Secrets & Lies (Chlex Drama/Romance- PG13/15): Chapter 5
Summary: Secrets and lies have always been part of his life, and she has made a living out of exposing them. What happens when she discovers more than she´s bargained for and when he learns everything he thought he knew was a lie? Sometimes a life-death decision can rise up questions and provide you with answers you aren´t prepared for.
Author: Lexie aka lillianschild
Rating: PG-13/15
Spoilers: Everything up to Fracture is up for grabs.
A/N:The sequence of events in this story may not necessarily follow the timeline of the show. I´ve manipulated certain events from the show- including their time frame- to suit my own creative purposes.
Disclaimer: all Superman and Smallville characters belong to DC Comics and Gough & Millar. No infringement's intended.
CHAPTERS 1 & 2
CHAPTERS 3 & 4
A/N: As I said at the very beginning I´ve manipulated and/or changed certain events from the show to suit my own purposes- including two storylines I wasn´t particularly pleased with:the fake pregnancy and the cloning of Grant.
CHAPTER 5: Unexpected
TWO MONTHS LATER- LEX´S MASTER BEDROOM
It was four o´clock in the morning and Lex was soaked in sweat, tossing and turning in his king-sized four-poster bed, the fine Egyptian cotton sheets twisted around his legs.
`Why, dad? ´ he asked with glassy eyes. `Why do you hate me so much? What have I done to you that you just can´t let me be happy for once in my life?´
`You should ask your mother.´
`Well, it´s too late for that now, isn´t it? You´ve never forgiven me for what happened to Julian, even though I told you it wasn´t me. He was the son you always wanted- that´s why you kept his umbilical cord stashed away in one of your secret labs all these years. You played God with all of our lives. You forced Lana to marry me using Clark as a pawn, changed her vitamin complex for hormones, and bribed a doctor to make us believe we were expecting a baby. I got to give it to you, dad, it worked beautifully. Lana thinks I´m a monster now. Everyone´s blaming me for all the atrocities you´ve committed, including cloning your own dead son. You even sold me he had never been dead in the first place and then... when you were sure I´d grown to love him like the little brother I´d lost all those years ago... you had him killed. If I hadn´t had a mugger bump into you on your way to the restaurant that fateful evening, I wouldn´t have had your mobile to read those compromising words: “Job done.” You´ve always seemed to enjoy humiliating me and taking away from my side everyone that´s ever meant something to me. ´
`I couldn´t take my revenge on your mother- I loved her too much to do that. However, she had betrayed me- in the worst way possible. I would have never laid a finger on her and that left you...´he cut himself off, `the apple of her eyes.´
`Betrayed you in what way?´
`That doesn´t matter now. Lex, son...´
`Who can be so base and unnatural as to torture his own flesh and blood?´ hissed Lex.
`I know it´s too late to undo the past but... Lex, do you remember that little chat we had... when you came to visit me in prison before the trial? There´s something I´ve got to tell you.´
`What? You´ve cried wolf too many times, dad.´
`You don´t understand. I haven´t got much time left.´
`Is this another cheap trick, dad?´
`No, it´s the truth. You can talk with Dr Nelson, son.´
`And what will he tell me? The lies you paid him to feed me?´
`No, Lex... You´ve got to listen to me. Miss Sullivan... she is...´
“Shut up!” screamed Lex, sitting up in bed, hyperventilating and soaking wet.
It had taken him several months to gather all the information and medical reports necessary to confront his father and, now that it was done, he only wished it were a nightmare. The man hadn´t denied anything- what´s more he had kept on pushing Lex´s buttons, telling him he had lied that time in prison. The old man had twisted the knife in the wound again by referring to a past conversation that was imprinted on Lex´s mind. He wished the bastard had lied three years ago, but Lex had incontestable scientific evidence that said he hadn´t.
Lionel had kept on trying to get Lex to listen to him and, then, the argument came to a sudden close on the top floor of LuthorCorp headquarters.
