Chapter 3 - THE SON WHO SOLD A LIE
Chloe handed the baby to her mother, who had appeared in the doorway after hearing raised voices.
Then she walked toward Nick.
“You said tonight was a welcome dinner for my parents.”
“It is.”
“You invited investors?”
“It’s informal.”
“Did my father know?”
Nick looked toward the house instead of answering.
Chloe’s father, Harrison Wells, stepped outside. He had built a chain of orthopedic clinics across Colorado and was considering investing ten million dollars in Nick’s company.
“What exactly is going on?” Harrison asked.
Nick straightened his tie.
“Nothing. My mother arrived unexpectedly and became emotional.”
I watched Chloe’s face close.
He had used the same trick on both of us.
Create the wound, then describe the injured person as unstable.
Harrison looked at my overturned suitcase and the police vehicle.
“She became emotional?”
Nick pointed toward Arthur. “Her attorney is exploiting a private misunderstanding.”
Arthur opened the folder just enough to remove one sheet. He kept the printed side against his chest.
“Did you represent to Mr. Wells that you personally owned this residence?”
Nick’s eyes hardened. “That is none of your business.”
“It became my business when you listed trust property as personal collateral.”
Chloe’s mother gasped.
Harrison stared at Nick. “You used this house to secure our proposed investment?”
“It was part of a net-worth statement. The deal hasn’t closed.”
“The statement has your signature.”
“It’s a standard document.”
“Is the house yours?”
Nick did not answer.
Harrison’s voice dropped. “Is the company yours?”
“Of course it is.”
Arthur removed a second page.
“The trust holds fifty-one percent of Sterling Transit Systems until the original loan is repaid.”
Chloe turned toward Nick. “You told me you were the sole founder.”
“I am the founder.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He ran one hand over his face. “My mother provided seed money. Families do that.”
“I provided a secured loan,” I said. “And I never agreed to let you claim my assets as yours.”
Nick looked at me with open hatred.
“You were never supposed to involve yourself.”
“I signed the checks.”
“And then you went back to your little apartment and acted like you didn’t care what I built.”
The words finally exposed what sat beneath his shame.
My ordinary clothes did not merely embarrass him.
They contradicted the story he told about himself.
He wanted people to believe he had risen from nothing without help. My presence reminded him that his education, company, house, and polished life had all been carried on someone else’s back.
Chloe folded her arms. “What else have you lied about?”
“Don’t do this in front of them.”
“You told me your mother skipped our wedding because she hated me.”
My breath caught.
Nick looked at the driveway.
Chloe’s eyes filled. “Did she?”
“No,” I said. “I wasn’t invited.”
Chloe turned toward me.
“I sent you an invitation.”
“I never received one.”
“I mailed it myself.”
Nick stepped between us. “Enough.”
Chloe moved around him.
“I wrote you a letter after the baby was born.”
“I never received that either.”
Her face changed as the truth settled between us.
Nick had not simply kept me away.
He had made each of us believe the other had chosen the distance.
“Why?” Chloe whispered.
Nick exploded.
“Because she would have ruined everything!”
The baby began crying inside the doorway.
No one spoke.
Nick pointed at me.
“She walks into a room looking like she came to clean it. She tells people she spent thirty years folding hospital sheets. She lives in an apartment with secondhand furniture while sitting on millions. Do you understand how insane that is?”
“I understand it bothers you,” I said.
“It humiliates me.”
“Why?”
“Because people look at you and judge me.”
Harrison’s expression hardened. “No, son. People are judging you because you threw your mother onto a driveway.”
Nick’s face reddened.
“I didn’t throw her.”
The police officer finally spoke.
“I watched you pull the blanket from her while kicking her luggage. My vehicle camera recorded it.”
Nick’s confidence cracked.
He looked at the officer, then at the witnesses standing near the front door.
For the first time, the humiliation belonged entirely to him.
Arthur held up another document.
“There is one more issue.”
Nick’s breath stopped.
I had seen fear in his face when the cars arrived.
Now I understood why.
May you like
He was not only lying to investors.
He had forged my signature.
