"Is what Aubrey's saying true? Did you leave Beca behind to get to me?" Chloe asked, barely keeping it together as she challenged the man in front of her. The man she thought would be her husband.
Chicago visibly shrunk under the interrogation, his perfect facade beginning to crumble as his past finally began to catch up with him, and all he could see was Aubrey's knowing smirk relishing in what was quickly becoming his downfall.
And Chloe, she felt sick to her stomach as she regarded the man in front of her, the man she thought would somehow heal the gaping hole in her heart, only to learn, he was the reason it existed in the first place.
Two years ago, when she had received the news that her fiancée had been captured by the Taliban while on a mission and supposedly killed, Chloe's whole world had ceased to exist.
Beca Mitchell, the woman she loved, her soulmate, had been ripped away from her, leaving nothing behind but a folded up flag and medals of honour. She didn't even have the comfort of being able to bring Beca's body home to be buried.
Instead lay a vacant spot with a cross to mark an otherwise empty grave.
And Chicago, he had been a god send. A man who had stood by Beca's side through every mission, swooping in to help heal Chloe, keeping a promise he had made to take care of her. At least that had been his claim when he landed at her doorstep, all sorrowful eyes and words of sympathy and regret.
And Chloe began to give in. Having believed she would never love again, she found herself opening up to the possibility of being with someone else, someone who may help ease her burden even if they could never truly heal it.
Chicago would never replace Beca, it wasn't possible. And Chloe would never love another the same way again, but maybe, just maybe, she could learn to exist with someone else by her side.
So she attempted to move on, dated him, moved in with him, even accepted his proposal with the blessing of Beca's parents. But all of that unravelled right there at their rehearsal dinner, when Aubrey showed up with information that rocked Chloe to her very core.
"She's alive Chlo. Beca…. She's alive."
Two years, two years of daily torture, malnourishment, pain and god knows what else. Two years of wondering when her misery would end and yet somehow, Beca Mitchell and several other soldiers had survived long enough to be rescued by a SEAL team on another mission.
That had been over a week ago and Aubrey had just received word from her father on Beca's rescue. But Aubrey's joy was short lived when news of Chicago's deceit came rushing to the forefront of her mind.
With a wedding due to take place the following day the blonde had no choice but to bulldoze her way through Chicago's plans and spare Chloe a life of misery.
The news had done a number on Chloe, the redhead barely able to cope with the mixture of emotions running through her. The immense joy to hear that her greatest love was alive quickly overshadowed by white hot rage.
Hurtling out of the house into the back yard, surrounded by their friends and family, Chloe unleashed her fury for the world to see.
And Chicago had no come back. He had no back up plan or story. Standing with Chloe facing him, Aubrey standing firm with her arms crossed behind the redhead daring him to lie, he couldn't.
"Chloe it's not what you think. We were surrounded there was nothing I could do, she…" he tried to say as he approached her, reaching for her hand but Chloe ripped it away violently, pointing her finger in his face.
"DON'T! Don't you dare try to lie your way out of this. You knew exactly what you were doing. You left her to die," Chloe sobbed, thoughts of what Beca must've gone through flooding her mind.
"Those animals tortured her for TWO YEARS and all this time you knew exactly where she was," Chloe spat, barely keeping it together.
Bringing her hand up to her chest she pressed her palm firmly against it, tears now flowing freely for everyone to see.
"I have lived with that pain every single day wondering how I would survive, and you stood there like some knight and shining armour and let me believe that you could heal me, that you could love me," she cried, Chicago trying to approach again.
"But I do, I do love you Chlo," he pleaded but she wasn't having it. Shaking her head at his words.
"You don't hurt the people you love," she replied, watching as his face sank and then she laughed.
"You know I actually tried to convince myself that I could somehow fall in love with you, that I could somehow build a life with you. That maybe, just maybe, being with you could ease the grief that was suffocating me. But no matter how hard I tried I just, I couldn't. And now I know why. Because all this time my heart has been waiting for her to come home."
Chicago's jaw clenched at this. His entire military career he had always been second best to Beca. The Goose to her Maverick. Never quite able to one up her.