Leaving the bed to splash his face with cold water, Lex tried to stop thinking about what life had been like when Lionel was alive. He couldn´t let the bastard win even after death. The police inquiry concluded Luthor Sr had been robbed and attacked by some unknown assailant- the criminal had also incapacitated Luthor Jr, who happened to be in his father´s office at that time, and used the keys he had taken from Luthor Sr to operate the private elevator, fleeing with his loot. According to Luthor Jr, several objets d´art were missing, but there was no recorded tape of the robbery and murder since his father didn´t like cameras and microphones where he conducted business.
THE DAILY PLANET BULLPEN
It was two o´clock of an April afternoon when Chloe Sullivan came back from lunch and walked through the glass doors of The Daily Planet bullpen to find the editorial staff silently glued to the plasma screens.
The blonde reporter approached her desk, dumped her folders and notebooks filled with documents and scribbled notes for her following investigative report and, then, made her way to the centre of the room to have a better look at one of the monitors.
A photograph of Lex Luthor dressed in an obscenely expensive Italian custom-made suit was pasted on the screen as a voice in off gave a detailed account of his family, educational and business background. Chloe looked at her colleagues with a frown and wondered what the deal was. Unless some gutsy journalist had dug up some really juicy stuff on LuthorCorp and managed to circumvent the billionaire´s legal and not-so-legal fence to go public, she couldn´t understand the deadly quiet which had seized the room.
Suddenly, the picture came off the screen and was replaced by footage of a younger Lex accompanied by Chloe as they climbed down the stairs of Metropolis Court after the verdict on Lionel´s case was reached. She made an effort to keep her cool as she sensed several pairs of eyes focusing on her. `What the hell! I´ve got better things to do than going down memory lane on national television, ´she told herself.
And, then, when she was seriously considering Lex had developed a new power after his resurrection- the power to hypnotise the masses and keep them glued to the screen- the bomb came down: Lionel Luthor had been murdered in his office of three shots in his chest. The almighty Lionel Luthor couldn´t have died in normal circumstances. Chloe had always envisioned a somewhat bloody and over-the-top death for him- an orgasmic demise coming second on the list of possible alternatives.
So now Lex wasn´t just a billionaire in his own right, but would become the richest and most powerful man in America when he came into his father´s fortune- Chloe´s gut clenched, wondering how this would affect his latest efforts to walk the line.
“Sullivan!” came the thunderous call from Miss Kahn´s office, and the blonde reporter rolled her eyes.
“Here we go,” she said through clenched teeth as she marched to the editor´s office, trying not to do so by dragging her feet.
“Where have you been? Haven´t you heard the news?”
“I´ve just... “
“Seen it on TV? How come we didn´t know of Luthor´s passing until it was pasted on every TV screen of Metropolis?”
“I´ve just come from my lunch break, “ started to explain Chloe.
“And is that an excuse for journalistic sloppiness? Where´s the determined reporter I rehired two months ago?”
“Excuse me, Miss Kahn, “ said an apologetic Jimmy Olsen, knocking on the door and opening it just a crack.
“What!” exclaimed an irate editor.
“There´s an urgent delivery for Miss Sullivan,” he said sheepishly.
“Don´t you see we´re in the middle of a meeting here, Olsen?”
“Yes, madam, but I think...” he stammered, handing Chloe an envelope, “this is something she´ll like to see right away.”
“Unless it´s something that´ll provide The Planet with an exclusive the competition would be dying to snatch from our hands, I suggest you conduct your private affairs in your own time, Miss Sullivan,” hissed the temperamental editor on seeing Chloe fidget with the envelope in her hands. “Now, get yourself moving and bring me something worthy of the front page. You´re covering Luthor´s story, Sullivan. Take Olsen with you. See if he can snap a few decent pictures this time,” she barked, sitting back on her swivel chair and picking up the handset of her phone.” Well?” she looked at both youths, cocking an eyebrow,” what are you waiting for? “
“One of these days I swear to God I´ll throttle her,” said Chloe under her breath and heard Jimmy stifle a laugh as he followed her down the corridor. “I´ll text you with the instructions of when and where we´ll be meeting, Jimmy. I need a change of clothes.”
“Sure, Chloe. Aren´t you going to open it? “ he added pointing at the envelope she still had in her hand.
“Right now I need a shower and a jumbo cup of strong coffee, Jimmy,” she sighed, locking away her research in the bottom drawer of her desk and picking up her handbag.
