She pushed open the heavy doors. Outside, a cold New York night rain was falling.
She didn't have an umbrella, but she didn't care. She walked straight into it, the icy drops plastering her dark brown curls to her face.
A black Rolls-Royce Phantom glided past the estate gates.
From the back seat, a man with deep eyes watched the lone figure walking into the rain.
He was just glancing away, but the girl's defiant profile, and the startling brightness of her ice-blue eyes in the gloom, made him frown.
"Sir?" his driver, Silas Pierce, asked.
"Nothing," Adler Ortega murmured, he settled back against the leather seats. "Drive."
Chloe's silhouette disappeared around the corner, without a single backward glance.
Inside the mansion, Beatrice smiled, she was a victor in her own petty war. "Prepare the documents and the check," she told the family lawyer, "Our final act of 'charity.'"
Elara clung to her mother, her heart soaring with triumph. She had finally gotten rid of the impostor.
Chloe came to a diner, and pulled a small waterproof pouch from her pocket. Inside was an old key and a yellowed map.
The markings on the map pointed to an address in Queens.
Rainwater dripped from the ends of Chloe's hair onto the linoleum floor, she slid into a booth by the window, and ordered a black coffee.
Subsequently, a man in a sharp suit walked in, his expensive shoes squeaking on the wet floor.
He spotted her, and walked directly to her table.
"Miss Blair," he said, his tone polite but distant. "I am the Blair family's legal counsel, Mr. Davison."
Chloe looked up, her ice-blue eyes held no surprise.
He placed a briefcase on the table, snapping it open. He pulled out a document and a thick envelope, pushing them across the tabletop.
"Mrs. Blair asked me to give you these. A severance agreement, and a check for one hundred thousand dollars. As compensation for your years in the Blair family."
Chloe's gaze landed on the envelope, "Compensation?"
"Mrs. Blair feels it's a generous amount for you to start a new life," Mr. Davison said, his voice flat and business-like.
Chloe's slender fingers reached out, but not for the envelope. She pulled the agreement toward her.
Her eyes scanned the dense legal text in seconds.
She picked up a pen from the table, and signed her name at the bottom.
She pushed the signed document back to him. "Take it."
Mr. Davison looked surprised by her quick compliance, he gestured to the check. "And this..."
"I don't need it."
Chloe stood up, her small frame suddenly seeming to fill the entire space, looking the lawyer directly in the eye.
"And, Mr. Davison, please remember," she corrected him, "My name is Sterling."
"Chloe Sterling."
With that, she picked up her pouch, didn't spare the check another glance, and walked out of the diner.
She left the lawyer staring blankly, mouth slightly agape, looking at the rejected six-figure sum.
Outside, the rain had stopped, the city air was clean and sharp.
Chloe hailed a cab, giving the driver the address on the map.
