Thank you Kelly! Lovely of you to always reach out with a review!

That was a pretty good cliffhanger if I do say so myself!

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Eighty-Eight

Monday 3rd March 2025

Chloe blinked as she stared at the woman on the phone screen as she held it out in front of her. Her ex-fling was staring right back at her but she looked nothing like the woman that Chloe had known years ago.

Gone were the fiery red short tresses of hair, blue eyes and the sparkling confident personality that exuded in every inch of Nicolette Stone.

In their place, sat a woman on the other end of a camera with bleached blonde hair that extended down her back, green eyes with the inability to stop looking at everything around Chloe on the screen except for Chloe herself.

This wasn't the Nicolette Stone that Chloe had endured an affair with on her husband during their first year of marriage and it left Chloe bewildered by why the woman had changed so much.

Elly too had recognized the facial changes, of course not been aware of the seeming change in Nicolette's personality not having known her, recalling that Chloe had shown her a photo of the pair of them hugging. That photo and knowledge that Chloe had engaged in an extra-marital affair on her insecure and obsessively possessive husband had driven Elly to jealously.

Elly hadn't shared with Chloe just how jealous she was over the woman. Yet when Chloe admitted she wanted closure on her affair with Nicolette due to Nicolette disappearing before the two were due to runaway to start a new life together, Elly realized that she could use her friend, Clarke's wiles, to track the woman down.

Now that Nicolette was staring at Chloe on the other end of the camera, Elly was firmly jealous that her attempt to give Chloe closure with her former lover could bring her back into her life in an unexpected way.

Chloe is my mate…she's pregnant with our baby…Chloe was willing to leave Pierce and live a whole brand-new life with Aster and I…and yet I am so insecure that this woman is the person whom Chloe nearly did the exact same thing with years before she did with me…what if our mate bond means that we have to endure Chloe getting over her ex-fling if she comes to win her back?

"I'll leave you three alone," Clarke announced, letting Chloe take the phone solely in her grasp then left the room.

Elly gritted her teeth when Nicolette repeated, "Three?"

Elly had wanted to sit there silently next to Chloe, holding onto Chloe's arm, reminding her girlfriend that she was supporting her despite her jealousy that she hoped she could keep from Chloe. She didn't want Nicolette to know she had competition for Chloe if the ex-fling wanted Chloe back.

"Ah, yeah I'm here with my girlfriend," Chloe announced to Nicolette, then cleared her throat and rather than introducing her ex to her current, added, "This is a surprise that you wanted to get in contact with me and you look…"

Chloe didn't introduce me! Why not?

"A little bit different," Nicolette finished for Chloe.

"I wasn't going to say anything about it, Nic," Chloe lied.

"A lot has changed for me since we…last saw each other," Nicolette admitted, "Clarke tracked me down a few months back…but I didn't want to get in contact with you…until something this morning told me…I needed to reach out."

"I'm glad you did, Nic, it's good to see you," Chloe whispered.

It is!? Why is it good to see her ex-fling? Why did Nicolette feel a change to wanting to reach out this morning? When Chloe was shot? Did Nicolette have some psychic connection to Chloe been hurt?

Nicolette nodded gently, then looked into Chloe's eyes, "It's Katie now…"

"What is?" Chloe frowned.

"My name…I don't go by Nicolette anymore…nobody knows that's who I used to be," Nicolette whispered.

"You're going to need to explain this to me because I don't get why anyone wouldn't know you as Nicolette," Chloe replied in complete confusion.

"Clarke told me when I called that Pierce put you in hospital by shooting you," Nicolette began, "And I figure you need to make sure that Pierce is locked up for a good long while so he can never hurt you again…I can help with that…put him away in jail."

Yeah…I really need to tell Chloe I might've turned Pierce into a werewolf, that he can't be locked up in jail for the risk of exposing the supernatural world and that he might need to stick around The Pack to learn our ways before he exposes us to the world…

"How can you help, Nic…? Katie…I can't call you Katie…sorry it's just…not you even though you look nothing like Nic," Chloe rambled.

Nicolette took a deep breath, "I had to change my identity to escape and survive…Pierce put me in hospital for two months…and if you need me to testify to that in court to put Pierce in jail…I will."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe whispered; her tone horrified at Nicolette's confession.