CHLOE´S FLAT
Chloe shut the door of her Metropolis flat and- leaving her keys and handbag on the console table in the hall- took off her jacket, walked into the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker and started to strip on the way to her room. She threw the envelope on the dresser, put on her favourite green satin robe- a Victoria Secret gift from her cousin Lois- and went into the bathroom. She had a relaxing shower and then cleaned her face of make-up and applied a moisturising cream.
It was half past three when she sat down on the sofa with a cup of frothy black coffee and the mysterious envelope with the purple and black logo of LuthorCorp on her lap. After spending an extra ten minutes looking at it against the light of the lamp on the end table and deciding it wasn´t an explosive letter, she stretched her arm, took the gold-plated paper knife her dad had given her when she was rehired by The Planet and slit open the envelope.
The letter was handwritten on monogrammed paper and bore the signature of the late Lionel Luthor. Chloe took a large gulp of coffee and started to read its contents with a puzzled frown on her face.
“Bastard,” murmured Chloe with tears in her eyes.
METROPOLIS CATHEDRAL
It was a memorial service worthy of a king. Metropolis Cathedral was packed with throngs of business tycoons, foreign dignitaries and the crème de la crème of society- an over-the-top ceremony as it befitted a Luthor, but phony as hell.
Chloe sat on one of the pews at the back and surveyed the temple and attendance with a cynical eye. She spotted Senator Martha Kent sitting close to the atrium and thought Clark´s mum was perhaps the only soul in that place who was sincerely mourning the passing of Luthor Sr.
Lex and his half-brother Lucas were at the front receiving the condolences of the hundreds in attendance. The eldest sibling was wearing his trademark poker-face and the bastard son was flaunting that nonchalance he had shown on his brief visit to Smallville. Chloe bet neither of them really regretted the patriarch´s demise- the former because he had known him too well and the latter because he had been spared the acquaintance. Still, with Lex one could never be sure- his damnation had always been he felt too much and too deep. Who could say for certain what was going through his mind as he shook the a hundred and fiftieth hand of the evening.
“ Miss Sullivan?” asked a grey-haired bespectacled man, taking her by surprise.
“Yes?” she responded, eying him with a questioning look.
“My name´s James Sutton. I´m the late Mr Luthor´s attorney,” he explained, handing her a card.
“Will I need a lawyer?” she asked smugly.” I haven´t been researching for a Lionel Luthor exposé of late.”
“I´m not that kind of a lawyer, Miss. I handle estates, mainly.”
“Estates? “
“Yes.”
“Well, I´m afraid I haven´t got much to bequeath,” she quipped, flashing him a Sullivan smile.
“Mr Luthor left precise instructions for the reading of his will and your presence is requested.”
“Excuse me?” she frowned.
“The reading will take place in his offices at LuthorCorp Plaza at seven the morning after tomorrow.”
“Isn´t the reading supposed to be a private family affair?” she asked, casting a glance at Lex, who at that moment raised his eyes and shot her and the lawyer a fleeting quizzical look.
“I´m just following my client´s instructions, miss.”
Chloe wondered what other bomb the bastard would make explode after his death.
“At seven you said?”
“Yes, miss. At LuthorCorp Plaza.”
“I´ll be there,” she responded, and the dignified man said goodbye to her.
“Who was that guy, Chloe?” asked Jimmy, slipping next to her on the pew.
“Luthor´s lawyer,” she said, trying not to fidget on the seat under Lex´s smouldering look.
“Lex´s?” he asked with a hint of panic in his voice.” Is he suing the paper?”
“No, on both counts, Jimmy. It was Lionel´s lawyer. Come on, let´s go. We´ve seen enough,” she answered tensely, picking up her bag.
“Did you manage to get something juicy from him?” he asked enthusiastically.
“This is hardly the place to divulge corporative secrets, Jimmy,” she said scornfully.
“But... he said something to you. You looked confused for a moment there.”
“Did you spend the whole evening keeping tabs on me? What about Miss Kahn´s assignment?”
“I´ve got the pictures. Don´t worry, Chloe. You´re touchy. What´s wrong with you?”
