Chapter 4
I was folding the last of my clothes into the suitcase when the door slammed open.
“What do you think you’re doing?” my father barked from the doorway.
I looked up slowly, calmly. “I’m going on a short trip. Just a few days by myself.”
His eyes narrowed, like he was waiting for me to flinch. “Did I say you could go anywhere? Have you forgotten you’re supposed to prepare for my birthday tomorrow?”
“I already did,” I said, quietly. “The venue is booked. The catering confirmed. I made sure everything was taken care of.”
“Oh, really?” he sneered. “Then why did the venue call just now threatening to cancel because someone failed to confirm the guest list?”
My lips parted, confused. I was certain everything was handled. But before I could speak, he cut me off.
“Useless,” he muttered. “Just like always.”
I stiffened.
Behind him, Alynna appeared with that sweet, soft voice of hers.
“Dad, please don’t get mad at her. She probably just forgot. It happens.” She turned to me with a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. You’ve done enough already.”
I looked at her. And in that moment, I knew.
She had sabotaged it. Again.
It had always been like this.
I remembered being ten when Alynna shattered one of our mother’s favorite porcelain vases. She looked me dead in the eyes, lip trembling, and cried, “Chloe pushed me!” Even as I stood there, frozen, hands tucked behind my back, our father stormed in and didn’t even ask. He grabbed me by the arm, yelling about how I was reckless, ungrateful-that I didn’t deserve anything in the house I broke.
A few years later, it was the entrance exam forms. I’d spent the night carefully filling them out for both of us. The next morning, hers were torn, mine untouched. She cried again-“Chloe must’ve switched them! She probably wanted to be the only one to pass!”
And again, he believed her.
He always did. Every broken thing. Every mistake. Every missed appointment or misunderstood chore-it was Chloe’s fault. Alynna was the golden one, even when she was cruel. She had the smiles, the charm, the lies dressed in silk. I was the stain on the family name.
And every time I tried to speak? I was silenced. Dismissed. So I stopped speaking. What was the point?
They left me in my room, like they always did, with nothing but my thoughts and my bag.
Just one more day, I reminded myself. Just tomorrow… and I’ll be gone.
The next morning was filled with noise. Decorations. Staff. Laughter.
Of course, Alynna was the star of the show. Everyone praised her for “fixing” the problem with
4:24 pm
the venue. No one even looked my way. My father, dressed in his finest, gave me a glance o disdain.
“For your punishment,” he said loudly, “you’ll be serving drinks tonight. Stay away from our table I don’t want you embarrassing me.”
Then Clinton chimed in, already buttoning his cufflinks. “And give your necklace to Alynna. I matches her dress better.”
My fingers instinctively clutched the pendant at my throat-delicate, gold-plated, and worn from years of holding it close. My mother’s. The last thing she ever gave me before she died. My breath caught.
“No,” I said quietly, then louder, firmer. “No. This necklace is mine. It was my mother’s. It’s th only thing I have left of her.”
Alynna stepped forward, already in full performance mode. “It’s okay, Chloe,” she said in tha sweet voice that always made people fall for her lies. “I didn’t know it was that important to you.
I just thought… maybe I could wear it just for tonight. It would mean a lot—”
‘It means everything to me,” I cut in. “You already took everything else.”
Clinton’s jaw tightened. “Don’t be dramatic.”
‘I’m not being dramatic, I’m asking you to respect this. Just this one thing.”
Clinton strode over to me in two quick steps. “Fine. If you won’t hand it over…” He reached out his hand curling around the chain. “Then I’ll take it.”
“Clinton, don’t-!”
He yanked.
The clasp snapped against the back of my neck, a sharp.sting biting into my skin. I flinched, but I didn’t cry out. Not this time.
He tossed it to Alynna like it meant nothing.
“It looks better on her anyway,” he said flatly.
They all walked out without me. I was truly done.
Later that evening, when the last car rolled down the driveway and the estate went quiet, I stood up from the bench outside the gate and walked to the back garage. My suitcase was already packed. The limousine I’d arranged with Nathan was waiting.
I handed my old house key to the mailman at the gate, along with a sealed envelope.
Inside it: the divorce papers, the wedding ring, and a thick folder of evidence-proof of every lie Alynna had told, every mistake she blamed on me, and every time I took the fall.
As I slid into the back seat of the limousine, my phone buzzed.
It was Clinton.
“Where the hell are you? The party started. My grandfather’s asking where you are. Don’t you dare ruin this for me. Get here now and be a good wife.”
I stared at the screen for a second. Then, with a steady hand, I typed:
“I’m no longer your wife. So enjoy the party. I already sent you my goodbye gift, my dear ex-husband.”
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4:24 pm
D
Chapter 5
“Where is Chloe?” Carlos, Clinton’s grandfather, demanded, his voice carrying just enough steel to hush the nearby guests. “Why hasn’t she arrived yet? Why is she not with you when this is also her father’s birthday?”
Clinton shifted behind him, forcing a thin smile that only made him look more uneasy. “Grandfather, it’s fine. She probably got caught up with something trivial. She’s always late.”