"We were going to run away together…start a new life as a couple in a different town…never look back at our lives," Nicolette recalled.

"You didn't show up," Chloe remembered sadly.

Is Chloe sad? Why is she sad that she didn't get to run away and start a new life with Nicolette?

"I did…Chlo…of course I did…a new life with you…it was a dream come true," Nicolette smiled shyly, "I turned up early at our hotel room…because I got a text from you saying you couldn't wait any longer to leave Pierce and asked me to meet you earlier."

"I didn't send you any text like that," Chloe frowned.

"I realized that when I got to our hotel room…it was an ambush…from Pierce," Nicolette replied sadly, "He must've used your phone to send the text, then deleted any trace of it. He knew about us…Chlo."

Chloe's eyes widened, "Pierce knew I was having an affair with you? He never said anything or reacted like he knew I'd betrayed him."

"Probably for the best. Pierce blamed me for the affair…and he put me in hospital for two months. He knocked me out. I found myself waking up in some mansion of his. Pierce beat the shit out of me. The only thing he didn't do was…what he kept threatening to do…take away my 'gold star lesbian cred' as he called it…luckily for me…he couldn't get it up…had trouble performing," Nicolette tried hard not to snicker with the seriousness of Pierce's abuse still in her mind, "Blamed me for it, of course. I wasn't you and therefore he couldn't get his penis to work to fuck me…or rape me as it would've been. Instead, he placed a roll of glad-wrap around my face, trying to suffocate me but I guess he…didn't have it in him to kill me with his bare hands. Next thing I knew, I was in hospital waking up from a coma I'd been in for a week in a town 12 hours' drive up the coast. Apparently, I'd been found in the back of a truck…Pierce must've arranged for me to be placed there…unknowingly driven away to who knows where. Expected to die on the way…"

"I had no idea. I just thought you walked away from me because it was too hard dealing with all my baggage that was my marriage," Chloe teared up at the thought of what Nicolette had been through and the man that she had slept next to for years could do this to anyone.

"I know what you're thinking," Nicolette whispered.

Chloe doesn't know what you're thinking, she only has that connection with me…

"Why did you take years to tell me what Pierce did to you? You left me married to a monster," Chloe burst into tears, glad when Elly cuddled up to her in support.

Okay, Chloe did know what you were thinking…how could anyone do this?

"Chlo, you need to understand what Pierce did to me…changed me. You know who I was. I never took shit from anybody. I didn't care I was sleeping with a married woman or that she craved been with me every time she could get away from her husband," Nicolette started, not seeing the grimacing look on Elly's face at her comment as Elly was still off screen to her, "But Pierce made me suffer in…an indescribable way…not even close to been worthy of the horrible thing I'd done by having an affair with you. It took me two months to recover in hospital from the beating and near suffocation. I was…still am…a shell of the person I was…I have thought about you every single day and what leaving you in Pierce's clutches could do…but coming forward and reporting Pierce…I was too scared. I needed to leave it all behind me, start a whole new life…I was afraid if Pierce found out he hadn't beaten me to death…he'd come after me to make sure he got the job done…"

And now that you've told us…you can stop thinking about my mate every day, please.

Chloe took a moment to compose herself, trying to understand what her ex-fling had been through at the hands of the man she thought she loved, not wanting to blame anyone but Pierce, "I've thought about you every day too…"

Seriously, Chlo?

Continuing to be oblivious to Elly's increasing jealousy, Chloe continued, "All that thinking didn't account for much as I never even thought that Pierce had found out about us and attacked you over it. I'm so sorry Pierce did that to you."

"You do not need to apologize for what Pierce did to me, Chlo," Nicolette assured, "He did what he did and though I left you with him for years…I knew it would come back to bite me one day…and now he shot you. If you can forgive me for not coming forward years ago, then I'll testify in a court and tell my truth to put him in jail…even if it might blow up my life at the moment."

Long as you don't blow up mine…I'm so jealous of this woman…

"How so?" Chloe asked quietly.

