Chapter 4

"I' m telling you, I was home!" Chloe shouted, her voice raw.

She stood in the police station, the air thick with tension.

The officers looked bored, their faces closed off.

"You have to believe me. Someone set me up. Someone who looks exactly like me."

She searched their faces for any sign of understanding, any flicker of doubt.

There was none.

Then Mark walked in.

He stood beside Chloe, but his eyes were hard.

He held a press conference outside the station.

A large screen replayed the video.

"I cannot stand by this," Mark said, his voice loud and clear, picked up by microphones.

"I believed in Chloe. I loved her. But this... this is beyond forgiveness."

He looked directly at the cameras.

"I am publicly denouncing her actions. Our engagement is over."

He pulled the engagement ring from his finger, a simple gold band, and placed it on the table in front of him.

The flash of cameras was blinding.

A groan went through the small crowd.

Chloe watched him, numb.

The betrayal was complete.

The public outside the building erupted in cheers and jeers.

"Good for him!" someone yelled.

"She got what she deserved!"

The hateful words echoed through the streets.

People held up signs with crude drawings.

Eggs splattered against the glass doors of the station.

The mob grew larger, their shouts louder.

It was a carnival of cruelty.

A woman, one of the wives from before, rushed past the police line.

She launched herself at Chloe.

Her fist connected hard with Chloe' s jaw.

Pain exploded in Chloe' s head.

She tasted blood.

The other women followed, their hands grabbing at her.

They pulled her hair, slapped her.

Police officers moved in, pulling the women away violently, but the damage was done.

Chloe slumped against the wall, her face stinging, her body aching.

A senior detective, his face grim, approached Chloe.

"Ms. Thorne, we have sufficient evidence to charge you. Your best option right now is to cooperate. Confess. It might lead to a lighter sentence."

He spoke calmly, without judgment, but his words were a final straw.

Chloe looked at him, then at her parents who were being restrained by other officers, their faces full of anguish.

Chloe pushed herself away from the wall.

She looked directly at the detective.

Her voice was quiet, but firm.

"I will not confess to something I did not do."

Her jaw throbbed, her body hurt, but her mind was clearer than ever.

"There is someone else. Someone identical to me."

The words sounded insane, even to her own ears.

But it was the only explanation.

It had to be.

A memory flashed in her mind.

The hotel manager, Mr. Davies.

She remembered him from the first timeline, a sleek, overly polite man who seemed to know too much.

He had been so quick to confirm her presence, to provide the "evidence."

There was something off about him.

He was too eager.

Her eyes widened.

The hotel.

The manager.

He was part of it.

He was a piece of the puzzle.