Chapter 10 - The Mistress at the Coffee Shop
On Saturday afternoon, I decided to take a walk through the bustling streets of River North. I needed fresh air, and more importantly, there was one loose thread I wanted to observe with my own eyes.
I stopped outside an upscale artisan coffee shop located directly beneath the luxury high-rise where Ethan had signed his fraudulent lease with Chloe Bennett.
I ordered an iced latte, sat down at an outdoor bistro table behind dark designer sunglasses, and waited.
Within twenty minutes, a sleek black ride-share pulled up to the curb. Out stepped Chloe Bennett.
She looked completely different from the glamorous, heavily filtered photos on her social media. Her blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun, she wore no makeup, and she was aggressively yelling into her phone as she marched toward the building entrance.
"I don't care, Ethan!" she screamed, her voice carrying across the sidewalk. "You told me you were a multi-millionaire venture capitalist! You told me your wife was an abusive psycho who stole your tech company! Now I have sheriff deputies showing up at my design firm, my name is on a county fraud docket, and the leasing office just canceled the penthouse!"
I took a slow sip of my coffee, watching the drama unfold like a private theater performance.
"Don't you dare call me again!" Chloe shrieked into the phone. "You're living in a cheap motel on the outskirts of Cicero with your horrible mother! You're broke! You're a total fraud! If you ever contact me or come near my studio, I’m filing an emergency restraining order!"
She slammed the end-call button, threw her hands in the air, and burst into angry, frustrated tears right there on the sidewalk before storming away down the block.
I lowered my sunglasses and smiled.
Ethan had promised his young mistress a fairy-tale life financed by the destruction of the woman who had sheltered and fed him for three years. In the end, he had lost the mistress, lost the penthouse, lost the diamond ring, and exposed his pathetic reality to the entire world.
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The poetic justice was breathtaking.
I finished my coffee, stood up, and strolled leisurely through the city streets. For the first time in half a decade, my future belonged entirely to me.