"I changed my identity to hide from Pierce. When I woke up in the hospital…pretended I didn't know who I was…I'm a nurse…I knew the tests they'd put me through and been a small regional town hospital, they didn't have the resources to bring in any specialists. I became someone else. It was only meant to be temporary, I found out Mum was looking for me but things with me and her were always so strained…I just couldn't go back for her sake… So, when I was released from hospital…I went to the group home they suggested I go to so I wasn't homeless. Then a few days later, I went further up the coast another few hours, managed to get a job, place to stay and I kept been that someone else," Nicolette explained.

"Katie?" Chloe realized.

"I have a whole different life now, Chlo, nobody knows who I was or what I went through. I work at a not-for-profit home for women who have been abused, sadly not in a nursing capacity because I couldn't transfer my nursing registration," Nicolette informed them, "I have a wife and an 18-month-old son."

Oh, thank fuck…Nicolette shouldn't want to leave them for my girl!

Chloe glanced at Elly, frowning when Elly had sighed in what sounded like relief, before drawing her attention back to her ex, "I'm happy for you, sounds like you've made a life for yourself."

"I have, they make me very happy and I'd never want to ruin that but to be honest…my wife doesn't know about my past as Nicolette or what Pierce did to me…I didn't tell her…she'll be supportive when I do…pissed off at me for a few days but I'm sure we'll get past it," Nicolette told her, trying to remain positive.

"I don't want you to blow up your life for me," Chloe decided.

"If we want Pierce jailed and unable to hurt you ever again, we do," Nicolette pointed out.

Elly finally spoke up for the first time, knowing she was thinking about why Pierce might not be able to be jailed, "Don't do anything just yet to come forward. We know how to contact you now so if we decide that this is the road which we want to go down…we'll let you know. Keep living your life as Katie with your wife and son."

Nicolette raised her eyebrow at Elly's decision, to which Chloe did the same thing but knew enough to trust Elly so told Nicolette, "Elly's right, Pierce should be jailed anyway for what he did to me. We'll speak to a lawyer to see how long his sentence would be based on my case alone. I don't want you having issues with your wife for telling her you lied about your past."

"Elly? The Elly?" Nicolette picked up on with interest.

So, Chlo did talk about me to her sometime fling…?

Chloe pulled Elly forwards so she was now on the camera screen for Nicolette to see, "Yes, this is the Elly…she's my whole world now. We have a family of our own too."

Elly's jealousy finally ceased at Chloe's words, knowing no one could ever come between them. She was secretly glad Chloe didn't go into detail by telling Nicolette she was pregnant for another person to think the baby was Pierce's, especially someone whom might be upset at the idea that a monster like Pierce had his genes in a child.

"I'm happy for you. You look really happy, Chlo," Nicolette replied honestly, "I'll wait to hear from you."

"I feel happy about you making something of your life too," Chloe smiled, "Send me a photo of you and your family. I'd love to see them."

"Okay, I will," Nicolette accepted, before saying goodbye to Chloe, feeling somewhat better about revealing her truth to her ex.

When Chloe clicked off the call, she looked at Elly, "How jealous were you I was talking to my ex and you thought Nic might want to get back together with me?"

"Not at all," Elly lied profusely.

"Liar," Chloe giggled before leaning forwards and kissing Elly.

Later that evening, Raven sat in the hospital café, waiting around until it was time to head off for her drinks date with her mate whom she'd met earlier that day.

Raven's phone beeped with a text message. It was an unknown number, sending a link to download, with the message informing her it was from the manager at the café Lexa worked at. The business across from the café had their cameras working and caught the attack on Lexa on CCTV. The manager asked Raven if he should turn it into police yet so they could identify the man or wait for Raven to speak to Lexa about it.

Clicking on the link and downloading the file, Raven watched in horror as Lexa's attack at the hands of Pierce unfolded in front of her eyes, "Mother fucker…"

Raven quickly shot off a text to the café owner telling him to delete all records of the footage including from the business he got it from, knowing if he didn't, she had the capability to hack into any device that had a copy of the file to wipe it herself.

Raven added the instruction, "Forget you ever saw it. Don't ever mention it to Lexa. I'll take care of it."

Next time - What has Pierce done? I can't tell you...?