Part 4

Chloe would have done anything for him. She would do whatever he wanted. And so despite her firm resistance to another bout of treatment that would leave her weak and drained, she agreed to see the new doctor that he had found, a researcher and practitioner that he took the time and resources to fly to Metropolis to see her.

The doctor, installed now in the prestigious Metropolis Memorial, started her off with seemingly innocuous tablets that she welcomed. They were less invasive than probes, the mere thought of which turned her stomach.

On the way back to her car, Chloe found herself face to face with Helen Bryce. Chloe never wanted to confront the woman, although she knew that she needed to apologize. But Lex had cautioned her when he found out that she planned to speak with Helen. When she started to turn away, the cool, collected voice of Lex's wife called her back. Chloe stiffened when a dispassionate hand grabbed her arm.

"Helen," she began, facing the woman.

"It's Mrs. Luthor, Chloe," the brunette corrected.

Chloe's face burned, and she was possessed with the urge to grab Helen by her shoulders and shake her for claiming Lex first. But this was something that was not Helen Bryce's-Helen Luthor's-fault. Faced with all logical evidence, Chloe was the criminal and Helen was the victim. Try as she might though, Chloe could not form the name on her lips.

The doctor smiled tightly. "I was wondering where my husband had been the entire weekend. Until of course one of my associates who came from Bali informed me that he thought he saw my husband in the island."

Did any mistress ever possess the answer when a wife said something to that effect?

"Chloe, I don't care what depravity you and my husband wish to involve yourselves in."

With gritted teeth, Chloe clutched at shreds of a dignity that the other woman was so bent on destroying. "There has never been anything depraved or wrong in what we have, Helen," she told the doctor calmly.

"Nothing wrong other than that it's adultery." Chloe kept her silence because Helen was right. The corner of Helen's lips curled upwards. "As I said, I don't care what you do as long as you do it somewhere where you won't be seen. You're already doing this. Spare me the humiliation."

"We were in Bali!" Chloe defended. "How much farther into the edge of the Earth do you need us to hide?"

"Scoot over to an orifice where none of my acquaintances will see you!" Helen bit out. "And make sure it's not in a place where candid photos will be taken to be stamped on newspapers everywhere. Can you imagine how embarrassed I was to have to reply to my Dr. Johns earlier? Chloe, I know my husband is having an affair. Don't continually slap me with it!"

Chloe blinked away the tears that rose to her eyes, a reaction more to suppressing the anger that the woman's words caused. Helen was the one who insisted on keeping the marriage intact. Helen was the reason that Chloe had to hide the one thing she could be proud of. "Helen," she tried again.

"Mrs. Luthor."

The tear of frustration finally escaped. "Stop it!" Chloe took a deep breath. "You have no idea how sorry I am that this is causing you so much pain. But your marriage was over before anything happened between your husband and me."

Helen's chin lifted and released a snort of laughter. "You want me to agree with you," she inferred. "To clear your conscience, isn't it, Chloe?"

"I just want you to be happy, Helen. Whether I like it or not, I did have some part in your pain now."

"I know all about you, Chloe. I only wonder why my husband is throwing his life away on a woman who will leave him much more quickly than he did me." Helen opened her bag and drew out dark sunglasses, then covered her eyes. "I won't ease your burden by telling you that I forgive you. You destroyed my marriage, Chloe." Her voice dropped to a hushed and angry whisper. "You can bring that to your grave."

If the last months had strengthened anything inside Chloe, it was her acceptance of her weaknesses as a human. Fully intending to lash out with as much hurt as she was feeling, her hand flew to Helen's cheek. The moment her palm connected with the woman's skin, Chloe froze.

"You don't have the right to raise your hand against me," Helen told her.

"You didn't have the right to say any of those things you said, Helen," Chloe responded.

"Don't I? Chloe, you're my husband's mistress," Helen said in disbelief.

"You can only admonish a child so many times before he becomes immune to it. I'm the one he loves. If you can't let the surname go, then just leave us be. Let us commit our sins. I'm sure you wouldn't get punished for them."

