Chapter 4 - CHLOE MERCER
Chloe requested an attorney before answering questions.
Then she requested protection.
Her first statement placed every decision on Julian.
He pursued her.
He told her I was unstable.
He claimed our marriage existed only for appearances.
He promised marriage after Iris was born.
He said Arthur wanted a grandson.
All of that could be true without making Chloe innocent.
She had entered the fertility clinic in disguise.
Handled my security token.
Received messages from a cloned federal contact.
Approved shell-company invoices through a public-relations firm she owned.
Agent Lawson showed her the evidence.
Chloe’s cooperation began when she realized Julian had already described her as the architect of the server wipe.
“I did not know about federal contracts,” she said.
“You received nine hundred thousand dollars from Orion Civic Consulting,” Lawson replied.
“Julian said it was family money.”
“You created campaign invoices.”
“He gave me templates.”
“You entered Clara’s clinic.”
“Beatrice asked me to retrieve a black key from her purse.”
“Why were you wearing scrubs?”
“Beatrice said Clara would panic if she saw me.”
“You knew Julian was married.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Clara was undergoing fertility treatment.”
“Yes.”
Chloe looked toward the interview-room camera.
“I did not know she was already pregnant when Julian and I started.”
The clinic photograph proved their relationship began before my embryo transfer.
Julian had held my hand during every appointment while arranging access with his mistress.
Chloe admitted that the “real heir” announcement had been planned for the shower.
Arthur wanted me humiliated into signing a family succession acknowledgment.
The document would recognize Chloe’s expected son as the principal beneficiary of a new Vance bloodline trust.
“What if Clara refused?” Lawson asked.
“Arthur said public pressure would make her cooperate.”
“Did anyone discuss violence?”
“No.”
“Did Julian ever strike Clara before?”
Chloe hesitated.
“He grabbed her arm at Christmas.”
There had been a bruise.
Julian told everyone I slipped against the wine cellar door.
I had repeated the lie.
Chloe surrendered her phone and encrypted messages.
One thread showed Beatrice coaching her.
Wear the green dress. Arthur thinks red photographs as aggression.
Stand on Julian’s left so Clara sees the ring hand.
Touch your stomach when Beatrice announces the heir.
Another thread came from Julian.
If she creates a scene, let me handle it.
At 1:41 on the day of the shower, Chloe asked:
Do you mean the papers?
Julian answered:
Whatever becomes necessary.
The message did not prove he planned the punch.
It proved he arrived expecting confrontation.
Chloe’s pregnancy created another question.
Julian and I had needed in vitro fertilization because childhood cancer treatment left him infertile. Iris came from an embryo created years earlier with sperm preserved before treatment.
The clinic had confirmed no remaining viable sample after our transfer.
Julian could not have naturally fathered Chloe’s child.
Arthur and Beatrice knew his medical history.
So did Julian.
Yet all three celebrated Chloe’s baby as the male heir.
Lawson confronted Chloe with the records.
Her face collapsed.
“Julian said the treatment had reversed.”
“It had not.”
“He showed me a laboratory report.”
“Forged.”
Chloe began crying.
For once, the tears did not make her trustworthy.
They made her frightened.
“Who is the father?” Lawson asked.
“I don’t know.”
“That is not credible.”
Chloe covered her face.
“There were two men.”
“Julian and whom?”
“Malcolm Shaw.”
The company CFO.
The man who opened accounts in my name.
“Did Malcolm know about the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Did Arthur?”
Chloe looked up.
“He ordered the paternity test.”
“Then Arthur knew Julian wasn’t the father?”
“He knew before the shower.”
“Why call the child the heir?”
“Because the trust only requires Arthur to acknowledge a male descendant publicly. It does not require proof until distribution.”
They planned to use Chloe’s pregnancy as leverage long before paternity mattered.
Lawson asked who cloned her secure identity.
Chloe gave one name.
“Malcolm.”
Then she added something that made Lawson stop writing.
“He didn’t get the raid time from you.”
“Where did he get it?”
“From the person who drafted the warrants.”
Only the prosecutors and warrant coordinator had handled them.
Chloe shook her head.
“No. From Clara’s attorney.”
I had retained one outside lawyer during the investigation.
A woman who had represented my family for six years.
May you like
Eleanor Price.
According to Chloe, Eleanor had been paid by Arthur since before I entered the Vance estate.
