Chapter 4 - Julian Denies Having An Affair
Claire asked the personal question only after counsel joined them.
“Are you sleeping with Chloe?”
Julian looked offended.
“No.”
“Have you ever?”
“No.”
“Then why do you call her sweetheart?”
His face reddened.
“It’s a stupid habit.”
Claire did not accept or reject the answer based on tone.
She asked for facts.
Julian admitted Chloe had become emotionally close to him during a
difficult year.
Claire had spent months traveling during the confidential CEO process.
Julian complained about the distance.
Chloe listened.
They had dinners.
Drinks.
Late-night conversations.
He insisted the relationship never became sexual.
Claire asked whether Chloe believed otherwise.
“I don’t know.”
That answer was worse than he seemed to realize.
He had accepted intimacy, secrecy, expensive gifts, and blurred
boundaries while telling himself the absence of sex kept the marriage
intact.
Then Claire asked about the watch.
Julian admitted Chloe admired it when it arrived.
His mother had not rejected it.
Julian simply gave it to Chloe instead.
“Why lie?”
“I didn’t want you to overreact.”
Claire almost laughed.
He had predicted her reaction and used that prediction to justify
deception.
Then she asked about the expense system.
Julian said Chloe needed expanded access because his workload had
increased.
He signed authorization forms.
“Did you review what she submitted?”
“Usually.”
“Usually?”
Julian looked away.
Claire’s marriage problem and corporate problem were beginning to
overlap.
But she kept them separate.
The board would investigate company funds.
Claire would decide what Julian’s emotional relationship with Chloe
meant for their marriage.
Then Marcus called.
He had found twelve vendors created through Chloe’s credentials.
All twelve used the same mailing address.
A private mailbox in Delaware.
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The watch was not the biggest unexplained expense.
It was merely the first one Claire could recognize with her own eyes.
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