Chapter 3 - CHLOE CAME TO MY APARTMENT WITHOUT HER PHONEShe arrived at ten.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
No assistant.
No phone.
I almost laughed when I noticed.
“Where is it?”
“At my lawyer’s office.”
“Smart.”
“Please don’t patronize me.”
“Not trying to.”
I let her in.
My attorney was present in the study.
Her attorney joined by video.
No private improvisation.
This was no longer only a relationship conversation.
Chloe looked at me.
“I’m sorry about the cake.”
I said nothing.
“I knew you hated prank content.”
“Yes.”
“Mason said it would be huge.”
There.
Mason Reed.
Her manager.
“Did Mason plan it?”
“He suggested something viral.”
“Did he specifically say cake?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know there would be a second camera?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know the stream was sponsored?”
Her eyes shifted.
There.
“Sponsored by whom?”
“GlowRush.”
Energy drinks.
Of course.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand if engagement passed targets.”
I stared at her.
“You monetized my birthday without telling me.”
“I was going to donate the sponsorship.”
“Did you?”
Silence.
“Chloe.”
“No.”
“So why say it?”
“I thought that would make it sound less terrible.”
At least honest.
Then I asked:
“Did you send HaloHouse confidential merger information?”
“No.”
“Did Mason have access to your devices?”
“Yes.”
“Which?”
“Phone. Tablet. Sometimes laptop.”
“Did you have merger files?”
Her face changed.
“A few.”
“How?”
“Dad sent things.”
“Were they marked confidential?”
“Yes.”
“Did you understand you should not share them?”
“Yes.”
“Did Mason see them?”
“I don’t know.”
We sat in silence.
Then:
“Why did you tell me HaloHouse had nothing to do with us before I mentioned HaloHouse?”
She closed her eyes.
“Mason called me.”
“When?”
“After I texted you.”
“What did he say?”
“That Lawson’s finance people were digging into agency payments.”
“How would he know?”
“I asked him.”
“No. How would he know Lawson finance was investigating?”
“I don’t know.”
There again.
May you like
But this time I believed her fear.
She was realizing her manager might know more about the merger than she did.
