Chapter 14 - CHLOE'S DESPERATION
Chloe Mercer did not follow her mother into madness.
She followed her into panic.
At twenty-four, Chloe had never worked a forty-hour week in her life. Her entire identity was built around her Instagram profile, where she posed as a "luxury lifestyle curator," posting pictures of five-star resorts, private cabanas, and designer hauls—all paid for by Sienna’s secondary black card.
Now, her phone was flooded with direct messages from friends demanding repayments for hotel rooms, rental cars, and restaurant bills she had charged to their cards when Sienna cut her off in Las Vegas.
*“Pay me the $3,200 you owe me for the Bellagio suite, Chloe, or I’m filing a police report for credit card theft!”*
*“You fraud! Your brother was arrested by the FBI!”*
*“Don't ever show your face in Scottsdale again!”*
Chloe sat in the backseat of a dirty rideshare cab that her mother had booked using their last remaining fifty-dollar bill, staring out the window at the gleaming corporate towers of Scottsdale.
"Mom," Chloe whispered, her voice hollow. "It's over. We have no money. We have no house. We have nothing."
"Shut up!" Gwen barked, wearing the baggy gray sweatpants and oversized t-shirt, her hair a wild, unbrushed nest. "Elena will save us! We just have to reach the boutique! Christian did everything for that girl! She owes us everything!"
Chloe looked at her mother’s crazed, sunken eyes and realized with chilling clarity that Gwen Mercer was completely insane.
Gwen was trapped in a fantasy world where she was still the grand matriarch of a wealthy dynasty, refusing to accept that she was now an indigent, homeless woman with a pending assault trial.
Chloe tapped the rideshare driver’s shoulder. "Pull over."
Gwen turned on her. "What are you doing?!"
"I’m getting out," Chloe said, tears streaming down her face.
"You can't leave me! We are family!"
"Family?!" Chloe screamed, her voice cracking. "Sienna was family! She paid for my life! She gave me everything, and you treated her like garbage! You made Christian steal from her! You destroyed our lives, Mom! You did this!"
Chloe opened the door at a red light, grabbed her purse, and ran down the sidewalk, disappearing into the crowded Scottsdale shopping district, leaving Gwen alone in the backseat of the cab.
Gwen stared after her daughter for three seconds. Then she turned her eyes forward, her expression hardening into a terrifying, cold mask.
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"Take me to Scottsdale Fashion Row," Gwen ordered the driver. "Step on it."
***