The day Chloe Beale came along it had been Chicago who laid eyes on her first, and even though Beca had given him the win, it wasn't him that Chloe Beale had set her sights on and ultimately, her heart. Sure they had tried dating early on, but Chloe had always been more captivated by the brunette woman.
Beca had been just as surprised as Chicago when Chloe had decided not to pursue a relationship with him, and even more surprised when the redhead admitted that she enjoyed Beca's company more.
Chicago had gone along with it but he never fully accepted it. Because to him, he had yet again come up second best to Beca Mitchell. He'd never fully been able to let go of Chloe.
For years he watched as the woman he wanted, gave herself completely to someone else. When his squadron was attacked that day, when Beca needed his help, all he saw was an opportunity, one that had haunted him ever since.
As silence engulfed them, Chloe raised her hands and pulled the ring off her finger, tossing it at him with so much force the thud reverberated around them before it hit the ground.
"I hate you!" Chloe seethed, her face red with anger.
Before anyone could say anything else, military police arrived on the scene and handcuffed Chicago, leading him away from the stunned faces of those around him.
As he was placed in the car, Chloe's knees buckled, Aubrey barely catching her before she hit the floor as she sobbed uncontrollably.
The crowd didn't know what to do or where to look, until Chloe's old acapella college friends gathered around her to create a circle of privacy. Aubrey stroked Chloe's back as she allowed her best friend to get it all off her chest until the redhead began to calm down.
"Where is she? W-where's Beca?" She asked, her tone both eager and desperate. Aubrey wiped away Chloe's tears with her thumbs as she gazed deep into her bloodshot eyes.
"She's at a military hospital in Georgia. They flew in last night. She's gonna be there for a while," Aubrey answered sadly. The blonde had been filled in by her father on Beca's current state and from what she could gather, it wasn't going to be an easy time for the soldier.
"I've booked us a flight in the morning, my Dad's gonna meet us there and take you to her," Aubrey said, having already had the foresight to know what her friend would want.
Chloe sobbed again, overwhelmed by everything she was feeling. She thought she would be getting married the following day, taking the first steps to trying to rebuild her life and now, now she was being told that the life she had been planning for all along may still be waiting for her.
"Is she…. Is she okay?" She mumbled, barely able to ask the words. Aubrey sighed and stroked her friends cheek trying to offer comfort.
"She's been through a lot, and she's gonna need a lot of support. But honestly, I don't know how she is. None of us can ever really know what she went through. All we can do is be there for her now."
Chloe nodded her head as she wiped away the tear residue from beneath her eyes. Gazing around at the people still milling about, the ones who thought they would be celebrating a wedding in the morning, she suddenly grew self conscious about her emotional state.
"Can you get me out of here? I don't care where I just, I don't wanna be here," Chloe said and Aubrey nodded her head.
"Of course. I'll take you back to the house, we can pack for tomorrow."
Helping Chloe to stand, the redhead briefly acknowledged her guests before making a swift exit from the venue, promising to call her parents in the morning.
As she sat in Aubrey's car, driving away from what she thought was going to be her future, Chloe couldn't help but grow anxious at the future that had been brought back to her through the past.
Two years she had been without Beca, two years sharing a life with someone that wasn't her. Sure she had believed her greatest love to be dead, but that didn't ease the guilt of knowing that she had shared a bed with the man who had been responsible for separating them, for inflicting two years of trauma on the brunette.
Chloe was elated at the thought of being with Beca again, but the crippling realisation of what was to come began to creep into every crevice inside her mind, reminding her of the fact that for two years, Chloe had essentially moved on with someone else and only ever thought of Beca in the past tense.
In stabbed at her heart like a knife. Logically she knew none of this was her fault, how could she have possibly known. But that didn't lessen the sting. The sting of knowing that no matter where she and Beca stood now, she would have to tell her everything that had happened while she was gone.
After everything she had been through, the least she deserved was the truth. Chloe just hoped that somehow, they could get through it and find their way back to one another.
Whatever the outcome may be Chloe knew one thing for certain, no matter where they stood, she would make it her mission to try and heal Beca of her suffering, and in doing so, maybe she would begin to heal herself.