Chapter 10 - Chloe’s Workplace Ambush
While my father was sitting in a holding cell at the county jail waiting for his arraignment, my sister Chloe decided to execute a desperate, utterly delusional play of her own. In her twisted worldview—shaped by twenty-four years of being told she was the prettiest, most desirable girl in any room—she genuinely believed that if she could just get Alex alone without me around, she could charm, seduce, or manipulate him into dropping the assault charges against our father.
At 2:00 PM on Thursday, Alex was in the middle of a high-stakes corporate deposition in the glass-walled conference room of his law firm, Thorne & Associates, located on the forty-fifth floor of the financial district tower. Without an appointment, Chloe bypassed the security desk downstairs by claiming she was Alex’s "fiancée bringing him lunch," wearing a tight designer dress and carrying a bag from an expensive Italian bakery.
When she stepped off the elevator onto the polished marble floor of the firm’s executive lobby, Alex’s senior paralegal, Sarah—who had already been briefed on the restraining order and seen the patio video—immediately recognized her.
“Excuse me, ma'am, you cannot be up here,” Sarah said, standing up from her desk to block Chloe’s path toward the glass conference room where Alex was sitting with six senior corporate attorneys.
“Oh, relax, I’m family,” Chloe scoffed, waving her manicured hand dismissively as she tried to push past Sarah’s desk. “Alex! Alex, darling! I need to talk to you for five minutes! It’s about Victoria!”
Alex looked up through the glass partition, his expression hardening instantly into granite. He excused himself from the deposition table, walked out into the lobby, and closed the conference room door behind him. He didn't look at Chloe with attraction or sympathy; he looked at her as if she were a toxic spill on his marble floor.
“Alex, thank God,” Chloe breathless, stepping close to him and attempting to place a sympathetic hand on his chest. “You have to stop this! Victoria is out of her mind! She’s having a manic episode! She had Daddy arrested like a common criminal over a simple patio accident! If you just talk to the judge and tell them we’re working it out as a family, we can put all this behind us. We can still be together, Alex. You know I’ve always cared about you more than she does—”
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Alex stepped back so sharply her hand fell through empty air. He didn't raise his voice; he simply spoke with enough cold, projecting authority that every attorney and paralegal in the lobby could hear every word.
“Chloe Vance,” Alex said clearly. “You are currently standing in direct violation of a federal protective order signed by Judge Harrison yesterday afternoon. If you take one more step toward me or mention my fiancée’s name again, I will have building security detain you, and I will personally file the felony contempt charges that will put you in the cell right next to your father. Get out of my firm. Right now.”
