Don’t Fall for the Billionaire Lover by Rosa Winters

Chapter 1109

Chloe absentmindedly ran her fingers along the bookshelf, pulling down a copy of *The Count of Monte Cristo* from the very top shelf. As she slid the book free, something tucked behind it caught her eye-a small wooden box, beautifully crafted and easy to overlook.

Curiosity sparked, Chloe took the box down and opened it with care. Inside was a cellphone.

Everything came flooding back in an instant. This was the phone Ricky had once used to settle an old score-the phone that belonged to Shawn. It held the evidence of Linda and Shawn's under-the-table deals, and all the secrets they'd done their best to bury.

She hadn't intended to ever turn that phone on again. Maybe it was just that tonight felt endless, or maybe she was finally ready to face the questions she'd carried for years.

She needed to know how Aaron had really come into the world. Aaron, the so- called test-tube baby. But how had Linda managed it? What did she do to get Chloe's DNA in the first place?

Chloe had her theories, but she wanted the truth.

So she plugged in the phone and waited while it charged. It powered up quickly. When the lock screen lit up, Chloe's heart dropped.

A flood of old memories crashed over her, mixing with fresh confusion and surprise.

was

of Linda-not the adult Linda, but a teenage girl in her school uniform, standing on a sunlit track field. She was smiling,

a strange sense of foreboding, as if everything she believed was

where nothing came easy. Her mother

about another monster in her

thug, born and raised in Smoky Lane. He'd made Linda's life hell, always lurking around to

seen him at school a few times, hassling Linda in the corridors, Once, he'd even pulled a knife. Chloe had stepped between them and taken the hit for Linda. That day

best friends

only got

cruelest part was that,

Chloe ended up- being@ssaulted

trauma dragged her into a deep dépression she almost

When Ricky showed up, Chloe

then Ricky was gone. Linda was gone. Shawn had already