Chapter 4 - Kyle’s First Lie
Kyle recovered quickly.
He placed the champagne on a side table and loosened his tie.
“This looks terrible,” he said.
“It is terrible,” Chloe answered.
“You don’t understand what happened.”
“I understand that my father was forced to sign a three-million-dollar loan.”
“It wasn’t forced.”
Norman stood slowly.
“You said Chloe was being detained.”
Kyle turned toward him with practiced concern.
“I said her situation overseas was uncertain.”
“You told me she could be held for months.”
“I was trying to make you understand the urgency.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“What urgency?”
Kyle glanced at Susan.
Susan looked away.
He sighed.
“My company needed temporary financing. I planned to explain everything after the wire cleared.”
“With my father’s land as collateral?”
“The farm is worth far more than three million.”
“That does not make it yours.”
Kyle lowered his voice.
“We are married, Chloe. There is no yours and mine.”
“The Mercer trust existed before I met you.”
“And I have spent twelve years supporting this family.”
Norman stared at him.
“You told me the money was for my daughter.”
Kyle’s patience cracked.
“You signed because you wanted to feel useful.”
The room went silent.
Norman’s shoulders lowered as if the words had struck him physically.
Chloe moved between them.
“Do not speak to him again.”
Kyle laughed.
“You’re overreacting because you walked into an unpleasant moment.”
“Your mother made him kneel.”
“He spilled food.”
“He was trying to leave with groceries Heather knocked from his hands.”
Heather’s eyes widened.
Norman had not told Chloe that yet.
Kyle looked toward his sister.
Heather said nothing.
Chloe held up the forged document.
“Who signed my name?”
“No one forged anything.”
“Then explain why it says I signed in Georgia while I was in Germany.”
Kyle reached for the paper.
Chloe pulled it away.
His calm expression disappeared.
“I need that.”
“I’m sure you do.”
The front gate bell rang.
Marissa stood outside with two county deputies.
Kyle’s face drained of color.
“I didn’t invite the police.”
“No,” Chloe said. “I did.”
One deputy entered and asked whether anyone had attempted to move or destroy financial records.
Heather looked toward the fireplace.
May you like
A corner of white paper was visible beneath the unlit logs.
👉 While Chloe confronted Kyle, Heather had already tried to hide the document revealing what the three-million-dollar loan was really meant to cover.
