Chapter 21 Chapter 21: The Adjacent Trap.
Chloe’s POV
Liam stared at the memo for another minute before he looked up at me. His face was set in that way he had when he was calculating risks. “I am not moving in with her,” he said quietly, but his voice carried the weight of a decision already made.
The physician on speaker was still waiting for a response, so Liam told him to arrange for Kim to be transferred to the adjacent townhouse tonight and he would cover the costs for 24-hour medical staff and security, which he would personally select.
The doctor agreed to the plan and ended the call, but Liam was already moving to the next step.
I watched him dial Marcus to give instructions for the setup, but I stopped him before he could finish. “I have one condition that you have to agree to right now,” I said, crossing my arms to keep my hands from shaking. "Something is surely fishy here. So in regards to that..."
He looked at me and waited for me to continue, so I explained that I needed full administrative access to the townhouse, including keys and security codes and the right to enter at any time for Liam’s protection or to check on things.
He nodded once and told Marcus to make it happen, then he called the estate manager to prepare the space for immediate occupancy.
By midnight, the townhouse was ready.
Kim arrived on a stretcher with her personal physician walking beside her and the paparazzi were already gathered outside as if someone had tipped them off in advance.
Cameras flashed as she was wheeled inside, tears streaming down her face, for the photographers to capture every detail.
Liam stayed in the penthouse to avoid the circus, but I went over to supervise the installation and make sure the staff knew I had full run of the place.
Marcus had already set up the hidden cameras and microphones in every common area and bedroom under the official reason of fetal monitoring and security, which Liam had signed off on without question.
Once Kim was settled in the master bedroom with her IV drip and monitors beeping softly, she looked at me from the bed and thanked me for being so understanding.
I forced a smile and told her to rest, then I left the room to check the feeds on my tablet to make sure everything was recording clearly. The townhouse felt too close to the penthouse for comfort, but at least I could watch her every move now.
At 3:17 a.m., I was still awake in the guest room of the penthouse, scrolling through the live feeds on my tablet when I switched to the master bedroom camera in the townhouse.
Kim was alone, or at least she thought she was, so she sat up in bed and reached under her nightgown to remove what looked like a realistic silicone pregnancy bump.
She let out a sigh of relief as she peeled it off and placed it carefully in a locked velvet case beside the bed. She then picked up her phone and started a FaceTime call to someone whose face did not appear on screen. “He moved me in the same night,” she said, laughing softly into the camera.
“Another four weeks and I will be wearing his ring for real.” The man on the other end replied something I could not make out clearly because the audio was slightly distorted, but I recorded the entire exchange on my tablet.
His face stayed off camera, but his hand came into view when he gestured and I noticed a distinctive university ring on his finger that looked familiar, though I could not place it yet.
I got out of bed and went to the living room, where Liam was asleep on the couch. I shook his shoulder until he woke up and showed him the footage without saying a word.
He watched it with his face going pale, but when he started to stand up to head next door, I grabbed his arm and stopped him. “We need the lover’s identity and ironclad proof from the clinic before we go after her,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“One wrong move and Margaret will spin this as us harassing a pregnant woman who lost her child from stress.”
Liam sat back down and ran his hands through his hair. “You are right,” he said after a moment. “We play this smart.”
The next day, Seraphina arrived at the office with a full crew of influencers and cameras, claiming she needed real home footage for the Maldives campaign.
She pushed her way into the townhouse under the excuse of collaboration and set up without asking for permission. During an unplanned Instagram Live titled A peek into Astor family life she pulled Kim into the frame by the pool, where Kim was resting in an oversized shirt and bikini bottoms.
Kim tried to cover her stomach quickly, but the camera caught a completely flat abdomen for a split second before she could hide it.
The clip spread online within minutes and trending hashtags like #AstorBabyGone and #KimFredPregnancyFraud started popping up everywhere.
Kim claimed she had suffered a silent miscarriage overnight from stress and was devastated, while Margaret released a statement mourning the loss and blaming toxic interference.
Liam’s stock dropped five percent in pre-market trading, but Seraphina texted him privately, saying You are welcome, Lee. Now you owe me dinner alone.
Hours after the viral flat-stomach moment, Margaret fought back with a video published on a society outlet showing Kim in a hospital bed holding a fresh ultrasound from yesterday with a 22-week fetus.
The same doctor from the original paternity clinic confirmed on camera that Kim had suffered a threatened miscarriage, but the baby had survived.
Margaret included a handwritten note delivered to the penthouse saying Deny my great grandchild again and the next leak will be far more intimate. Ask Brian where he was last night.
Liam called Brian right away and Brian swore he was at a charity poker game all night with security footage to prove it. I checked the ultrasound file metadata on my burner and saw it had been edited four hours ago on a laptop registered to the Hamptons address, which was Margaret’s estate.
Liam dragged me into the townhouse’s walk-in pantry while Kim was resting in the master bedroom. He pinned me against the shelves and kissed me hard with his hand sliding up my skirt. “This is my house, my bed, my woman,” he whispered, marking my neck deliberately where Kim would see it later.
Lucy secretly met me again and handed over a flash drive with Margaret’s full medical file stamped two days ago, showing moderate vascular dementia with paranoid delusions. She begged me to wait until we had the lover on camera before using it.
Voss sent a single encrypted video clip to the burner showing thirty seconds of Liam and an unidentified redhead leaving a Miami club three months ago with his hand possessively on her ass. The caption said I keep receipts, too, little bird.
Mia called me sobbing, saying Kim visited the hospital again and showed her new ultrasound pictures and told her your sister will be gone soon and you will finally have a real family.
At 4:12 a.m. the following night, I was alone monitoring the townhouse feed. The master bedroom door opened silently and a tall figure in a black hoodie slipped inside. Kim greeted him with a guttural kiss and pulled the hoodie off, then guided his hands under her shirt.
The man turned just enough for the hidden camera to catch his profile in the moonlight. It was Brian Liam’s best friend since prep school.
Kim murmured against his mouth loud enough for the mic to catch. Once the new fake bump arrives tomorrow and the second paternity sample is switched, he will have no choice but to marry me before the Maldives gala, then we take everything.
Brian chuckled and if Chloe figures it out too soon? Kim’s smile was ice, then Margaret gets her wish and accidents happen in townhouses too. The feed froze on my face as every betrayal snapped into perfect, horrifying focus.