Chapter 9 - The Flash Drive Between Us.
Khloe refused to speak until Alexander left the room.
He refused to leave until his own attorney quietly told him he should.
The humiliation on his face was almost physical.
He pointed at Khloe as security approached.
"You are destroying yourself."
Khloe looked at him without blinking.
"You already tried."
After he was gone, she sat opposite me.
The flash drive remained between us.
"Why now?" I asked.
Khloe rubbed her thumb against the side of her hand.
"Because he changed the plan."
"You mean the plan to steal from me?"
She flinched.
"Yes."
At least she did not insult me by pretending anymore.
Dana inserted the drive into an isolated laptop.
Folders appeared.
Emails.
Scanned forms.
Bank instructions.
Photographs.
Audio files.
"You kept all this?" Dana asked.
Khloe nodded.
"Alexander taught me never to trust anyone without leverage."
"Including him?"
"Especially him."
I opened the oldest email.
It was dated ten months earlier.
Alexander had written to Khloe about me.
Sophia is cautious, but she wants a family badly.
Once she believes the relationship is permanent, she will relax around financial boundaries.
I stopped reading.
The room seemed to tilt.
Khloe looked down.
"I am sorry."
"Do not say that yet."
I opened another message.
Judith had replied.
Get the engagement public before Graham starts asking questions.
A third message contained a photograph of my signature taken from a charity pledge form.
Underneath, Alexander had written:
Practice this until the S and M are clean.
I looked at Khloe.
"You did the copying?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"At first."
"At first?"
"I practiced it."
My stomach turned.
"And later?"
"Alexander used a digital trace."
Dana leaned toward the screen.
"The voting authorization?"
Khloe nodded.
"He printed the signature layer separately."
"Why witness it?"
"Because he told me it would never be used unless Sophia tried to back out of the asset authorization."
I stared at her.
"So you signed a false witness statement as insurance against me."
She whispered.
"Yes."
My anger was no longer hot.
It was heavy.
"Why did you marry him?"
Khloe looked toward the window.
"Because I thought he loved me."
I almost laughed at the symmetry.
She continued.
"He said the marriage protected me until the deal was finished."
"What deal?"
Khloe nodded toward the drive.
"Pacific Meridian."
Dana opened the folder.
Inside was a partnership agreement.
Alexander owned sixty percent.
Khloe owned twenty-five.
Judith controlled fifteen.
The purpose of the company was described as strategic capital consulting.
The attached spreadsheet told a different story.
Projected Moreland transfers totaled twelve million dollars over eighteen months.
Twelve million.
I felt suddenly cold.
"They weren't trying to take two million."
Elias, who had joined remotely, answered through the speaker.
"No."
"That was a test."
"It appears so."
Khloe wiped her cheek.
"The honeymoon documents would have opened the next stage."
I turned to her.
"And what did Judith mean when she said you weren't supposed to come back from Maui with him?"
Khloe froze.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she reached for the laptop.
She opened an audio file dated four days before the wedding.
Alexander's voice filled the conference room.
"Once Sophia signs, Khloe becomes the liability."
Judith answered.
"Then end the marriage."
Alexander laughed softly.
"I will."
A pause.
Then he added,
"One way or another."
Khloe stopped the recording.
Her hands shook.
"That is why I came back."
I looked at her.
"You thought he was going to hurt you?"
"I don't know."
She met my eyes.
"But I finally understood that I was never his partner."
Dana closed the laptop.
"This is no longer just a corporate dispute."
Before anyone could answer, my phone buzzed.
A message from Alexander.
YOU HAVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TO FIX THIS.
A second message followed.
OR I RELEASE WHAT YOUR FATHER DID.
My blood ran cold.
My father had been dead for six years.
May you like
And Alexander had just found a new weapon.
MY HUSBAND BROUGHT HIS SECRETARY ON OUR HONEYMOON