"The one he loves" the brunette scoffed. "Like that's going to matter to a court of law when I'm the wife."

"Like being the wife would matter in the long run."

Helen took one step forward and narrowed her eyes at the shorter woman. "It would matter, Chloe. I have all the aces here. Soon, you're not even going to be around. I can wait until then. When that time comes, no one will remember your name and I would still be Mrs. Luthor. Now do you know why I can't divorce my philandering husband?"

Tired of the conversation and of the fact that Helen's words held her own fears that remained unsaid, Chloe shook her head. "Okay, Helen. Wait until then." With a brief, tense smile, Chloe walked towards her parked car.

~~

Every day you learn new things that you need to deal with at your own time. For Lena, the barrage of information that she never really asked for was overwhelming. An extreme in her simple question about whether or not she should sell a castle that no one wanted to live in, a house that drained tax money in a place that was so backwater that she wondered why any of the Luthors even wanted to remain here in the first place.

In the span of an hour, the esteem she held for her grandfather shattered. There was a man admired by his workers and his relatives. Even her poor grandmother held him in such high regard. Lena was filled with pity for Helen, who struggled to accept a husband who was as far from perfect as a husband could be.

Whatever happened to the woman who caused Alexander Luthor precious years in his marriage? Having grown up in a household that recognized both grandparents, Lena was certain that somewhere down the road, Lex regained what little there was that remained of his pride and gotten rid of the mistress. If there was anything that gave her enough eagerness to explore the odd collection, it was the knowledge that deep inside a drawer or pushed to the backs of whatever shelf there was in the room, was evidence of the exact way the blonde woman was discarded and Lex was returned to the bosom of the family to which he belonged.

Deliberately keeping her eyes from the bed that mildly disgusted her, Lena walked over to the bookshelf that was pushed to the wall. She ran her fingers over the spines and breathed the wonderful scent of old books. They were murder mysteries, literary anthologies, books on the paranormal-the types of texts that she secretly craved but her grandmother lectured her were senseless, mindless drivel that entertained those whose brains were incapable of rational thought.

Lena chose one mystery novel and pulled it out. She blew away the dust on the top. She silently read the cheesy title that perked her excitement. Lena opened the book to the first page.

"I don't trust my choice, but I hope you enjoy it, Chloe. Lex Luthor."

Lena closed her eyes at the realization that this was a courting gift, if there was even something like that. She had imagined the woman to be the seductress that came after her grandfather because of prestige and wealth. Instead, here she was, holding the proof that Lex sought his own poison.

She dropped the book and picked up another. They held that same name that was too perky to be what the woman really was. Lena looked at the first page of each book, reading messages that were not fit to have survived the decades that they have.

Danger Alleys. "This one will not compare with the story you gave me last. It's worth one reading though. Chloe Sullivan."

Sonnets of Great American Women. "Chloe, a choice as beautiful as your eyes. Lex."

1900 to 2000: CRIMES OF THE CENTURY. "Lex, behold the gory details of the century's worst crimes. Chloe."

Forensic Nightmares. "Chlo, disgusting as this may be. It may help in your research. Lex."

Young Billionaires. "Lex. Amazing. Thanks. Wow. Dinner tonight. Chloe."

Winning a Pulitzer for Dummies. "Thank you. Lex."

365 Ways of Corporate Takeovers. "This one will knock your socks off. Enjoy! Chloe."

I Love You Just Because. "Chloe, How about it? Lex."

Lena tossed the last book back into the shelf, her face curled in disgust. She was about to turn when she saw a sheaf of papers at the corner of the shelf. Curiosity possessed her once again. She took them and browsed through, her lips parting at the words.

"She was sick. Chloe Sullivan was sick." Relief washed over her when she realized she was getting closer to figuring out exactly how her grandfather returned to her grandmother. When she realized exactly what it was that she thought, Lena pushed the papers back to its corner of the shelf and murmured a quick apology to no one in particular.