Chapter 12 - Kyle’s Final Offer
Kyle called from another number.
His voice was calmer now.
Too calm.
“Withdraw the fraud complaint.”
Chloe stood near the open front door while Detective Ruiz listened.
“No.”
“Tell the bank the documents were authorized.”
“No.”
“Then your father loses everything.”
Norman looked up.
Kyle continued.
“The forty-eight thousand is in an account you cannot reach.”
“The account is frozen.”
Silence.
That information unsettled him.
“You always thought you were smarter than me,” Kyle said.
“This was never about intelligence.”
“It was always about power.”
“No. It was about trust. You had mine, and you sold it.”
Kyle’s breathing sharpened.
“I spent years living in your house, attending your events, smiling while people introduced me as Chloe Bennett’s husband.”
“You could have built your own life.”
“You made sure I never forgot whose money paid for everything.”
Chloe remembered every opportunity she had offered.
A position in her company.
Tuition for graduate school.
Funding for his consulting idea.
Kyle abandoned each one when success required effort.
“You did not want equality,” she said. “You wanted ownership without responsibility.”
“You owe me.”
“For what?”
“For the years I gave you.”
Chloe looked at Norman’s injured hand.
“You were paid in loyalty, safety, and love. You chose theft.”
Kyle’s voice became colder.
“Withdraw the complaint, and I’ll return Norman’s money.”
“No.”
“You’d risk his retirement to punish me?”
Norman stepped toward the phone.
“You already took it, Kyle.”
Kyle went silent.
Norman’s voice trembled, but he continued.
“I trusted you because my daughter loved you. You used that love like a weapon.”
Kyle hung up.
Detective Ruiz immediately received the trace.
The call came from the private airfield.
Officers were minutes away.
Susan rushed toward the door.
“I need to speak to him.”
Detective Ruiz blocked her.
“No one is leaving.”
Susan’s restraint finally disappeared.
“He will panic if police surround him.”
Heather stared at her.
“You’re still protecting him?”
“He is my son.”
“And I am your daughter.”
Susan looked at Heather.
But she had no comforting lie left.
Kyle had always come first.
May you like
Even now.
👉 Susan’s devotion to Kyle shattered Heather—but at the airfield, Rachel was about to expose the truth behind the recording they were fighting over.