“Well, the Luthors aren´t my favourite people, Jimmy. Every time I´ve crossed paths with them, things have invariably turned awry for me,” she explained, rushing to her parked Beetle.
“Hey, Chloe. What´s the hurry?” he exclaimed.
“You´ve got to develop the photos, and I´ve got an article to write before the deadline.”
“I´ve brought the digital camera, remember?” he smiled.” I won´t be needing a dark room, just a PC.“
“OK, whatever,” she said, fumbling with the car keys.” It´s open, Jimmy. Will you get in, please?” she beseeched him, looking at the church and hoping Lex had been detained by an Arab sheik or a European MP on his way to the front doors. She knew she´d have to face him sooner or later, but she preferred for it to be later than sooner.
“Are you sure everything´s all right, Chloe?” asked Jimmy with concern.
“Say... is your offer to put me up in your apartment still standing?” she replied, pulling the car out of the parking space and looking into the rear mirror to see if she could spot a familiar bald head.
“Sure. Have you got problems with the plumbing again?”
The plumbing! God, she wished it were that simple!
“It´ll be for a couple of days, tops.”
“Stay as long as you need, Chlo´. “
“Thanks, Jimmy.”
She knew it wasn´t the perfect hideaway, but the two places Lex would look for her first would be her flat and then Lois´. She hoped that look on his face didn´t mean what she thought it meant. Although Lex had been really trying to convince the world and her that he was a different man after the incident in Detroit, Chloe knew he was on a short fuse. The last time they had talked, when he came to The Planet after he had sold the newspaper and Chloe had been re-hired, she had seen something in him which convinced her it´d just take a small push to send him over the edge.
Chloe wasn´t afraid of taking risks when it came to investigating for a front-page story, but what Lex had shown her when her essence had been transferred to his body in that hospital room had caught her in his emotionally-thwarted web and made her realise their lives were more entangled than she´d ever thought. That day, after he left her apartment above The Talon, she had started digging up information about the past and ended up investigating Luthor Sr once again. What she´d discovered told her robbery might not have been the reason behind the old man´s death. Had Lionel pushed him over the edge?
She´d type the article on her laptop, send Jimmy´s photos as an attachment and call in sick. She´d have forty-eight hours to use the key Lionel had enclosed in the envelope and get ready for an encounter she was starting to dread.
tbc
CHAPTER 6
Author: Lexie aka lillianschild
Rating: PG-13/15
Spoilers: Everything up to Fracture is up for grabs.
A/N:The sequence of events in this story may not necessarily follow the timeline of the show. I´ve manipulated certain events from the show- including their time frame- to suit my own creative purposes.
Disclaimer: all Superman and Smallville characters belong to DC Comics and Gough & Millar. No infringement's intended.
CHAPTERS 1 & 2
CHAPTERS 3 & 4
A/N: As I said at the very beginning I´ve manipulated and/or changed certain events from the show to suit my own purposes- including two storylines I wasn´t particularly pleased with:the fake pregnancy and the cloning of Grant.
CHAPTER 5: Unexpected
TWO MONTHS LATER- LEX´S MASTER BEDROOM
It was four o´clock in the morning and Lex was soaked in sweat, tossing and turning in his king-sized four-poster bed, the fine Egyptian cotton sheets twisted around his legs.
`Why, dad? ´ he asked with glassy eyes. `Why do you hate me so much? What have I done to you that you just can´t let me be happy for once in my life?´
`You should ask your mother.´
`Well, it´s too late for that now, isn´t it? You´ve never forgiven me for what happened to Julian, even though I told you it wasn´t me. He was the son you always wanted- that´s why you kept his umbilical cord stashed away in one of your secret labs all these years. You played God with all of our lives. You forced Lana to marry me using Clark as a pawn, changed her vitamin complex for hormones, and bribed a doctor to make us believe we were expecting a baby. I got to give it to you, dad, it worked beautifully. Lana thinks I´m a monster now. Everyone´s blaming me for all the atrocities you´ve committed, including cloning your own dead son. You even sold me he had never been dead in the first place and then... when you were sure I´d grown to love him like the little brother I´d lost all those years ago... you had him killed. If I hadn´t had a mugger bump into you on your way to the restaurant that fateful evening, I wouldn´t have had your mobile to read those compromising words: “Job done.” You´ve always seemed to enjoy humiliating me and taking away from my side everyone that´s ever meant something to me. ´
`I couldn´t take my revenge on your mother- I loved her too much to do that. However, she had betrayed me- in the worst way possible. I would have never laid a finger on her and that left you...´he cut himself off, `the apple of her eyes.´
`Betrayed you in what way?´
`That doesn´t matter now. Lex, son...´
`Who can be so base and unnatural as to torture his own flesh and blood?´ hissed Lex.
