1 locked eyes with Ava, and her surprise mirrored mine.


    The recording ended abruptly with the sound of stomping feet.


    “Is that Ethan storming away from Chloe?” I asked.


    “I assume so. Isn’t it strange how rude and disgusted he seems towards his former mistress and future bride?”


    I nodded in agreement.


    “There’s something else the device caught too,” Ava said as her thumbs moved over her phone screen. “It’s from a conversation that Chloe had with her future mother–inw, Amelia.”


    “Ethan’s mother,” I said in a low voice. “My former mother–inw.”


    Ava squeezed my shoulder. “Yes. It’s from after a dinner at the Hawthorne estate. Amelia and Chloe seem to be having a conversation in the garden.”


    I nodded for her to y the recording.


    “Please, can you just speak to your son,” Chloe’s voice said through the phone speakers. Her tone was full of anguish. “He’s been so cruel to metely. I just love him so much. Why can’t he be kind to me?”


    “I will not speak to him,” Amelia replied. Her cold voice sent a shiver through my body. It was an indifferent tone I knew all too well. “You don’t have to marry my son if you don’t like the way he treats you.”


    “I’ll tell people what I know if you push me too far, Amelia,” Chloe


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    said. Her voice had changed from one of sadness to threatening. It made me gasp. How could her mood change so fast? “I know about all the shady things that go on in the Hawthorne family. I know that your husband has a mistress overseas and that he has an illegitimate neen–year–old child who will jump at the chance to move here andpete with Ethan to inherit the Hawthorne fortune. If that happens, your ce in this family will be jeopardized. Your luxurious life will go down the drain with just one phone call. Are you willing to risk that?”


    My mouth dropped open in shock.


    On the recording, Amelia is sputtering in indignation. “You nasty girl! How dare you threaten me like that! I knew that you were an evil bitch when you stole my son away from Olivia. You will be the downfall of my son. I just know it!“”


    Woah. I couldn’t believe that Amelia was sticking up for me. I always thought she had disliked me.


    “No, you will be the downfall of your son if you don’t help me!” Chloe


    countered.


    “If you continue with these threats, I will have no choice but to expose that your pregnancy is fake! I know that you are only using it to trap my son so that he will marry you!” Amelia’s loud voice shouted through the phone and seemed to echo through the room.


    *Olivia*


    “You don’t scare me,” Chloe’s voice said from the recording. Her tone was full of malice and made the hair on the back of my neck raise. “You can’t expose my secrets, especially since I know certain things about you.”


    “Yeah? What other things do you think you know about me, little


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    girl?” Ame asked.


    I could tell that she was trying to be tough, but I could hear a slight tremor in her voice. Ethan’s mom was terrified of what else Chloe knew about the Hawthrone family.


    “I have some pictures of you that are…unttering to say the least,” Chloe said, and even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew that she was smirking.


    J


    Amelia gasped. “What kind of pictures?”


    But Chloe wouldn’t answer the older woman’s question. She simplyughed.


    “Chloe, what kind of pictures! Answer me right this instant!”


    But she refused. All Chloe did was let out another cruel chuckle. “You


    should be careful with who you threaten. You might have a little… ident.”


    Then, the recording abruptly ended.


    Ava and I were silent for a long time, our thoughts upied with what we had just heard.


    “Woah, that was a lot,” I finally said and crossed my legs, turning toward her.


    “I didn’t know that the Hawthrone family had so many secrets,” Ava said with wide eyes.


    “Me neither,” I said. “I mean, I knew that they weren’t squeaky clean by any means, but I had no idea that Ethan’s dad had a mistress overseas and an illegitimate child. I wonder if Ethan knows about any of this?”


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    Ava snorted and crossed her arms. “Honestly, Chloe doesn’t even have to do anything to destroy the Hawthrone family. Soon, they will burn themselves down from the inside with all of their lies and drama.”


    “You’re probably right about that,” I agreed and picked up my empty beer bottle. I started to rip off the sticker on the front as I thought about Chloe’s fake pregnancy. “I wonder if Ethan knows that Chloe is faking her pregnancy?”