Chapter 5 - The Test
Julian pulled his phone from his pocket with trembling hands. He dialed Chloe’s number and put it on speaker. It rang four times before she snapped and answered.
"Where the hell are you?!" Chloe screamed. "My father is having a panic attack in the hotel bar! Did you fix your psycho mother or not?!"
Julian swallowed hard, looking at me. "Chloe... I talked to her."
"And? Are the gates open? Can the caterers get in? Julian, my makeup artist is charging me by the hour to sit in this miserable lobby!"
"She's not opening the gates, Chloe," Julian said, his voice breaking. "She... she cut me off."
The line went dead silent.
"What do you mean, she cut you off?" Chloe’s voice dropped an octave, the shrill panic replaced by a cold, terrifying calculation.
"She put the estate and my trust into a ten-year lock," Julian lied, tears spilling down his cheeks as the reality of my words hit him. "I have nothing, Chloe. We have to cancel the wedding. We can go to the courthouse on Monday. We can start over. Just you and me. I can get a job at the ski resort—"
"A job at the ski resort?!" Chloe shrieked, a laugh tearing from her throat that sounded like shattering glass. "Are you insane?! Do you think I am going to marry a ski instructor? Do you think I'm going to live in some cramped apartment while you wax snowboards?"
"You said you loved me," Julian whispered.
"I loved what you were supposed to bring to the table, Julian!" she snapped. "You promised me an estate! You promised my father a venue for his investors! You are utterly useless to us without that property. Do not come back to this hotel."
The line clicked dead.
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Julian stared at the phone as if it had transformed into a venomous snake. He dropped it onto my desk and broke into violent, heaving sobs.
I didn't comfort him immediately. He needed to feel the sting of the fire he had played with. He needed the illusion to burn away completely.
