Chloe stared at the phone for five seconds, then buried her face in her hands.

Her shoulders shook as she began to sob.

“He doesn’t love me,” she gasped out, her voice muffled by her palms. “He doesn’t care about me at all.”

“No,” I said quietly. “He doesn’t.”

I didn’t say it to be cruel.

I said it because she needed to hear the truth.

“He was going to leave me too,” she said, looking up, her face red and wet. “Once he had the money under Melanie’s name, he wouldn’t need me anymore.”

“He needs an accomplice to take the fall if things go wrong,” I said. “That’s what you were to him, Chloe. A shield.”

She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve.

“I was so stupid,” she said. “I thought he saw me. I thought he loved me for who I was.”

“Lucas only loves Lucas,” I said. “But right now, you have a choice.”

She looked at the black cloner on the table.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“I want you to give him the key,” I said.