Chapter 6 - The Woman Derek Never Expected
Curtis Vale's death changed the investigation.
Chicago police could ignore marital cruelty.
They could dismiss rumors.
They couldn't easily ignore a dead mechanic connected to millions of dollars in suspicious transfers.
Especially when Curtis's phone contained seventeen calls from Derek Hale.
Derek was questioned.
He wasn't arrested.
Not yet.
And that made him dangerous.
Khloe stopped hiding.
It surprised everyone.
Dominic most of all.
She walked into Hale Development's emergency board meeting wearing a navy maternity dress and carrying a folder thick enough to destroy careers.
Derek stood at the head of the table.
“What are you doing here?”
Khloe smiled.
“Networking.”
Several directors lowered their eyes.
They remembered the gala.
Derek's face tightened.
“This is a private corporate meeting.”
“Then you should have checked the shareholder agreement.”
She placed a document down.
“My grandfather's trust still owns eight percent.”
Derek froze.
Years earlier, Khloe's grandfather had invested in Derek's first project.
Derek repeatedly told her the shares had been diluted into irrelevance.
He lied.
Dominic's attorneys discovered otherwise.
Khloe sat.
“Continue.”
Derek stared at her.
For once, he had no command that could make her move.
The board's attorney cleared his throat.
“Mrs. Hale is legally entitled to attend.”
“Fine.”
Derek began presenting.
Khloe waited seventeen minutes.
Then she opened her folder.
“Page forty-two.”
Everyone stopped.
Derek's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Your construction expense forecast. Page forty-two.”
Directors turned pages.
Khloe continued.
“You've listed Wexler Industrial as providing $3.8 million in structural materials.”
“Yes.”
“Interesting company.”
Derek's jaw tightened.
“They're reputable.”
“They're nonexistent.”
Silence.
Khloe slid incorporation records across the table.
“Wexler Industrial was registered to a mailbox in Delaware. Its beneficial owner is a trust controlled by your CFO's brother.”
The CFO went white.
Derek laughed.
“This is absurd.”
“Would you prefer the other fourteen shell companies?”
She placed another stack down.
Dominic watched from the far end of the room.
He hadn't spoken once.
He didn't need to rescue her.
This was her room now.
Khloe looked directly at Derek.
“You spent years telling me I didn't understand business.”
Derek's nostrils flared.
“You don't.”
She smiled.
“Then this should be easy.”
By noon, the board suspended Derek pending investigation.
By 12:07, three lenders froze financing.
By 12:30, federal investigators requested records.
At 12:42, Derek cornered Khloe inside the underground parking garage.
“You stupid bitch.”
Khloe stopped.
Security was thirty feet behind her.
She wasn't afraid.
Not like before.
Derek stepped closer.
“You think Moretti loves you?”
“This isn't about Dominic.”
“Everything is about Dominic.”
“No, Derek.”
Khloe's voice remained calm.
“This is about you finally meeting a woman you can no longer frighten.”
His face twisted.
“I made you.”
“No.”
“You had nothing before me.”
“I had myself.”
He laughed.
“And now you're carrying my child.”
Khloe's expression changed.
“Yes.”
Something about her calm unsettled him.
“And that's exactly why you'll never control me again.”
Derek looked toward her stomach.
Then his expression became strange.
Almost amused.
“Are you sure?”
Khloe went still.
“Sure about what?”
Derek stepped backward.
“You're the accountant now.”
He smiled.
“Do the math.”
Then he walked away.
That evening, Khloe sat in Dominic's library staring at a calendar.
Dominic entered carrying dinner.
She didn't look up.
“Khloe?”
“When was the Riverfront conference?”
“What?”
“The first one. In Milwaukee.”
“Late January.”
She looked at him.
“Derek was gone January twenty-second through twenty-fifth.”
“Yes.”
“My estimated conception date was January twenty-fourth.”
Dominic slowly set down the food.
“What are you saying?”
“Derek came home early on the twenty-fourth.”
Her face was pale.
“He told me the conference ended early.”
Dominic waited.
“But Vanessa's calendar shows Derek checked into a Milwaukee hotel that night.”
Khloe's breathing changed.
“So either he drove three hours home, slept with me, and drove three hours back before breakfast…”
“Or?”
Khloe looked down.
“I don't know.”
The silence became unbearable.
Dominic crouched in front of her.
“Whatever you're thinking, don't let Derek put it there.”
“But why would he say that?”
“To destabilize you.”
She knew that.
Still, doubt was poison.
Dominic touched her hand.
“You don't need to solve everything tonight.”
Khloe looked into his eyes.
“I need to know who my child's father is.”
He nodded.
“Then we'll find out.”
She studied him.
“You don't care?”
“About biology?”
“Yes.”
Dominic's answer came without hesitation.
“I care whether you and the baby are safe.”
Her heart stumbled.
Before she could respond, Sofia entered.
She held an envelope.
“This was delivered downstairs.”
No return address.
Khloe opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Derek.
Vanessa.
A hospital.
The date printed at the bottom was eight months earlier.
May you like
On the back, someone had written five words.
ASK DEREK WHY HE'S STERILE.
