He, who always controlled his emotions, was now being affected. Chloe could see through his facade, and that made him feel vulnerable. As Lucas wrestled with his thoughts, Chloe carried on with her routine. She seemed more distant each day, almost as if she were waiting for something. Lucas felt like there was an invisible wall between them, something he couldn’t break through, and it tormented him.
He didn’t know if it was pride or the fear of losing control, but something about Chloe drew him in in a way he never imagined possible.
«You’re different, Lucas,» said Jack, his friend who had proposed the bet, during a casual dinner. «Normally, you’d have everything under control by now, but it seems like this woman’s challenging you in a way no one else has.»
Lucas gave a forced smile, unable to respond right away. He hated to admit that Jack was right, but it was clear something was changing. That night, Lucas came home determined to settle things. He needed to get Chloe out of his head, to remind himself that this was just a contract, nothing more.
When he walked into the penthouse, he found Chloe on the couch, reading a book, completely unaware of his presence. «Can we talk?» Lucas asked, breaking the silence that had become the norm between them.
Chloe looked up, calmly closed her book, and gazed at him with a serene but attentive expression. «Of course,» she replied, as if she’d been waiting for this moment.
Lucas sat across from her, trying to find the right words. The tension between them was palpable. He knew he couldn’t treat this marriage like a simple formality anymore. Something was changing, and he had to face it head-on. «What are we doing here, Chloe?» he asked, with a sincerity that even surprised him. «This started as a game, a bet, but I don’t know what to think anymore.»
Chloe stared at him for a few seconds before responding. «I’m not playing, Lucas. I never was.» Her voice was calm but full of meaning. «From the beginning, I accepted this marriage for reasons that go beyond you. I don’t care about the money or your control over things. I’m here for something bigger, and if you haven’t realized that by now, maybe it’s time to open your eyes.»
Lucas felt a tightness in his chest. It was as if she were revealing a secret he still couldn’t figure out. Frustration consumed him. «I know you have your secrets, Chloe, but what irritates me is, the more I try to understand you, the more I realize I’m not in control. And I hate that.» He suddenly stood up, unable to stay still, as if the weight of that revelation was too much to bear.
Chloe remained calm, watching his every move. She slowly got up and walked toward him, stopping just a few inches away. Lucas felt his heart race. «Lucas,» she began, her voice low and soft. «This isn’t about control. You’ve always lived trying to dominate everything and everyone, but with me, you’ll have to learn that control isn’t always the answer. Sometimes things just need to be what they are.»
Lucas looked into her eyes, and for a moment, he felt a connection he’d never felt before. It was like, for the first time, he was truly seeing Chloe for who she was, not as a piece in his game. «So what do you want?» he asked, his voice softer now, almost a whisper.
Chloe smiled, a mysterious smile that gave him chills. «I want you to figure that out for yourself, Lucas.» And with that, she walked away, leaving him there, alone with his thoughts.
In the following days, the distance between them seemed to grow, but in a strange way, Lucas began to feel closer to Chloe than ever before. He was obsessed with figuring out what she was hiding, what her true intentions were. At the same time, he felt like he was losing control of himself. He didn’t want to admit it, but Chloe was changing the way he saw the world, and the very idea that she could be affecting him so deeply terrified him.
The six months of marriage were almost over, but for Lucas Marshall, each day felt like an eternity. He could hardly sleep. The looming revelation he felt he was on the verge of discovering made his stomach turn. Chloe had become an enigmatic presence in his life. He thought of her not just as the woman he married on a bet, but as someone who knew something he couldn’t grasp.
The obsession to understand Chloe consumed him. He had tried everything to uncover the secret she carried, but each answer only led to more questions. Lucas hired detectives, dug into her past, and followed every lead he could, but everything seemed carefully orchestrated by Chloe. It was as if she was always two steps ahead, controlling the game from the very beginning.
One night, after a business meeting, Lucas arrived at the penthouse later than usual. The balcony light was on, and there was Chloe, sitting, looking out over New York like a queen overseeing her empire. He knew that tonight was when everything would be revealed. Lucas felt she was ready to tell him what he had been so desperate to know, but the fear of what he might hear made his throat tighten.
He walked toward her, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the quiet room. Chloe didn’t turn around right away. The air was heavy, almost as if both knew something devastating was about to unfold. «I need answers, Chloe,» Lucas said, his voice firm, though his heart raced. «I can’t take this game anymore. You have to tell me the truth.»
Chloe sighed slowly and rose from her chair, turning to face him. Her eyes, usually calm and calculating, now shone with an emotion Lucas couldn’t decipher. There was something new in her, something dark and fierce. «The truth, Lucas?» She gave a bitter smile, crossing her arms. «Do you really want the truth?»