`I know it´s too late to undo the past but... Lex, do you remember that little chat we had... when you came to visit me in prison before the trial? There´s something I´ve got to tell you.´
`What? You´ve cried wolf too many times, dad.´
`You don´t understand. I haven´t got much time left.´
`Is this another cheap trick, dad?´
`No, it´s the truth. You can talk with Dr Nelson, son.´
`And what will he tell me? The lies you paid him to feed me?´
`No, Lex... You´ve got to listen to me. Miss Sullivan... she is...´
“Shut up!” screamed Lex, sitting up in bed, hyperventilating and soaking wet.
It had taken him several months to gather all the information and medical reports necessary to confront his father and, now that it was done, he only wished it were a nightmare. The man hadn´t denied anything- what´s more he had kept on pushing Lex´s buttons, telling him he had lied that time in prison. The old man had twisted the knife in the wound again by referring to a past conversation that was imprinted on Lex´s mind. He wished the bastard had lied three years ago, but Lex had incontestable scientific evidence that said he hadn´t.
Lionel had kept on trying to get Lex to listen to him and, then, the argument came to a sudden close on the top floor of LuthorCorp headquarters.
Leaving the bed to splash his face with cold water, Lex tried to stop thinking about what life had been like when Lionel was alive. He couldn´t let the bastard win even after death. The police inquiry concluded Luthor Sr had been robbed and attacked by some unknown assailant- the criminal had also incapacitated Luthor Jr, who happened to be in his father´s office at that time, and used the keys he had taken from Luthor Sr to operate the private elevator, fleeing with his loot. According to Luthor Jr, several objets d´art were missing, but there was no recorded tape of the robbery and murder since his father didn´t like cameras and microphones where he conducted business.
THE DAILY PLANET BULLPEN
It was two o´clock of an April afternoon when Chloe Sullivan came back from lunch and walked through the glass doors of The Daily Planet bullpen to find the editorial staff silently glued to the plasma screens.
The blonde reporter approached her desk, dumped her folders and notebooks filled with documents and scribbled notes for her following investigative report and, then, made her way to the centre of the room to have a better look at one of the monitors.
A photograph of Lex Luthor dressed in an obscenely expensive Italian custom-made suit was pasted on the screen as a voice in off gave a detailed account of his family, educational and business background. Chloe looked at her colleagues with a frown and wondered what the deal was. Unless some gutsy journalist had dug up some really juicy stuff on LuthorCorp and managed to circumvent the billionaire´s legal and not-so-legal fence to go public, she couldn´t understand the deadly quiet which had seized the room.
Suddenly, the picture came off the screen and was replaced by footage of a younger Lex accompanied by Chloe as they climbed down the stairs of Metropolis Court after the verdict on Lionel´s case was reached. She made an effort to keep her cool as she sensed several pairs of eyes focusing on her. `What the hell! I´ve got better things to do than going down memory lane on national television, ´she told herself.
And, then, when she was seriously considering Lex had developed a new power after his resurrection- the power to hypnotise the masses and keep them glued to the screen- the bomb came down: Lionel Luthor had been murdered in his office of three shots in his chest. The almighty Lionel Luthor couldn´t have died in normal circumstances. Chloe had always envisioned a somewhat bloody and over-the-top death for him- an orgasmic demise coming second on the list of possible alternatives.
So now Lex wasn´t just a billionaire in his own right, but would become the richest and most powerful man in America when he came into his father´s fortune- Chloe´s gut clenched, wondering how this would affect his latest efforts to walk the line.
“Sullivan!” came the thunderous call from Miss Kahn´s office, and the blonde reporter rolled her eyes.
