Chapter 5 - The Sister Who Came to Replace Her
Chloe arrived wearing red.
Of course she did.
The dress looked designed specifically to make every woman in the room disappear.
Adelaide watched from the staircase as her sister entered the Moretti estate beside Evelyn and Rockford.
Chloe saw Adelaide first.
Her smile faltered.
Adelaide was wearing navy.
Simple.
No attempt to hide the scar.
Her glasses remained exactly where they belonged.
“What happened to you?” Chloe asked.
Adelaide frowned.
“Nothing.”
“You look…”
Chloe stopped.
She had expected transformation.
Something she could mock.
Instead, Adelaide looked like herself, only no longer apologizing for it.
Mateo appeared behind her.
Chloe visibly changed.
Shoulders back.
Smile warmer.
Voice softer.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Miss Jones.”
Chloe offered her hand.
Mateo shook it once.
Nothing more.
Evelyn’s eyes moved rapidly between Mateo and Adelaide.
“You kept her.”
Mateo looked at her.
The room chilled.
“I’m sorry?”
Evelyn smiled.
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant.”
Adelaide almost enjoyed watching Evelyn search for words.
Dinner was worse.
For them.
Better for Adelaide.
Mateo seated Adelaide beside him.
Chloe across.
Evelyn spent twenty minutes talking about Chloe’s charity committees.
Mateo asked Adelaide about liquidity ratios.
Chloe attempted to discuss Paris.
Mateo asked Adelaide how she would restructure distressed debt.
Evelyn mentioned Chloe’s modeling years.
Mateo asked Adelaide whether Jones Financial’s vendor controls were intentionally weak or merely incompetent.
Rockford nearly choked.
Finally Chloe snapped.
“Do you ever talk about anything except money?”
Mateo looked at Adelaide.
“She does.”
Chloe frowned.
“What?”
“She reads criminal law for fun.”
Adelaide turned.
“How do you know that?”
“You left three books in your room.”
“You went into my room?”
“I sent someone to deliver a laptop.”
“Good recovery.”
Mateo’s mouth curved.
Chloe stared.
She had never seen a man like Mateo look at Adelaide that way.
Neither had Adelaide.
After dinner, Chloe cornered her near the terrace.
“What did you do?”
Adelaide looked at her.
“Excuse me?”
“To him.”
“Nothing.”
“Men like that don’t want women like you.”
Adelaide expected pain.
Instead she felt tired.
“Women like me?”
Chloe gestured vaguely toward her face.
There it was.
Same weapon.
Different day.
But it no longer cut as deeply.
“Mateo knows what I look like.”
“Maybe he feels sorry for you.”
Adelaide smiled.
“That must be difficult for you.”
“What?”
“Not understanding why someone might enjoy a woman who has something to say.”
Chloe slapped her.
The sound cracked through the corridor.
Adelaide’s face snapped sideways.
Before she could react, Mateo’s voice came from behind them.
“Take your hand off her.”
Chloe froze.
Mateo stood ten feet away.
Nothing in his face moved.
That was worse than shouting.
“I—”
“Did she touch you?” he asked Adelaide.
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Adelaide looked at Chloe.
Her sister suddenly seemed very young.
Very frightened.
“Yes.”
Mateo’s gaze returned to Chloe.
“Leave.”
“What?”
“Now.”
“Mateo—” Evelyn appeared.
He did not look at her.
“Your daughter has thirty seconds to leave my house.”
Chloe’s eyes filled.
“You’re choosing her?”
Adelaide felt something twist inside.
Mateo stepped closer.
“No.”
Chloe blinked.
“I’m respecting her.”
His voice remained calm.
“Something your family seems determined not to understand.”
Rockford arrived.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
Chloe stormed toward the entrance.
Evelyn followed.
Rockford lingered.
His eyes met Adelaide’s.
“I’m sorry.”
She touched her cheek.
“For which time?”
He looked devastated.
Good.
He should.
After they left, Adelaide stood alone on the terrace.
Mateo joined her.
“You shouldn’t have embarrassed her.”
He leaned against the railing.
“She hit you.”
“She’s my sister.”
“That does not make it acceptable.”
Adelaide looked toward the mountains.
“In my family, beauty is power.”
“Then your family has a very small definition of power.”
She glanced at him.
“What is yours?”
“Knowing what someone wants before they admit it.”
“And what do I want?”
Mateo looked at her too long.
“Freedom.”
Her breath caught.
He continued.
“To be useful without being used.”
She looked away.
“That was annoyingly accurate.”
“I’m talented.”
“You’re arrogant.”
“Also true.”
Behind them, a glass door opened.
One of Mateo’s guards appeared.
“Boss.”
Mateo turned.
The man handed him a phone.
Mateo listened.
His expression changed.
“Lock the gates.”
Adelaide straightened.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“Your sister didn’t leave.”
“What do you mean?”
“She disappeared from the driveway before the car departed.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Then an alarm sounded.
One sharp tone.
Mateo grabbed Adelaide’s arm.
“Inside.”
“What happened?”
“Security breach.”
They moved toward the hall.
A second guard appeared carrying Chloe’s purse.
“We found this near the west corridor.”
Adelaide stared.
“What was she doing there?”
The guard pulled something from the purse.
A small electronic device.
Mateo’s face went cold.
Adelaide recognized it.
“USB cloning key.”
Chloe.
Her shallow, vain sister.
The woman who claimed not to understand spreadsheets.
Had brought a device designed to copy encrypted files.
Adelaide looked toward the dark corridor.
“She came here to steal something.”
Mateo nodded.
Then the lights went out.
The entire mansion fell black.
May you like
A woman screamed somewhere downstairs.
And in the darkness, Adelaide heard a door open behind her.
