That was the moment the truth hit me.
This had happened before.
Maybe many times.
My daughters weren’t simply reacting to one bad morning.
They had learned how to protect each other when Chloe behaved like this.
And while it had been happening, I had been traveling.
Working.
Negotiating acquisitions.
Attending meetings.
Building companies.
I had been so focused on protecting their future that I had failed to notice what was happening inside their own home.
Chloe leaned toward them.
“Go upstairs. Now. I don’t want to see either of you down here.”
Sofia looked toward the shelf.
“Please,” she whispered. “I just want my bunny.”
Chloe laughed.
Not warmly.
Not playfully.
Coldly.
“Then maybe you should learn to listen to me.”
I stared at the monitor.
And suddenly everything Chloe had told me the previous night looked completely different.
The missing jewelry.
The money.
The perfume.
The accusations against Marisol.
The warnings that my daughters were becoming “too attached” to her.
Marisol wasn’t turning my daughters against anyone.
She had been protecting them.
And Chloe clearly wanted her gone.
What I still didn’t understand was why.
I remained in that security room, watching the woman I was supposed to marry behave like a stranger inside my own home.
And I knew one thing with absolute certainty.
The Toronto trip was over.
Because I wasn’t going anywhere.
Not until I discovered exactly what Chloe had been doing when she thought I would never see it.
