Chapter 7 - THE EMAIL DYLAN SENT HIS FATHER
The next betrayal came from Charles’s archive.
After the restaurant scandal, Chloe’s attorney, Daniel Cho, requested preservation of communications relevant to marital finances and company overlap because Dylan held a senior Mercer Hospitality role.
No fishing expedition.
Targeted.
One email surfaced.
Dylan to Charles.
Date:
four months earlier.
Subject:
PERSONAL.
If Chloe ever pushes for a board role through family ownership connections, I need you to keep her out.
Chloe stared.
She had never asked for a board role.
Never wanted one.
Why did Dylan think she might?
Because Chloe had recently questioned a real-estate deal involving a hotel partially owned by a family trust that benefited both spouses.
She asked for documents.
Dylan interpreted questions as ambition.
Then Charles replied:
Marriage issues stay outside governance. Do not involve me.
Good response.
Dylan never told Chloe he had raised the possibility.
Then another email:
She’s becoming suspicious of how much time I’m away.
Charles:
Then spend less time away.
Dylan:
It’s not that simple.
Charles:
Usually is.
Chloe almost laughed.
Charles, of all people, had given the clean advice.
Dylan ignored it.
Then Brooke’s messages revealed Dylan had told her:
My wife is trying to position herself inside the company.
Another lie.
Why?
Because he needed Brooke to see Chloe not as betrayed spouse, but as strategic enemy.
That made the affair feel like escape from a political marriage.
Then Chloe said:
“You made me ambitious because ‘hurt wife’ would’ve made you look worse.”
Dylan did not answer.
Again.
May you like
Narrative laundering.
The corporate family had taught him more than he realized.
