Chapter 85
Benjamin was walking toward her in a well-fitted suit, handsome and upright.
In an instant, rage surged through Chloe.
It wasn't hard to guess — he had to be here to visit that btch Charlotte.
The thought only fed the jealousy burning inside her. She slipped behind a nearby pillar and watched him from the shadows.
Luckily, the ward was busy enough that he didn't notice her.
But what happened next caught her off guard. Benjamin didn't walk into the ward at all. He stopped right at the entrance.
Chloe froze.
What? He wasn't here to see...
Before she could finish the thought, a woman stepped out of the building.
She was dressed in a sharp business suit, with a slender figure and polished composure, a faint smile on her face as she walked straight toward Benjamin.
Benjamin seemed to spot her too. His expression softened into a warm smile.
He reached out and took the document bag from her hand with ease, then wrapped his other arm around her waist and leaned down to whisper something in her ear.
The woman let out a quiet laugh and shot something back, making Benjamin burst into laughter. He leaned in and pressed a light kiss to her cheek.
The scene hit Chloe like a thunderbolt. She stood completely frozen, her mind blank.
Benjamin was having an affair?
A wave of betrayal and humiliation crashed over her all at once, twisting something deep inside her chest.
She had thought stealing Charlotte's fiancé made her the winner.
But what she ended up with wasn't a pearl. It was a fake.
---
Back in the hospital room, the smile faded from Charlotte's face the moment Chloe left. Her expression turned cold and distant.
She was sitting on the bed, lost in thought, when the door swung open again. Alexander strode in, his face dark with barely contained fury.
He already knew. That much was obvious.
"Where is he?"
Alexander scanned the room, his voice heavy with anger.
Charlotte nodded toward the bathroom. "In there. It's been handled."
His expression darkened further. He crossed the room in a few quick steps and shoved the bathroom door open with a loud bang.
The moment he saw the man still slumped unconscious on the floor, his eyes went cold.
"Chloe did this?"
"Who else would it be?"
Alexander's jaw clenched, his voice rough with anger.
"She wanted you to — she's got a death wish."
He pulled out his phone, clearly about to make a call.
"Wait."
Charlotte caught his intent right away and reached out to stop him.
"What for?" Alexander's brow was deeply furrowed, his eyes full of fury and something sharper. "She pulled a stunt this low — you're really going to let her walk?"
"That's not what I said."
Charlotte's tone was calm, but there was something cold and deliberate moving beneath the surface. "If she just disappears like that, she gets off too easy."
"Besides, she was never the real target."
"This man and that nurse — they're both witnesses. The evidence against Chloe for hiring someone and causing harm is solid. We can have her arrested anytime we want."
"But not yet. We have to wait."
Alexander looked at her, reading the hard lines of her profile. Something seemed to click. His anger settled into a quieter resolve.
"So you're playing the long game."
Charlotte gave a slow nod, her gaze steady as it met his. "Everything that happened last night — I've got a pretty clear picture now."
"The Johnson family looks powerful on the surface. Old money, old influence. But underneath, it's rotten to the core."
"Chloe got her hands on untraceable drugs and bribed a hospital nurse. You really think she pulled all that off on her own? That's a stretch."
Alexander went quiet, a shadow moving across his expression.
"So what I need to do is flush them out, one by one. Make them expose themselves in the open, on their own."
Charlotte's voice was soft, but there was something in it — quiet and cutting. "I want everything back. Every last bit of it, with interest."
Alexander watched her for a long moment, then put his phone away and stepped back.
A second later, he moved toward her. He reached out and gently touched her cheek, his thumb tracing lightly across her skin, worry and something tender settling in his eyes.
"Alright. We do it your way."
"Just — don't get hurt. That's all I ask."
Their eyes met. Charlotte's heart skipped a beat and her mind went briefly, unexpectedly still.
She caught herself, took a step back, and moved out of his reach.
"Right, I'll — I'll be careful."
"Now. We should deal with whoever's in that bathroom."
She turned and walked in.
The noise they'd made must have been enough, because the man was already stirring, though not fully awake.
Charlotte walked up to him without a word, pulled the towel out of his mouth, grabbed the showerhead from the wall, and turned the cold water on full blast directly onto his face.
The shock of it snapped him awake instantly.
The first thing he saw was Alexander standing behind Charlotte, his face so dark it looked like a storm about to break.
The man flinched hard and shrank into the corner, eyes wide with fear.
"Start talking," Charlotte said flatly, arms folded. "How did Chloe contact you? How much did she pay you? Every detail, and don't leave anything out."
"If you lie even once..."
The threat in her voice was enough. The man's teeth started chattering.
"Two nights ago, someone who goes by Nine reached out to me. Said there was a job, asked if I was in."
"He set up a meeting with Chloe. She gave me a hundred thousand in cash and a small vial. Told me to get in here last night and get it done."
"What was in the vial?" Alexander cut in sharply.
"I — I don't know." The man shook his head, voice unsteady. "She just said it would make the person weak, like they couldn't move. And it would mess with their head, make them feel feverish."
"She told me to give it to the nurse, have her slip it to Miss Charlotte, then go in about half an hour later and film it."
"Film what, exactly?"
Alexander's voice dropped to something ice-cold. His hands hung at his sides, balled into white-knuckled fists.
The man heard the knuckles cracking and swallowed hard, unable to meet Alexander's eyes.
"Just... the kind of footage where she's not... not dressed. Or where it looks like she and I were... together."
"She said once I sent her the photos and video... the other hundred thousand would go straight to my account."