After Chloe delivered her heartless ultimatum that Evelyn couldn’t be part of the wedding, she refused to discuss the matter further. Every time Leo brought up the wedding seating chart or guest list, she would completely shut down or leave the room entirely. Leo grew deeply resentful, his mind spinning with dark thoughts. The other thing was that Chloe kept the box of jewels locked in her drawer.
He began to assume the sudden influx of wealth had gone to Chloe’s head, turning his sweet fiancée into a spoiled, controlling person. She had never seemed to care about money before — were these her true colors now surfacing? How could he have been so wrong about her? It was all confusing and painful.
But then Leo noticed a series of very strange behaviors. Chloe stopped sleeping. He would wake up at 3:00 AM and find her downstairs in the dark, frantically researching obscure historical registries and estate auction archives on her laptop, her face illuminated only by the screen’s pale glow.