189 Chapter 189

"What's with the scarf, by the way? I know we're on the way to autumn, but it's not that cold yet," Diamond asked. "In fact, summer this year is way too hot!"

"Ah— um… I'm trying to hide something— well, a lot of things actually…." Chloe replied bashfully.

"What do you mean, gurl?"

Chloe hesitated for at least five minutes. She pondered if it was okay to show her love marks to someone else.

But she had already talked about many things with Diamond, so she thought it was fine to show it.

Chloe grabbed the scarf wrapped around her neck and collarbone area, then pulled it slowly, revealing the hickeys that covered her entire neck and collarbone that she had accumulated in just one night.

It was still pretty obvious even after two days had passed because her skin was thin, so any kind of mark around her body would last for days.

Diamond's jaw dropped when she saw the amount of hickeys covering Chloe's neck and collarbone. It was still dark as well, "M—Mr. Phoenix Gray did this?"

"Um, yes…" Chloe nodded weakly. She took off one button and showed her upper breast, which was also covered with so many hickeys. "The hickeys are literally all over my body."

Diamond was even more shocked. Now he was totally convinced that the woman loved by her boss was definitely Chloe.

Because Mr. Phoenix Gray told her once that he never kissed any woman for more than five seconds at most. He said it was repulsive, so he went straight to the roleplay and the sex instead.

'Those love marks are so dark and literally covering her entire body. Even if he is dead drunk, he will not do this to any woman if he's not in love with her,' Diamond assumed.

Chloe sighed and buttoned her shirt again. She wrapped the scarf around her neck to cover the shameful hickeys, then said, "My skin is thin, so marks like these won't disappear for at least a week…."

…

"Gurl… he has never been THAT passionate with any woman before. Are you sure he's not in love with you?"

"He was thinking about the other woman when he did it with me, that's why he can be so passionate. I'm like a stand-in. Maybe we have similar facial features, or maybe similar eyes, or hair…."

Diamond couldn't prove that the woman in Vernon's heart was actually Chloe, so she didn't push the idea anymore, even though he was still curious about it.

Diamond excused herself because she was busy with the report. Chloe waited for at least two hours and found no sign of Vernon coming to the office.

"Diamond, Did Vernon go somewhere for a meeting?"

"He told me to postpone all meetings today because he has one important meeting with a high executive," Diamond replied, still with her eyes glued to the computer screen.

"High executive?"

"Yeah, he didn't tell me who this high executive was. But I do have a guess…."

"What's in your mind then?"

…

Diamond finally turned her head towards Chloe and replied in a low voice, afraid that it might trigger her, "Vincent Gray."

Chloe's eyes widened instantly. She felt that blood had been drained off her body, and her legs trembled.

She quickly sat on a chair and lowered her head as she felt dizzy just thinking about Vincent.

Chloe put her palm on her chest to feel her heart beating uncontrollably, and fear started consuming her from inside.

Diamond knew that Chloe had trauma with her ex-husband. So she got up and went to Chloe's side to comfort her by rubbing her back, "I'm sorry, Chloe. I thought you already knew that Mr. Phoenix Gray has a project with Vincent Gray. It's been going for a while, actually."

"H—He didn't say anything about me in front of Vincent, right?" Chloe asked anxiously.

"No, he didn't," Diamond replied with a lie. She didn't know if her boss ever mentioned Chloe in front of his Big brother, but she assumed that he didn't because there was no way Vincent would stay still if he knew that his wife was under Vernon's protection.

Diamond's words didn't comfort her one bit. Because she was still worried that Vincent might discover her hideout and her work relationship with Vernon.

She was afraid that Vincent might actually destroy his own little brother once he found out about this.

'I can't forgive myself if Vernon's life got destroyed because of my fault. I—I have to talk to him about this ,' Chloe thought.

Chloe continued waiting for a few more hours, ignoring Diamond, who kept asking whether she was okay.

She checked her watch and realized it was already three in the afternoon, meaning that Vernon wouldn't return to the office and she had to pick up her daughter at school.

'Then I have to talk with him tonight. I really don't want anything to happen to him just because he shelters Mackie and I.'

Chloe got up from the chair and asked Diamond, "Diamond, if Vernon comes to the office and asks where am I, please tell him that I'm waiting for him at home. I want to talk to him about something."

Diamond already knew the topic that Chloe and Vernon would discuss. She felt a little guilty for telling Chloe about the cooperation between Vernon and Vincent, especially after seeing the strong reaction from Chloe when Diamond mentioned Vincent's name.

,m "Chloe… why don't you tell Vernon about the abuse you experienced as Vincent's wife? Maybe he could help…." Diamond suggested.

"He shouldn't know. Nobody shouldn't know, including you, Diamond," Chloe replied. Diamond was surprised by the cold tone that Chloe used, as if she took offense to Diamond's suggestion.

"But you already told me about the abuse…." Diamond said.

Chloe shook her head to deny it, "The stories that I told you are just a few collections of events that should be lighthearted enough for you to digest. I don't want to tell you the full extent of his abuse, because… it's very upsetting."