Playing the Victim

Without waiting for a single word of permission, Chloe shoved the heavy brass door wide open. She leaned her full weight on her custom crutches, the metal tips thudding dull and loud against the expensive carpet of the club.

"Dominic, I am coming in!" she called out. Her internal anxiety clawed at her chest, making her abandon all her usual refined manners in her frantic rush to get inside the private room.

Dominic frowned in deep displeasure. His dark eyes shifted from the cowering woman on the floor to the sudden intruder at the door. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at your scheduled rehabilitation session today?"

Chloe ignored his sharp question. Her calculating gaze darted across the dim space. She spotted a startled, shivering Audrey huddled on the cold floor, desperately clutching a torn cleaner's uniform to her chest. From that pathetic sight, Chloe's eyes snapped directly to Dominic.

He stood towering over the scene. His expensive suit jacket was discarded on the floor, his collar was ripped wide open, and his usually impeccable dress shirt was left in a disheveled state. Most damningly, his pale lips were freshly stained with dark, smeared blood. It painted a glaring, inescapable picture of the violent intimacy that had just transpired between the two of them.

Acting on instinct, Chloe forced her eyes to turn red-rimmed and watery. She slipped right into playing the ultimate traumatized victim.

"When was she released, Dominic? Why are you secretly alone with her in this room?" she demanded, letting her voice tremble with rehearsed betrayal.

Dominic snorted. He casually raised his hands and began fixing his ruined shirt, his demeanor unfazed by her tears. "Haven't you already found out from Valerie? Otherwise, you wouldn't have rushed all the way down to the club this late at night."

Throwing herself deeper into the role of the traumatized survivor, Chloe cried out to him. "Dominic, she is Audrey! How could you possibly forget that she is the monster who tried to murder me?"

Throughout this theatrical performance, Audrey remained dead silent on the floor. She mechanically pulled her oversized, torn cleaner uniform straight, ignoring the stinging pain radiating from her bitten lip. Using the wall for support, she pushed her battered body up from the floor and limped quietly toward the open door, keeping her head down.

"Please make way," Audrey asked in a soft, deadened voice.

Deeply distressed that Audrey wasn't cowering in shame on the floor, Chloe interrogated her. "Do you hate me this much? Did you not cause enough damage to me two years ago? Just what are your sinister motives for returning to our circle right after getting out of prison?"

To Chloe's absolute shock, Dominic interjected with a cold sneer. "I am the one who sought her out. I forced her to come to Apex Club."

Chloe froze, her jaw dropping slightly as she gripped her crutches tighter. "Dominic? Why?"

He arched a dark brow at her, his voice dripping with pure sarcasm. "Are the Caldwells now obligated to report their hiring decisions to you and your brother?"

Audrey stood leaning most of her weight on her good leg. She sized up the frail-looking Chloe leaning on her jewel-encrusted crutches. A sudden, self-deprecating snort escaped Audrey's lips. She thought about the sheer horrific injustice of it all. She had her leg shattered by a heavy golf club, leaving her permanently crippled. She rotted away for two miserable years behind bars in a living hell, forced to endure endless torment. She was stripped of her dignity, her future, and her freedom. Yet, Chloe remained the exact same manipulative liar, standing here in expensive clothes and acting like a flawless, innocent saint.

Fixing Chloe with a piercing, dead-eyed gaze, Audrey spoke. "Just who is the real victim here, Chloe? When are you finally going to tell the truth?"

Chloe instantly paled. The blood drained from her delicate face as she raised her voice in aggrieved denial. "What are you talking about? Why are you still trying to deny the ruthless things you did to me?"

Audrey found she couldn't care less to stay and argue. She knew with absolute certainty that no one in this room, or this entire world, would ever believe her word over Chloe's pristine reputation. She smoothed down her filthy uniform and brushed past the angry woman.

"Two years have passed. I have no energy left to argue right and wrong with you. I still have toilets to clean, so excuse me." Audrey bypassed the duo, stepping out into the bright hallway without looking back.

Dominic stood frozen in the center of the room. He watched Audrey's retreating, limping figure fade into the corridor. A storm of incomprehensible emotions darkened his deep eyes, locking onto her broken silhouette until she disappeared from sight.

Catching his intense, lingering gaze, a frantic uneasiness flared within Chloe's chest. She moved in closer. She quickly wrapped her arm tight around his solid bicep, pressing into his side so she looked defenseless and sweet.

"Dominic, you have to believe me. I only rushed over out of severe fear that she would put on her old disguise to viciously trick you and Gideon all over again."

Dominic glanced down at her clinging arm, his brow furrowing in irritation. "What exactly are you afraid of?"

Leaning heavier into his side, Chloe wove a brand new lie to redirect his dangerous focus. "Two years ago, I discovered she was deceiving you while trying to seduce Gideon behind everyone's back. That humiliating discovery is what made Audrey furious enough to try and run me over with a car. But now she is out and reappearing right in front of you. Gideon was so bewitched by Audrey that he actually wanted to break off his prestigious engagement with Valerie. I am genuinely terrified it will happen again."

Dominic narrowed his dark eyes. The air around him turned grim and cold, dropping the temperature in the room.

"Are you telling me that Gideon wanted to break up with Valerie entirely because of Audrey?"