Chapter 5

"Chloe, please, just take your mom's call."

When Paige handed me the phone, her face looked worse than mine.

I looked at the screen. It wasn't my mom. It was Helen.

I hesitated for a second, then answered.

"Chloe, sweetie... is Julian really doing this?"

Helen’s voice sounded incredibly tired, older than I had ever heard her.

"I just saw his Instagram post. I was furious! Please don't listen to him. You are his girlfriend, and nothing changes that—"

"Helen," I interrupted her gently. "Scarlett has already moved into our apartment."

There was a long silence on the other end.

"What?"

"He said I'm not his girlfriend, and he's right. I'm not anymore."

"Chloe, listen to me, I will talk to him—"

"I have to go, Helen."

I hung up.

It wasn't that I didn't respect Helen. It was just that I knew exactly how this would play out. If Helen confronted him, Julian would just put on a more dramatic show of his "brain injury," and Scarlett would cry about how she was "just taking care of him."

In the end, I would still be the villain trying to tear them apart.

Liam came over that afternoon with a stack of papers for me to sign.

It was the equity transfer agreement for Nova Media. The buyer was Summit Capital.

"Chloe, with Aura Tech and Nova Media combined, we've liquidated about $7 million of Julian's portfolio."

Liam closed his folder and looked at me.

"Only Apex Data is left. That's the big one—worth about $4 million. But..."

"But what?"

"Apex Data has a strict board-approval clause for major equity transfers. Gavin is on the board. He will never let this slip through."

Gavin was the hurdle.

And now that his meetings with Vanguard Group were wrapping up, he would definitely notice the anomaly soon.

"Is there any way around it?"

"Yes, but it takes time. Or... we need Julian's personal signature authorizing an express transfer."

Getting a guy who was faking amnesia to sign over his own fortune.

"I'll handle it."

I took the files back to the guest room Paige had set up for me. After a shower, I unlocked my phone to find a barrage of messages from our mutual friends.

[Chloe, Julian says you won't stop calling him. Is that true? Scarlett seems like a sweet girl, don't do this to her.]

[Hey Chloe, I saw Scarlett crying in the office today. Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far?]

[Chloe, get a grip. You're just pushing him further away.]

I read them all, didn't reply, and deleted every single one.

At 2:00 AM, my phone rang from an unknown number.

I was going to ignore it, but the caller dialed four times in a row.

"Hello?"

"Chloe, it's Scarlett."

Her voice was incredibly clear in the quiet of the night, filled with smug satisfaction.

"Calling me this late? What do you want?"

"I just thought you should know something."

Scarlett paused, letting the silence hang. "I'm pregnant."

"It's Julian's."

My fingers tightened around the phone.

The hallway was pitch black, and the only sound was my own breathing.

"He said once the baby is born, he'll cut all ties with you legally," Scarlett whispered. "So, Chloe, stop wasting your time."

"All your little legal stunts? Julian is going to find out sooner or later."

That last sentence made my heart skip a beat.

Stunts? Did she know something, or was she just bluffing?

"Scarlett," I gripped my phone, my voice incredibly steady. "Congratulations."

"What?"

"Congratulations on getting pregnant by a man who has to fake brain damage just to get out of a relationship."

I hung up, my eyes burning.

Paige opened her bedroom door, probably woken up by the noise. "Who was that?"

"Scarlett. She says she's pregnant."

Paige froze, then sat down next to me on the bed. "Is she serious?"

"I don't know. But real or fake, my time is running out."

My phone buzzed again. It was a text from Liam.

[Chloe, Gavin is back in the Apex Data office. He just scheduled a meeting with Julian for tomorrow afternoon. He said it's urgent.]

Paige leaned over to look at the screen, her face turning pale.

"If they meet, your plan..."

"Which is why before tomorrow morning, I need Julian to open that door for me himself."

"How?"

I closed my eyes.

"Simple. I'll make him think that signing those papers is the only way to protect Scarlett."