“Here we go,” she said through clenched teeth as she marched to the editor´s office, trying not to do so by dragging her feet.
“Where have you been? Haven´t you heard the news?”
“I´ve just... “
“Seen it on TV? How come we didn´t know of Luthor´s passing until it was pasted on every TV screen of Metropolis?”
“I´ve just come from my lunch break, “ started to explain Chloe.
“And is that an excuse for journalistic sloppiness? Where´s the determined reporter I rehired two months ago?”
“Excuse me, Miss Kahn, “ said an apologetic Jimmy Olsen, knocking on the door and opening it just a crack.
“What!” exclaimed an irate editor.
“There´s an urgent delivery for Miss Sullivan,” he said sheepishly.
“Don´t you see we´re in the middle of a meeting here, Olsen?”
“Yes, madam, but I think...” he stammered, handing Chloe an envelope, “this is something she´ll like to see right away.”
“Unless it´s something that´ll provide The Planet with an exclusive the competition would be dying to snatch from our hands, I suggest you conduct your private affairs in your own time, Miss Sullivan,” hissed the temperamental editor on seeing Chloe fidget with the envelope in her hands. “Now, get yourself moving and bring me something worthy of the front page. You´re covering Luthor´s story, Sullivan. Take Olsen with you. See if he can snap a few decent pictures this time,” she barked, sitting back on her swivel chair and picking up the handset of her phone.” Well?” she looked at both youths, cocking an eyebrow,” what are you waiting for? “
“One of these days I swear to God I´ll throttle her,” said Chloe under her breath and heard Jimmy stifle a laugh as he followed her down the corridor. “I´ll text you with the instructions of when and where we´ll be meeting, Jimmy. I need a change of clothes.”
“Sure, Chloe. Aren´t you going to open it? “ he added pointing at the envelope she still had in her hand.
“Right now I need a shower and a jumbo cup of strong coffee, Jimmy,” she sighed, locking away her research in the bottom drawer of her desk and picking up her handbag.
CHLOE´S FLAT
Chloe shut the door of her Metropolis flat and- leaving her keys and handbag on the console table in the hall- took off her jacket, walked into the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker and started to strip on the way to her room. She threw the envelope on the dresser, put on her favourite green satin robe- a Victoria Secret gift from her cousin Lois- and went into the bathroom. She had a relaxing shower and then cleaned her face of make-up and applied a moisturising cream.
It was half past three when she sat down on the sofa with a cup of frothy black coffee and the mysterious envelope with the purple and black logo of LuthorCorp on her lap. After spending an extra ten minutes looking at it against the light of the lamp on the end table and deciding it wasn´t an explosive letter, she stretched her arm, took the gold-plated paper knife her dad had given her when she was rehired by The Planet and slit open the envelope.
The letter was handwritten on monogrammed paper and bore the signature of the late Lionel Luthor. Chloe took a large gulp of coffee and started to read its contents with a puzzled frown on her face.
“Bastard,” murmured Chloe with tears in her eyes.
METROPOLIS CATHEDRAL
It was a memorial service worthy of a king. Metropolis Cathedral was packed with throngs of business tycoons, foreign dignitaries and the crème de la crème of society- an over-the-top ceremony as it befitted a Luthor, but phony as hell.
Chloe sat on one of the pews at the back and surveyed the temple and attendance with a cynical eye. She spotted Senator Martha Kent sitting close to the atrium and thought Clark´s mum was perhaps the only soul in that place who was sincerely mourning the passing of Luthor Sr.
Lex and his half-brother Lucas were at the front receiving the condolences of the hundreds in attendance. The eldest sibling was wearing his trademark poker-face and the bastard son was flaunting that nonchalance he had shown on his brief visit to Smallville. Chloe bet neither of them really regretted the patriarch´s demise- the former because he had known him too well and the latter because he had been spared the acquaintance. Still, with Lex one could never be sure- his damnation had always been he felt too much and too deep. Who could say for certain what was going through his mind as he shook the a hundred and fiftieth hand of the evening.
“ Miss Sullivan?” asked a grey-haired bespectacled man, taking her by surprise.
“Yes?” she responded, eying him with a questioning look.
“My name´s James Sutton. I´m the late Mr Luthor´s attorney,” he explained, handing her a card.
