Chapter 8 - CHLOE WALKS IN
Nobody moved.
Chloe stood near the ballroom entrance wearing jeans, a cream sweater, and the expression of someone who had just realized she had walked into an execution.
Daniel stared at her.
“What are you doing here?”
She looked at me.
Then at the folder.
Her face went white.
“You invited her?”
Daniel asked me.
“No.”
Chloe stepped forward.
“I came because you stopped answering.”
Margaret looked between them.
“You’re Chloe.”
Chloe swallowed.
“Yes.”
“And that baby?”
Her eyes dropped to the carrier.
“My son.”
Daniel moved toward her.
“We’re not doing this here.”
I stepped between them.
“Yes, we are.”
He glared at me.
“This has nothing to do with you anymore.”
I laughed.
“My bank account says otherwise.”
Guests who had been leaving were now quietly returning.
Phones appeared.
Daniel noticed.
“Put those away!”
No one listened.
Chloe whispered,
“Daniel, can we talk privately?”
His voice cracked.
“Is he mine?”
The room went silent again.
Chloe’s eyes filled with panic.
“Daniel…”
“Is he my son?”
She looked at me.
I said nothing.
Daniel grabbed the DNA report.
“This says I’m not the father.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“Daniel—”
“When?”
The baby began to cry.
Chloe rocked the carrier.
“Please lower your voice.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You let me pay your rent.”
“I didn’t ask you to do everything you did.”
“You told me he was mine!”
“I said he could be.”
He stared at her.
“You knew.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“You knew.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“Who is the father?”
Chloe looked away.
Daniel’s father muttered,
“This is unbelievable.”
Then Chloe said something none of us expected.
“I found out two weeks ago.”
Daniel’s face twisted.
“Two weeks?”
She nodded.
“You knew for two weeks and said nothing?”
“I was scared.”
“Scared?”
“You were already talking about leaving Jennifer.”
Every head turned toward him.
His father’s face darkened.
“You were planning to leave your wife?”
Daniel looked trapped.
“That’s not—”
Chloe continued.
“You said after the baptism.”
I felt my mother grip my elbow.
Daniel glared at Chloe.
“Shut up.”
She flinched.
I saw it.
So did everyone else.
Then Chloe looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t answer.
She continued.
“He told me you were unstable.”
“I know.”
Her eyes widened.
“He said he had recordings.”
“I know that too.”
Daniel looked at me.
“How?”
I reached into the folder and pulled out another document.
A preservation notice my attorney had prepared.
“We’ll be requesting every recording.”
His face went blank.
“You went to a lawyer?”
“Four months ago.”
That destroyed him.
Not the affair.
Not the DNA.
Not even Chloe.
The fact that I had known.
For four months.
He stared at me.
“You knew all this time?”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked around the room.
“Because I wanted you to keep believing I was stupid.”
His father turned away, disgusted.
Margaret started crying.
Daniel’s breathing became uneven.
Then he looked at Chloe.
“Who is the father?”
She shook her head.
“Not here.”
He stepped closer.
“WHO?”
The baby screamed.
Several people moved between them.
And then a man appeared behind Chloe.
Eric.
Chloe froze.
Daniel stared at him.
“You.”
Eric looked at the DNA test in Daniel’s hand.
Then at Chloe.
“I told you this would catch up with you.”
May you like
Daniel charged toward him.
And that was when everything turned physical.