But Carlos’s frown only deepened. “Really? It’s not like her to do that, though. Did something happen?”
A snort came from the far end of the table. Chloe’s father, Leo, leaned forward, glass of scotch ir his hand, eyes rolling. “That girl? She’s an embarrassment. She nearly ruined this whole party- forgot to confirm the guest list, messed up the catering. If Alynna hadn’t stepped in to fi> everything, you’d be sitting here with empty tables.”
Carlos’s eyes snapped to him, sharp and questioning. “Is that so?”
Clinton jumped in, voice tight with forced calm. “Grandfather, it’s true. Chloe’s always beer careless. She doesn’t understand the importance of these things. She’s probably hiding out o
shame.”
Alynna’s soft, polished voice drifted in sweetly from where she perched at Clinton’s side, he hand resting lightly on his arm. “She’s just… fragile, Grandpa Carlos. She gets overwhelmed sc easily. I told her to stay home tonight and rest so she wouldn’t embarrass my father and o course you.”
Carlos’s eyes narrowed. “Embarrass me? The only thing that embarrasses me is you speaking as if she hasn’t always been good to this family. That girl visited me when no one else did. She stayed up when I couldn’t sleep. She’s been more of a granddaughter to me than-”
Clinton cut him off with a forced laugh. “She was probably trying to get on your good side. You know how she is always acting like a martyr.”
Leo leaned back with a dismissive wave. “Forget that ungrateful girl. She doesn’t deserve a sea at this table. Alynna did all the work. You should be thanking her, not asking about Chloe Honestly, I regretted marrying Chloe to Clinton. It’s my fault. It should be Alynna-”
Carlos cut him off with a scoff. “And you say that like it’s an insult? Like it’s manipulation? She’ always been kind. Maybe too kind for her own good and she is your daughter, so why is that?” “Well,” Leo sighed, embarrassed and was already furious about Chloe not being present so he had called the butler and ordered Clinton to text her.
Alynna said, “Surely, she wouldn’t come.”
Clinton was also furious as she kept on texting her. Until Chloe finally replied.
“I’m no longer your wife. So enjoy the party. I already sent you my goodbye gift, my dear ex-husband.”
The words sank into his brain like cold steel. For a second, he didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. His eyes flicked up, searching the crowd for her, half-expecting Chloe to emerge from the shadows with one of her quiet, forgiving smiles.
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Before he could speak, a butler approached, clearing his throat gently. “Sir… a delivery just arrived. For you.”
Carlos’s eyes snapped to him. “For me? It’s not my birthday-why am I receiving a gift? Maybe it’s for Leo,” he said pertaining to Chloe’s father who was celebrating now.
The butler bowed slightly, extending a small box wrapped in understated gold paper. “It’s from. Mrs. Chloe, sir. For you.”
Clinton stiffened, his throat going dry. Leo’s smirk faltered. Alynna’s eyes darted between them the color draining from her face.
Carlos unwrapped the box slowly, the hush around him thick enough to choke on. Inside, neatly arranged, was Chloe’s wedding ring, her divorce papers-signed and final-and a stack of printe photos. Clinton’s hands all over Alynna. Alynna’s lips pressed to his neck. A tangle of sheets tha left no room for lies.
The room seemed to tilt on its axis. For a moment, there was only silence-then the low hum o gasps and shocked whispers, spreading like poison through the hall.
Carlos’s hands trembled around the papers: He lifted his eyes to Clinton, his voice quiet bu deadly. “Is this true?”
“Grandfather-” Clinton began, but Carlos was already rising from his chair, cane clutched tigh in his white-knuckled fist.
His cane swung up-then his fist followed. The punch landed squarely against Clinton’s jaw sending him stumbling back.
‘Didn’t I tell you?” Carlos bellowed, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. “Didn’t I tell you what hate more than anything is a man who cheats? Who betrays his family? And you did this to her? The only good woman in this miserable household?”
‘Please-listen to me-” Clinton’s voice cracked, but the murmurs around them had already turned to poisonous gossip.
Carlos turned to the guards by the door. “Drag this fool out of my sight. He is no grandson of
mine. Not after this.”
Clinton felt hands’ clamp around his arms, the sting of humiliation sharper than the pain blooming across his cheek. He thrashed. “No! Let me explain! It’s not what it looks like! Grandfather-!”
But the guests were already whispering, pointing. Cameras flashed. The Moore family’s perfect mage shattered in an instant. Leo was also embarrassed to say a word as his father was ruined!
Alynna, half-hidden near the buffet, rushed forward. Her voice was shrill. “Clinton! What is happening? Did she really divorce you? That’s it, isn’t it? We’re free now! We can finally-”
Clinton shoved her away so hard she nearly fell. His voice was low, trembling with fury. “Shut up. Do you see what you’ve done? Look at what he said! Look at what you cost me!”
He ripped the car keys from the valet’s tray, pushing past the stunned crowd as Alynna scrambled after him in her heels.
“What about me?” she screamed, eyes wide with something that looked like triumph tangled