“Will I need a lawyer?” she asked smugly.” I haven´t been researching for a Lionel Luthor exposé of late.”
“I´m not that kind of a lawyer, Miss. I handle estates, mainly.”
“Estates? “
“Yes.”
“Well, I´m afraid I haven´t got much to bequeath,” she quipped, flashing him a Sullivan smile.
“Mr Luthor left precise instructions for the reading of his will and your presence is requested.”
“Excuse me?” she frowned.
“The reading will take place in his offices at LuthorCorp Plaza at seven the morning after tomorrow.”
“Isn´t the reading supposed to be a private family affair?” she asked, casting a glance at Lex, who at that moment raised his eyes and shot her and the lawyer a fleeting quizzical look.
“I´m just following my client´s instructions, miss.”
Chloe wondered what other bomb the bastard would make explode after his death.
“At seven you said?”
“Yes, miss. At LuthorCorp Plaza.”
“I´ll be there,” she responded, and the dignified man said goodbye to her.
“Who was that guy, Chloe?” asked Jimmy, slipping next to her on the pew.
“Luthor´s lawyer,” she said, trying not to fidget on the seat under Lex´s smouldering look.
“Lex´s?” he asked with a hint of panic in his voice.” Is he suing the paper?”
“No, on both counts, Jimmy. It was Lionel´s lawyer. Come on, let´s go. We´ve seen enough,” she answered tensely, picking up her bag.
“Did you manage to get something juicy from him?” he asked enthusiastically.
“This is hardly the place to divulge corporative secrets, Jimmy,” she said scornfully.
“But... he said something to you. You looked confused for a moment there.”
“Did you spend the whole evening keeping tabs on me? What about Miss Kahn´s assignment?”
“I´ve got the pictures. Don´t worry, Chloe. You´re touchy. What´s wrong with you?”
“Well, the Luthors aren´t my favourite people, Jimmy. Every time I´ve crossed paths with them, things have invariably turned awry for me,” she explained, rushing to her parked Beetle.
“Hey, Chloe. What´s the hurry?” he exclaimed.
“You´ve got to develop the photos, and I´ve got an article to write before the deadline.”
“I´ve brought the digital camera, remember?” he smiled.” I won´t be needing a dark room, just a PC.“
“OK, whatever,” she said, fumbling with the car keys.” It´s open, Jimmy. Will you get in, please?” she beseeched him, looking at the church and hoping Lex had been detained by an Arab sheik or a European MP on his way to the front doors. She knew she´d have to face him sooner or later, but she preferred for it to be later than sooner.
“Are you sure everything´s all right, Chloe?” asked Jimmy with concern.
“Say... is your offer to put me up in your apartment still standing?” she replied, pulling the car out of the parking space and looking into the rear mirror to see if she could spot a familiar bald head.
“Sure. Have you got problems with the plumbing again?”
The plumbing! God, she wished it were that simple!
“It´ll be for a couple of days, tops.”
“Stay as long as you need, Chlo´. “
“Thanks, Jimmy.”
She knew it wasn´t the perfect hideaway, but the two places Lex would look for her first would be her flat and then Lois´. She hoped that look on his face didn´t mean what she thought it meant. Although Lex had been really trying to convince the world and her that he was a different man after the incident in Detroit, Chloe knew he was on a short fuse. The last time they had talked, when he came to The Planet after he had sold the newspaper and Chloe had been re-hired, she had seen something in him which convinced her it´d just take a small push to send him over the edge.
Chloe wasn´t afraid of taking risks when it came to investigating for a front-page story, but what Lex had shown her when her essence had been transferred to his body in that hospital room had caught her in his emotionally-thwarted web and made her realise their lives were more entangled than she´d ever thought. That day, after he left her apartment above The Talon, she had started digging up information about the past and ended up investigating Luthor Sr once again. What she´d discovered told her robbery might not have been the reason behind the old man´s death. Had Lionel pushed him over the edge?
She´d type the article on her laptop, send Jimmy´s photos as an attachment and call in sick. She´d have forty-eight hours to use the key Lionel had enclosed in the envelope and get ready for an encounter she was starting to dread.
tbc
CHAPTER 6