Chapter 2: Who Exactly Is Claire?
The sedan was still moving when Daniel's phone lit up.
He glanced at the screen, then turned slowly to face me.
"Ma'am…
Ethan used the corporate card tonight.
Twice.
A jeweler on Westheimer.
Then a restaurant on River Oaks Boulevard."
I almost laughed.
He had handed me $2,500 in an envelope — and spent nearly four times that amount on another woman using my company's money.
"Add that to the legal file," I said quietly.
I didn't sleep that night.
At 7:52 the next morning, Daniel called.
"The legal team is at the property now.
So is our head of facilities.
They have the deed, the inventory list, and the termination letters for every Sterling Crest service tied to that address."
I asked him what was happening.
"Ethan answered the door in his robe.
He thought it was a food delivery." Daniel paused.
"He doesn't look well, ma'am."
Then I heard it in the background — Margaret's voice, sharp and rising.
"What do you mean the accounts are frozen?
Call someone.
Call his office right now."
A beat of silence.
Then a younger voice — Chloe's — asking a question I hadn't expected.
"Ethan…
who exactly is Claire?"
The line went quiet.
---
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What Ethan said next — and what Chloe found on her phone seconds later — changed everything they thought they knew.
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