Chapter 6 - Chloe was not merely a coworker
Julian’s affair came out quickly.
Not through the hidden phone.
Through discovery and then admission.
He had been sleeping with Chloe for eleven months.
Our marriage had been visibly deteriorating for roughly six.
Meaning five months of affair before I knew something was wrong.
Hotels.
Business trips.
Her apartment.
Once, Hartwell Manor.
That last detail nearly made me physically sick.
Eleanor knew by month four.
How?
She walked into a guest-suite sitting room one morning and found Chloe wearing Julian’s shirt.
Did she tell me?
No.
She told Julian:
“Handle your marriage before this becomes embarrassing.”
That was Eleanor.
Not:
Stop betraying Hannah.
Make it less visible.
Julian told me later he interpreted that as tacit permission.
Eleanor denied that.
Both could be partly true.
Chloe had not attended the foundation dinner as a secret stranger.
Eleanor invited her.
May you like
While I stood there as Julian’s wife.
That fact changed my relationship with Eleanor more than almost anything else.
