Chapter 2 - The Phone Call That Brought Norman There
Chloe remained kneeling beside her father.
“What exactly did Kyle tell you?”
Norman glanced toward Susan and Heather as though he was afraid to speak in front of them.
Susan forced a laugh.
“He’s confused. He showed up here making accusations.”
Norman’s shoulders tightened.
Chloe stood and placed herself between him and the two women.
“Let him answer.”
Norman swallowed.
“Kyle called me yesterday morning. He said you’d been detained at the airport in Denver.”
Chloe had spent three days in Denver negotiating a hotel development contract.
There had been no arrest.
No police.
Not even a delayed flight.
“He said they found something in your suitcase,” Norman continued. “He said you might be gone for a long time.”
Chloe’s stomach turned cold.
“What did he ask you to do?”
Norman looked ashamed.
“He said you needed money for an attorney. He told me not to call you because your phone had been taken.”
Heather rolled her eyes.
“This is ridiculous.”
Chloe turned her phone toward her.
The camera was recording.
“Say that again.”
Heather’s mouth closed.
Norman reached into his shirt pocket and removed a folded bank receipt.
“I gave Kyle the money I had saved.”
Chloe unfolded it.
The withdrawal was for forty-eight thousand dollars.
Almost everything Norman had received from selling his small repair shop after retirement.
“You gave him all of this?”
“He said you could be transferred to federal custody if the lawyer wasn’t paid by noon.”
Chloe felt rage climbing into her throat, but she held it down.
Her father had not been foolish.
He had been terrified for his daughter.
“What happened when you brought the money?”
“Kyle took the cashier’s check. Then he left.”
“Where did he go?”
Norman shook his head.
“He wouldn’t say.”
Susan stepped forward.
“Kyle is protecting this family. Your father came here afterward and started insulting us.”
Norman looked at her.
“I asked where my daughter was.”
“You called my son a thief,” Susan replied.
“Because he stole from me.”
Heather dropped the grapes onto the coffee table.
“He brought that disgusting food and refused to leave.”
Norman stared at the ruined basket.
“I thought Chloe might come home hungry.”
Chloe’s eyes filled, but her voice remained steady.
She turned to Susan.
“Where is my husband?”
Susan smiled too slowly.
“At the bank.”
Chloe looked at the withdrawal receipt again.
The bank listed on it was not one Kyle normally used.
May you like
It was the bank that held the deed to Chloe’s house.
👉 Kyle had not only taken Norman’s savings—he had gone to the bank holding Chloe’s home as collateral.
