Chapter 8 - The Traitor’s Price
Khloe Vance—no,
her real name was Khloe Jenkins—was sitting in a cramped,
budget hotel room near the airport.
She was frantically trying to log into her offshore bank account,
the one Carter had promised was filled with "security funds" for her.
Every time she entered the password,
the same message appeared:
ACCOUNT TERMINATED. FUNDS RECOVERED BY THE VANCE TRUST.
She let out a scream of frustration and threw her phone against the wall.
It didn't break,
but the screen cracked,
a perfect metaphor for her life.
She had thought she was the one playing the game.
She had thought she had successfully seduced a billionaire and secured her future.
She didn't realize she was just a pawn I had allowed her to move until it was time to take her off the board.
There was a knock at the door.
"Carter?"
she called out,
hope flaring in her chest.
"Is that you?"
She opened the door,
but it wasn't the broken CEO.
It was two men in dark suits and a woman holding a legal tablet.
"Khloe Jenkins?"
the woman asked,
her voice as dry as parchment.
"I’m an investigator representing the Vance Trust.
We have a few things to discuss."
"I don't have to talk to you,"
Khloe spat,
trying to shut the door.
One of the men put a heavy boot in the way.
"Actually,"
the woman said,
entering the room without waiting,
"you do.
We’ve spent the last forty-eight hours reviewing your employment contract.
You know,
the one you signed when you were hired as Mr. Sterling’s secretary?"
Khloe turned pale.
"What about it?"
"There’s a very specific clause regarding 'Moral Turpitude' and 'Corporate Misconduct',"
the investigator explained,
sitting on the edge of the unmade bed.
"It turns out that accepting gifts,
jewelry,
and luxury travel from a superior using company funds is a direct violation of your contract.
It also constitutes a form of corporate embezzlement since you were aware the funds were not authorized."
"I didn't know!"
Khloe shouted.
"He told me it was his money!"
"Ignorance is not a defense in a billion-dollar fraud case,"
the woman replied.
"We have the logs from your company credit card.
We have the GPS data from the jet.
And we have the recordings of you bragging to your friends about how you were 'bleeding the Sterlings dry'."
Khloe sank into a chair,
her bravado disappearing.
"What do you want?"
"Ms. Vance is a generous woman,"
the investigator said,
and I could almost hear the irony in her voice.
"She’s willing to drop the criminal charges against you.
On three conditions."
"Anything,"
Khloe whispered.
"First,
you will sign an affidavit detailing every illegal financial move Carter Sterling made in your presence.
Second,
you will return every single item he bought you—the watches,
the bags,
the car,
everything.
If it was bought with Sterling money,
it belongs to the Trust now."
Khloe’s eyes welled with tears.
"That’s everything I have."
"Third,"
the investigator continued,
ignoring her,
"you will leave this city tonight.
You are banned from the tech industry for life.
If you ever speak to a journalist,
or try to write a 'tell-all' book,
the NDAs you signed will trigger a liquidated damages clause of fifty million dollars."
The investigator stood up and handed Khloe a pen.
"Sign here,
and you can walk out of this room with the clothes on your back.
Don't sign,
and the police waiting in the lobby will take you to a cell that won't be nearly as comfortable as this hotel."
Khloe looked at the paper.
She looked at the cracked screen of her phone.
She realized that she had been a fool.
She had tried to steal a man’s heart,
but she had accidentally walked into a woman’s trap.
She signed the papers.
As the investigators left,
the woman turned back one last time.
"Oh,
and one more thing from Ms. Vance,"
she said.
"She wanted you to know that the orange you fed Carter on the plane?
It was from a batch that had been recalled for being overly bitter.
She thought it was fitting."
Khloe was left alone in the silence of the room.
May you like
She had come for the crown,
but she hadn't even been allowed to keep the crumbs.
