Chapter 9 - The Missing Safe
Mark called security.
Then the police.
Then Chloe.
She did not answer.
The safe contained jewelry, emergency cash, several old documents, and a watch collection worth nearly two hundred thousand dollars.
Security footage showed Chloe leaving with two suitcases.
A man Mark did not recognize carried the safe into a van.
She returned six hours later.
Mark was waiting.
"Where is it?"
Chloe removed her sunglasses.
"Where is what?"
"The safe."
She laughed.
"You gave me access."
"That doesn't mean you can take it."
"I moved it."
"Where?"
"Somewhere secure."
Mark stepped closer.
"Bring it back."
Chloe's expression hardened.
"You don't get to order me around because you're panicking about your wife."
"Ex-wife."
"Then stop acting like you're still married."
The words hit him harder than Chloe expected.
Because legally, technically, he was still married.
But emotionally, his wife had already left him.
And the woman standing in front of him suddenly looked less like a future and more like a trap.
Mark contacted his attorney.
The safe was returned the next day after threats of criminal action.
But several items were missing.
Chloe claimed she knew nothing about them.
Mark no longer believed her.
Daniel, meanwhile, found another name in Chloe's history.
Jason Keller.
A former boyfriend.
Jason had lived with Chloe before she met Mark.
He had disappeared from her social media shortly before the affair began.
Daniel located him in another state.
At first, Jason refused to talk.
Then Daniel mentioned the pregnancy.
Silence followed.
"She's pregnant?"
"Yes."
"How far along?"
Daniel told him.
Jason did not answer for nearly ten seconds.
Then he whispered, "You need to call me from another number."
Mr. Sterling listened to the recorded interview later.
Jason admitted he and Chloe had been together during the period she claimed Mark fathered the baby.
He had ended the relationship after discovering she was seeing a married man.
"Did she tell you she was pregnant?" Daniel asked.
"No."
"Could the baby be yours?"
Jason breathed heavily.
"Yes."
Leo's mother sat silently after hearing the recording.
She expected satisfaction.
Instead she felt sick.
The lie was larger than adultery now.
Mark had gambled an entire family on a pregnancy that might never have involved him.
Mr. Sterling closed the recording.
"This isn't enough for court."
"Why?"
"Because Jason saying it might be his doesn't establish paternity."
"Then what does?"
"A lawful medical record."
She looked at him.
"Can we get one?"
"If paternity becomes relevant to Mark's custody argument, I can ask the court."
May you like
Mr. Sterling's eyes sharpened.
"And Mark has already made it relevant."
