacket on the chair near the door.
Chloe remembered him saying one strange sentence.
“Whatever happens today, don’t let Jessi sign anything Frank brings her.”
Jessi looked at Maya.
“Frank?”
Chloe nodded.
“My dad.”
May you like
The affair and the mortgage scheme were no longer contained between husband and lover.
Frank had been involved before anyone opened Room 607.
