Chapter 2 - The Woman in 7C
Chloe couldn't stop staring at Elena.
“Who are you?”
Elena looked at her.
Then at Julian.
“You really didn't tell her?”
Julian swallowed.
“Tell her what?”
Elena smiled.
“That you're still married.”
Chloe's face changed.
She looked at Julian.
“You said the divorce was final.”
Julian didn't answer.
“You said she knew.”
Still nothing.
Chloe's breathing became shallow.
“Julian?”
He finally spoke.
“It was complicated.”
Elena laughed softly.
Not loudly.
Not bitterly.
Just once.
“Complicated.”
She opened the leather folder.
Inside were several documents.
Julian recognized the first.
His divorce attorney's letter.
Unsigned.
The second was a financial statement.
The third made his stomach tighten.
A board resolution.
He leaned closer.
“Where did you get that?”
Elena closed the folder.
“From your office.”
“You broke into my office?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I own the office.”
Julian's eyes widened.
That was technically true.
The company had been founded with Elena's family investment.
Julian had always described the money as his family's capital.
But Elena had never corrected him.
She had allowed him to believe he had built everything.
For years.
Chloe noticed his expression.
“What is she talking about?”
Julian turned toward Chloe.
“Nothing.”
Elena shook her head.
“That's what he always says.”
Chloe looked at Elena.
“Why are you here?”
Elena glanced at the boarding pass.
“Because my husband made an interesting decision.”
“What decision?”
“To replace the company's CEO while secretly using company funds to start a new life with his mistress.”
Chloe's eyes widened.
“I didn't know about that.”
Elena looked at her.
“I believe you.”
Julian snapped.
“Stop this.”
Elena remained calm.
“You should have told her.”
“Told her what?”
“That the apartment in New York was purchased using money from the company.”
Chloe turned toward Julian.
“Is that true?”
He said nothing.
The silence answered her.
The flight attendant began preparing the cabin for departure.
Julian looked toward the aisle.
He wanted to leave.
But the doors were closing.
For the first time, he realized he was trapped between the two women.
Elena sat beside him.
Chloe sat beside the window.
May you like
And the folder sat open on the tray table.
👉 The airplane had not even taken off, yet Julian was already losing control of the life he had secretly built.
