Chapter 247
Nick stood and handed Khloe a thin file.
“It’s what you asked for.”
Khloe took it and opened it immediately.
Inside were detailed notes on Clarice and Ethan.
The deeper she read, the quieter the room became.
Both Clarice and Ethan operated in layers—public identity on top, private dealings buried beneath. They were careful, structured, and cautious enough that even with Nick’s resources, only fragments could be uncovered.
Most of what they had was about Ethan.
Clarice Davis—the second daughter of the Davis family.
Not the most favored, not the most powerful, but ambitious enough to claw her way into influence. She had used connections, leverage, and timing to secure her position in the Morrison Group through Niel. Once she had power, she never let it go easily.
Khloe’s eyes paused slightly.
Ethan was different.
Adopted at five.
Raised by Clarice.
Educated, shaped, and positioned as her most trusted piece.
His loyalty to the Morrison Group wasn’t purely ambition—it carried the weight of gratitude, dependency, and upbringing.
But one detail stood out sharply.
Ethan’s biological parents had once been accused of leaking confidential Davis family information. Before the case could fully unfold, they died in a car accident under unclear circumstances.
After that, Clarice adopted Ethan personally.
Not through an orphanage.
Not through formal procedure.
Directly.
Cleanly.
Quietly.
Khloe’s brow tightened.
“…That doesn’t make sense,” she murmured.
Nick watched her reaction carefully.
“You noticed it too,” he said.
Khloe turned the page again, slower this time.
“If his parents were only mid-level executives in the Davis family… even if they were involved in a scandal, it wouldn’t justify this level of involvement from Clarice. And adopting him personally…” Her voice lowered. “It’s too deliberate.”
Nick stepped closer.
“The report says there’s no clear evidence tying Clarice to their deaths,” he said calmly. “But absence of evidence doesn’t mean absence of involvement.”
Khloe’s fingers paused on the file.
“You think she silenced them?”
Nick didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, his gaze lingered on her face.
“Clarice is not someone who acts without benefit,” he said. “If she went that far, there must have been something she wanted to protect… or something she wanted to take.”
Khloe leaned in slightly without realizing it, caught by the implication.
Nick’s voice lowered further.
“And the interesting part is… no one ever found out what really happened that day.”
The distance between them narrowed as he spoke.
Khloe swallowed lightly. “Then it’s possible there’s something buried there.”
“Yes.”
His tone softened.
“Something very important.”
Their eyes met.
The air between them shifted—serious conversation blurring, tension quietly tightening.
Khloe noticed it a second too late.
Nick had already stepped closer.
Too close.
She instinctively tried to continue the discussion, voice slightly unsteady.
“But Ethan himself… he seems unaware. Or maybe he’s just—”
Nick closed the remaining distance and kissed her.
Not abrupt.
Not forceful.
Just enough to cut off every unfinished thought.
Khloe froze for half a second before exhaling softly, her fingers curling slightly against his shirt.
When he pulled back, his voice was calm as if nothing had happened.
“About the Fox Group,” he said. “Morrison Group invested in them.”
That sentence snapped her fully back.
Khloe blinked. “They did what?”
She pushed lightly against his chest, sitting up straighter.
Nick caught her hands before she could move away completely, holding them loosely but firmly against him.
“They invested in Fox Group,” he repeated.
Khloe’s expression darkened slightly as she processed it.
“…That sounds like Ethan and Clarice.”
Nick watched her closely.
Khloe narrowed her eyes. “They’re doing this on purpose.”
A pause.
Then she added, sharper this time:
“Are they trying to provoke me?”