Chapter 10 - The Truth About Richard's Business Left Me Speechless—He Had Built a Fortune and Hidden It From EveryoneMichael showed me the complete financial records.
Richard's company wasn't bankrupt.
It was worth nearly sixty million dollars.
The debt had been fabricated.
The sale had been fake.
The assets had been transferred into trusts.
And I was the beneficiary.
I stared at the documents.
“Why?”
Michael smiled sadly.
“Because Richard knew you would never accept money from him.”
That was true.
He knew me.
He had known me for thirty-seven years.
“He also knew you would never forgive him if he told you.”
I cried.
“He could have trusted me.”
“He did.”
“Then why?”
“Because he believed silence was safer.”
I hated him for that.
And loved him for it.
Both feelings existed at once.
That night, I returned to our old house.
I walked through every room.
Our bedroom.
The children's rooms.
The kitchen.
The living room.
Everything was still there.
Richard had preserved it.
Not because he expected to return.
Because he expected me to.
On the kitchen counter was a final envelope.
I knew the handwriting immediately.
For Claire. Open only after everything is over.
I opened it.
The letter was short.
Claire,
If you've reached this point, then you're finally safe.
I wish I could have been there.
I wish I could have told you the truth.
Most of all, I wish I had trusted you enough to let you choose whether to stay.
You deserved better than the way I left you.
But I need you to know something.
I never stopped loving you.
I cried until my chest hurt.
At the bottom was one final sentence.
Please live the life I stole five years from you.
I folded the letter.
Then I smiled through my tears.
May you like
For the first time in years, I wasn't surviving.
I was living.
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