Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
The first page slid out before anyone could stop me.
Bank transfers.
Dates.
Amounts.
Chloe's name printed clearly at the top of every one.
Daniel's mother picked it up before he could grab it.
She read it once.
Then again.
Her hands started to shake.
"Fifteen thousand dollars," she said quietly.
"Daniel…
what is this?"
Daniel's chair scraped back.
"Jennifer, put that away right now.
You're embarrassing yourself."
"Sit down," I said.
"I'm not finished."
The second page was the Messenger screenshots.
I placed it flat on the table so everyone could see.
His father leaned forward and went very still.
The line was right there, highlighted in yellow.
*"You don't need to worry about Jennifer.
I have a plan to handle that side of things."*
Someone at the far table stood up to look.
A coworker.
Then another.
Daniel turned to the room.
"She's not well.
She just had a baby.
She doesn't know what she's—"
"Her name is Chloe," I said clearly.
"She's pregnant.
And Daniel has been paying her rent, her hospital bills, and her groceries for the past seven months.
With our savings."
The room didn't make a sound.
Then Daniel's mother set the page down very slowly and turned to look at her son.
That look on her face was something I had never seen before.
And in that moment, Daniel's phone lit up on the table.
The name on the screen was Chloe.
---
What Jennifer did next — and what Daniel's mother said when she saw that call — is in the full story.
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