Chapter 274
Clarice was still seething when Ethan left.
If he returned home like this, she could already imagine how it would end—another long night of silence, pressure, and consequences he would be forced to swallow alone.
But what bothered Ethan more wasn’t Clarice’s anger.
It was Khloe.
Everything she had said today lingered in his mind like a thorn he couldn’t pull out. He didn’t know what to do with it, or where to put it, only that he needed somewhere to go—some place where the noise in his head could quiet down.
He had plenty of contacts, plenty of connections.
But none of them were real.
Everyone wanted something. Status, benefits, leverage, affection. No one stayed simply because he needed them to.
Only Charlotte hated him outright.
And strangely enough, that felt honest enough to stand.
“People get what they deserve,” Charlotte said flatly, her voice trembling only slightly. “I just want to work normally at the company. If you don’t target Khloe, don’t threaten me, and don’t harass me anymore… I’ll treat you like a senior executive. That’s my goodwill. That’s it.”
The words landed like a final boundary being drawn.
Whatever sympathy she had once felt toward him was gone now.
Ethan’s earlier lies—his attempts to manipulate her, even his absurd claim that they had once been intimate—left only disgust behind.
Charlotte ignored the door after that.
No matter how hard he knocked, she didn’t open it.
But she also didn’t call the police.
And that silence—half mercy, half refusal—kept Ethan standing outside longer than he should have been.
Eventually, everything went quiet.
Charlotte hesitated at the peephole.
Dark hallway.
Empty.
Gone?
She slowly opened the door.
The next second—
A heavy weight collapsed forward.
“Ah—!”
She barely managed to stop herself from screaming as Ethan’s body fell right at her feet.
The hallway light flickered on.
He was there.
Slumped against her door, face flushed from alcohol, clothes disordered, one arm still hooked around his coat. His injured hand hung limply, the scar across his palm stark under the light.
“…Ethan?” Charlotte whispered, stunned.
He didn’t respond.
For a moment, she just stood there.
Then, muttering something under her breath, she grabbed his arm and dragged him inside with effort. She only managed to move him just past the doorway before stopping.
That was far enough.
Anything further felt like inviting trouble.
“Let’s call it even,” she said tightly.
She cleaned up the mess outside the door with visible reluctance, then brought a towel and wiped his face roughly, like she was erasing evidence rather than caring for him.
He was passed out.
But not harmless.
Charlotte made a decision quickly—she’d sleep in her room with the door locked. He could stay in the entryway. A blanket was all he’d get.
Nothing more.
As she bent to pull his coat away, something slipped out of his pocket.
A wallet.
Then a photograph slid onto the floor.
Charlotte froze.
Her fingers trembled before she even picked it up.
The girl in the picture—
Her breath caught.
It was her childhood friend.
The one she had grown up with like a sister.
The one who had jumped from a building last year after a breakup.
Charlotte’s hand slowly covered her mouth.
“No…”
Her voice broke into the silence.
At exactly ten the next morning, Khloe arrived at Fox Group headquarters.
She had already verified everything.
From this moment on, she was no longer a guest in this company—she held controlling authority.
Before stepping inside, she had already reserved the top-floor boardroom and contacted the media the night before. A carefully timed report had been set in motion.
By the time Trey received the notification, he had already begun preparing.
He wasn’t surprised.
In his mind, this was inevitable.
Khloe had been deceived for too long. Anyone in her position would want to make a statement. And now that she held fifty percent of the shares, she had every right to do so.
He had prepared everything for her arrival.
Her favorite drinks. A private reservation at her preferred restaurant. Even a small surprise—something to ease the tension between them.
A reset.
A new beginning.
But when the boardroom doors opened—
Everything he expected shattered.
Khloe stepped in first.
Back straight. Expression calme.
Behind her were two lawyers carrying briefcases and a court officer in uniform holding official documents.
The air in the room changed instantly.
Trey rose halfway.
“Khloe…”
But the words stalled.
Because this wasn’t the woman he expected to see.
This wasn’t someone coming to reconcile.
This was someone coming to close a case.