Khloe invited Isla to sit in the dining room, which was already elegantly prepared. On the table were seared scallops, Wagyu steak, and other luxury dishes. There were no alcoholic beverages. Khloe only served fresh orange juice and cold mineral water, in line with the life principles that Isla had always ridiculed behind her back as old-fashioned. The atmosphere at dinner was strange. Ethan tried too hard to break the ice with bad jokes. Isla laughed too loudly in response to those jokes. Khloe just smiled politely, interjecting occasionally with short phrases.
In the middle of dinner, Khloe began her attack. She poured mineral water for Isla into her empty glass. With a fixed gaze and a hard to interpret smile, Khloe said in a low but firm voice that she should eat a lot. Khloe commented that Isla seemed fuller lately. Her cheeks were fuller and her aura was different. Khloe deliberately paused in her sentence, making Isla’s and Ethan’s hearts stop for a moment, before continuing by saying that Isla looked like someone who was expecting great happiness. Isla’s face, which was previously flushed with makeup, paled instantly. The fork in her hand clinked softly against the plate. Ethan choked on his drink, coughing a little to hide his nervousness. Khloe quickly offered a napkin to Ethan, patting his back affectionately. She asked in an innocent tone if Ethan was okay, why he reacted so exaggeratedly just because she had praised Isla for gaining weight. Ethan quickly shook his head, saying he had just choked. Isla, who had already regained her composure, tried to smile forcibly, saying that perhaps she had been eating too much lately due to work stress. Khloe nodded as if she believed her, but her gaze remained fixed on Isla’s eyes, as if she were baring her friend’s soul.
Then, Khloe began to talk about the plans for the $10 million. She said she wanted to renovate the house and perhaps donate a large portion to a charitable foundation because she and Ethan did not need that much money. Hearing the word donate, Isla’s and Ethan’s eyes widened. They looked at each other in panic and quickly interrupted her, saying it would be a shame to donate it, that it was better to invest it for the future of their children. Khloe smiled to herself. Her bait had worked. The fear of losing the money they did not yet have was beginning to corrode their sanity.
The night ended with Isla leaving early with the excuse of not feeling well, leaving Khloe at the doorstep with a victorious smile. One act was over and the enemy’s morale was already beginning to waver. After the tense dinner, Ethan became even more obsessed with the money. Khloe’s phrase about donating the money left him in a state of panic. He felt he had to secure the assets or make a large financial commitment so that Khloe could not dispose of the money at her whim to a foundation. In Ethan’s narrow mind, poisoned by Isla and his mother, the $10 million was his right as compensation for his patience in putting up with Khloe all these years.
Ethan began to leave the house frequently with the excuse of meeting clients or inspecting construction sites, when in reality he was looking for a luxury house with Isla. Isla, feeling her position threatened after Khloe’s hint at dinner, demanded that Ethan buy her a house immediately as proof of his seriousness and as a guarantee for the future of the child she was carrying. The woman kept complaining and inciting Ethan, telling him that Khloe could change her mind at any moment, so they had to act quickly. Ethan took Isla to see a newly built luxury estate on the outskirts of the city. The houses were in a modern classic style with imposing pillars. Just as in Isla’s dreams, they stopped in front of the largest unit on a corner, a two-story house with a private pool and a spacious garden. Isla fell in love at first sight. She walked through the rooms with shining eyes, imagining herself as the lady of that palace, hosting lavish parties and showing off her wealth to her friends. She hugged Ethan affectionately, telling him that this was her dream house and she did not want to see any other.
The problem was that the price of the house was astronomical, far beyond Ethan’s savings, which were actually insignificant. The property developer demanded a considerable down payment and the payment of the rest in short installments if they wanted to get a special promotional price. Ethan was desperate. He knew that the money from Khloe’s father had not yet arrived. But Isla kept pushing and he himself was afraid of losing the opportunity to get that luxury house.
This is where Khloe’s role came back into play. Khloe, who already knew her husband’s movements thanks to the GPS tracker on his car, and reports from a private investigator hired by her father, began to add more fuel to the fire. When Ethan returned home with a frown, Khloe asked him enthusiastically about the project he was managing. Khloe pretended to have received information from a friend who worked in the real estate sector that the land price in the area of the estate Ethan had visited was going to rise dramatically the following month. Khloe encouraged Ethan to make a major investment decision while he had the chance, assuring him that the $10 million would clear in a matter of days. Khloe’s words were like a spell that clouded Ethan’s logic. The support of his legitimate wife made him feel that his decision was right and safe.
But Ethan still needed cash immediately for the down payment and administrative costs, which amounted to a considerable sum. No official bank would lend him that much money in such a short time without a long and complicated verification process, especially with Ethan’s mediocre credit history. Desperate and blinded by greed, Ethan finally contacted an old acquaintance who had access to non-bank lenders, that is, high-level loan sharks. They could get him millions in a matter of hours, as long as there was a guarantee of a high value property deed.
Ethan remembered the safe in Khloe’s study. The deed to the luxury house they lived in was kept there. The house was a wedding gift from Khloe’s father, but the deed was still in her father’s name, who had entrusted it to them. Ethan, in his stupidity, thought he could borrow the deed for a while, mortgage it to get the down payment for Isla’s house, and then get it back the following week as soon as the check from Khloe’s father arrived. He believed Khloe would never find out that the deed had been missing for a few days.
One afternoon, while Khloe was at a social event, Ethan snuck into the study. His hands trembled as he dialed the combination of the safe he had secretly spied on. The steel door opened with a soft click. There was the brown envelope with the valuable document. He took it with heavy breathing. He felt like a thief in his own house, but he pushed the guilt aside, imagining Isla’s happy face and the life of luxury that awaited him.
He immediately took the deed to the solicitor’s office associated with the loan shark. The process was very fast and simple because the value of the guarantee was much higher than the loan. Ethan signed a debt contract with exorbitant interest without reading it carefully. The only thing on his mind were the zeros that would appear in his bank account that afternoon.
