Chapter 5 - The Woman Ethan Was Supposed to Betray
The next morning, I asked Ethan who Victor was.
He almost dropped his coffee.
“What?”
“Victor Hale.”
His expression froze.
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
“I told you. He's our attorney.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
He set down his cup.
“What are you accusing me of?”
“I don't know yet.”
He stared at me.
Then his shoulders dropped.
“Claire, I need you to trust me.”
I laughed.
“You keep saying that instead of telling me the truth.”
He rubbed his eyes.
“I can't explain everything.”
“Because you're having an affair?”
“No.”
I stopped.
“No?”
“I haven't slept with Natalie.”
“You admitted you were together before our wedding.”
“Yes.”
“Have you been together since?”
“No.”
“Then what is this?”
He looked toward the window.
“I made mistakes.”
“What kind?”
“Financial.”
That word mattered.
“Did Natalie ask you for money?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said she needed help.”
“With what?”
“A debt.”
“What debt?”
He didn't answer.
I pushed.
“What happened?”
He finally sat.
“Four years ago, Natalie invested in something.”
“Something?”
“A private fund.”
“Did you invest?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Not initially.”
I stared.
“And then?”
“It collapsed.”
“How much did you lose?”
He looked at me.
“Almost everything we had.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“You lost our money?”
“I thought I could recover it.”
“With Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved her.”
The sentence hurt.
But he immediately shook his head.
“Not like that.”
“Then how?”
“As family.”
I looked away.
He continued.
“She had investors threatening her. People connected to the fund weren't ordinary investors.”
“What kind of people?”
He hesitated.
“Criminals.”
I thought of Natalie.
The woman who had always seemed polished.
Controlled.
Harmless.
“You're saying Natalie is in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you hiding it?”
“Because if I told you, you would become a target.”
I almost laughed.
“I became a target the moment you moved $214,900 from our accounts.”
He closed his eyes.
“You don't understand.”
“No.”
“I have been trying to fix this.”
“How?”
“By selling my shares.”
“To whom?”
Victor Hale.
I stared.
“Why?”
“He represents the buyer.”
“And Natalie?”
“She is involved.”
“Involved how?”
Before he could answer, a car stopped outside.
Natalie stepped out.
I looked at Ethan.
“You invited her?”
“No.”
She entered the house without knocking.
“Claire.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to both of you.”
Ethan stood.
“You shouldn't be here.”
She looked at him.
“It's too late.”
Then she looked at me.
“He didn't betray you the way you think.”
I crossed my arms.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Natalie pulled a folder from her bag.
She placed it on the table.
“This is the original investment agreement.”
I opened it.
My name wasn't on it.
Ethan's was.
Natalie's too.
And a third company.
Northstar Recovery Fund.
The same fund Ethan had mentioned.
I read the final page.
The fund's investors had been deceived.
Millions were missing.
But there was one strange clause.
If the fund collapsed, the controlling partners became personally liable.
Ethan had signed.
So had Natalie.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I knew Ethan was trying to save you.”
“Save me from what?”
She looked at Ethan.
“Victor Hale.”
My skin prickled.
“He isn't just an attorney.”
Ethan looked at Natalie.
“Stop.”
“He's the person who created the fund.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Not at first.”
“How long have you known?”
“Six months.”
“Why didn't you go to the police?”
“Because the evidence was buried.”
Natalie opened the folder.
“There are twenty-two victims.”
“Why bring this to me?”
“Because you're the one person Ethan trusts.”
I laughed.
“That's ironic.”
Natalie ignored me.
“Victor is planning to use the merger to bury the remaining liability.”
“How?”
“He will force Ethan to sign a false disclosure.”
“And me?”
“You are the legal obstacle.”
I frowned.
“Why me?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Because Ethan made the mistake of putting several assets in both your names.”
“Which assets?”
“The house.”
“The investment accounts.”
“And part of the company.”
I looked at Ethan.
“You said I owned nothing.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“No.”
My voice trembled.
“You were trying to control what I knew.”
He didn't defend himself.
Natalie sat.
“Victor needs Claire to sign a settlement acknowledging the hidden transfers. Once she does, the money disappears into trusts.”
I understood.
The divorce wasn't about leaving me.
It was about making me participate in a financial cover-up.
“You used me.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“You prepared divorce papers.”
“To give you an exit.”
“After taking our money.”
“To keep Victor from coming after you.”
I looked between them.
“What exactly are you two doing?”
Natalie answered.
“We're trying to bring him down.”
Silence.
Then I remembered the tiramisu.
The chair.
The jacket.
The “family.”
The little performances.
“Were you trying to make me angry?”
Natalie looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor monitors Ethan's personal life.”
I stared.
“He watches me?”
“She needed Victor to believe you were leaving Ethan.”
Ethan nodded.
“If Victor thought our marriage was collapsing, he would move faster.”
I shook my head.
“That's insane.”
“It was supposed to be temporary.”
“How long?”
“Months.”
“Years?”
He looked away.
I understood.
He had been keeping secrets for years.
Maybe not all for selfish reasons.
But secrecy had still destroyed us.
I stood.
“I don't care why you did it.”
Ethan looked hurt.
“I love you.”
“Love isn't enough.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He stepped closer.
“I never stopped.”
I wanted to believe him.
But trust doesn't return because someone says they love you.
It returns because truth stops having locked doors.
I picked up the folder.
“I'll help.”
Both of them stared at me.
“But not because I trust you.”
“Why, then?” Ethan asked.
I looked at him.
“Because I want the truth.”
Then I saw something tucked behind the last page.
A photograph.
A woman I didn't know.
Standing beside Victor Hale.
And beside her was my father.
Alive.
Three years after the date I thought he had died.
My hands began to shake.
“What is this?”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
His face went white.
“I don't know.”
Natalie whispered:
“I do.”
May you like
She looked at me.
“That's why Victor is afraid of you.”