He nodded without hesitation, but the tension in the air grew with each passing second. Lucas braced himself for any answer, but nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to hear. «You have no idea who I am,» Chloe began, her voice carrying a chilling coldness. «You’ve always seen people as pawns on your chessboard, but this time, Lucas, you were the pawn. I’d been playing this game from the start.»
Lucas felt a shiver run down his spine. The certainty he always had about being in control was beginning to crumble in front of her. He tried to speak, but Chloe didn’t let him. «Do you remember the name Richards?» she continued, her voice growing sharper. «Of course you don’t. People like you never remember. My father owned a small company, one that struggled to survive until you came along and destroyed it.»
Lucas stepped back, his eyes wide, his mind racing, trying to connect the dots. «What?» Lucas stammered, confused. «What are you talking about?»
Chloe took a step toward him, her eyes burning with anger and pain. «My father, Lucas. He was an honest man, struggling to support our family until you came along and took everything. You ruined him, Lucas. He lost everything, and it led to his death.»
Chloe paused, her voice breaking for a moment before she continued, tears welling up in her eyes. «My father killed himself because of your empire, your success at any cost.»
The impact of her words hit Lucas like a punch to the gut. He stood there, frozen, as memories slowly resurfaced. There had been so many deals, so many contracts, so many lives affected by his greedy hands. He couldn’t remember every company he crushed to rise to the top. But now, suddenly, it was all coming back to haunt him.
«Chloe,» he tried to interrupt, desperate, but she raised her hand, stopping him.
«No!» she shouted, her anger boiling over. «You have no idea what you caused. It’s not just about money, Lucas. It’s about destroyed lives. You took my father from me, the only person I had in the world. And while you thrived, my mother and I sank into debt and despair. You lived your life in luxury, and we barely had anything to eat.»
Lucas was completely stunned. He wanted to speak, to defend himself, but no words came out. All he could do was stand there, staring at her as the weight of guilt pressed down on his chest. «But I planned everything,» Chloe continued, her tone now more controlled but still filled with resentment. «When I learned about your bet, I saw my chance. I approached you on purpose. I accepted the bet because I wanted you to feel just a fraction of what I felt. I wanted you to know what it’s like to be played, manipulated, and left powerless.»
Lucas felt his body tremble. He had always thought he was in control, always believed he would come out victorious. But now, the tables had turned. He was the target, and Chloe, the player, was controlling the entire board. «Chloe,» Lucas began to speak, but his voice was weak. «I… I didn’t know. I didn’t know you were…»
«No, Lucas,» Chloe interrupted, stepping closer until she was face to face with him. «You never knew because you never cared. You destroyed lives without a second thought. And now, I’m here not to destroy you, but to make sure you never forget what you did. I want you to feel the pain you caused, and that pain, Lucas, will haunt you for the rest of your life.»
Chloe’s words fell over him like a sentence. Lucas was faced with something he had never experienced before: the real consequences of his actions. The weight of guilt was crushing, and he knew in that moment he had lost much more than a simple bet. He had lost something he could never get back.
Chloe stepped away, the silence echoing through the penthouse. Lucas felt his legs give out, and he collapsed onto the couch, speechless, with no answers. All that remained was emptiness.
Chloe’s revelation reverberated in Lucas’s mind like a relentless thunderstorm. Every word she spoke shattered, piece by piece, the world he thought he knew. The woman he thought he could manipulate, who he considered just a pawn in his game of power and bets, had just flipped the entire board. For the first time, Lucas didn’t know how to react. For the first time, he was truly out of control.
Chloe, however, didn’t give him time to process. After dropping the truth about her family’s destruction and her father’s suicide, she left him alone in the room, abandoned to his own guilt. Lucas stood there, motionless, the air in the penthouse suffocating as if everything around him were collapsing. He wanted to talk to her, to apologize, to explain the inexplicable. But the truth was, no words came. How could he justify something so cruel, something that had caused so much pain?
In the days following her revelation, Chloe did exactly what Lucas feared most: she completely ignored him. Her presence was a constant reminder of his failure. She walked past him as if he were invisible, as if his existence was nothing more than a shadow. At breakfast, she sat in silence, barely lifting her eyes. When he tried to speak, his words died in the air, unable to break through the wall she had built between them.
Lucas, who was used to commanding the room, to being the center of attention, was now being ignored in his own home. The absence of attention was unbearable. Chloe spoke to the staff and handled her personal affairs, but with Lucas, it was as if he didn’t exist. The weight of this forced silence was slowly destroying the man he thought he was.
