Chương 12
Nathan exhaled.
“Then I really don’t know.”
I typed again.
Call me.
Julian replied.
Not tonight.
I laughed softly.
Nathan heard it.
“What?”
“He doesn’t want to talk tonight.”
“That seems ambitious after everything else.”
“I’m going to call him.”
“Claire.”
“I’m not asking permission.”
“I know.”
I ended the call before he could argue.
Julian answered this time.
His voice was low.
“Where are you?”
“At the apartment.”
The phrase still made my stomach tighten.
“Who were you paying?”
“Can we do this tomorrow?”
“No.”
“I’m exhausted.”
“So am I.”
“I’m not trying to avoid you.”
“You are literally trying to avoid me.”
He was silent.
“Who?”
“A woman named Tessa Grant.”
The name meant nothing.
I searched my memory anyway.
School parents.
Old coworkers.
Neighbors.
Clients.
Nothing.
“Who is she?”
“She worked at Helix.”
His old company.
I sat down slowly.
“What happened?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Stop using that word.”
“Fine.”
He exhaled.
“She worked under me.”
“What does under you mean?”
“On my team.”
“Okay.”
“She accused me of retaliation.”
My fingers went cold around the phone.
“What kind of retaliation?”
“She filed a complaint.”
“With HR?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say you did?”
“That I pushed her out after she raised concerns.”
“What concerns?”
Julian did not answer.
I stood again.
“What concerns?”
“Expense approvals.”
The kitchen seemed too quiet.
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Money again.
“How much?”
“It wasn’t about stealing.”
“Then what was it about?”
“Reimbursements.”
I almost laughed.
“Again?”
“Claire, this is different.”
“Apparently reimbursements are a recurring theme in your life.”
“I submitted expenses she thought were personal.”
“Were they?”
“Some were questionable.”
“What does questionable mean?”
“I took clients out.”
“So?”
“Sometimes there were people there who weren’t clients.”
“Who?”
“Friends.”
I said nothing.
Julian continued.
“Once Nathan.”
Nathan had never mentioned it.
I filed that away without deciding what it meant.
“And Tessa noticed.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I approved a performance plan for her.”
“After she raised concerns?”
“It wasn’t because of that.”
“Did she believe it was?”
“Yes.”
“Did HR?”
Another silence.
“Julian.”
“They investigated.”
“What happened?”
“I was terminated.”
The sentence made me grip the counter.
“You told me you were laid off.”
“I know.”
“You said restructuring.”
“I know.”
“You said your entire division was cut.”
“Parts of it were.”
“But you were fired.”
“Yes.”
I put a hand over my mouth.
The first lie had been sitting there from the beginning.
Everything after it had grown around that one.
“Did they find that you retaliated?”
“They said there were concerns about my judgment.”
“That is not an answer.”
“They couldn’t prove retaliation.”
“Could they prove the expenses?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“A few thousand.”
“Company money?”
“Yes.”
I started pacing.
The tile felt cold beneath my feet.
“Did you repay it?”
“They withheld part of my final compensation.”
“That is not repaying it.”
“It was resolved.”
“For the company maybe.”
He said nothing.
“What did Tessa do?”
“She hired an attorney.”
“Against Helix?”
“Against Helix and me.”
“When?”
“About three months after I left.”
“And you hid this from me.”
“I was ashamed.”
The word had become meaningless from overuse.
“Did she sue?”
“Not formally.”
“What does that mean?”
“Her attorney sent a demand.”
“For how much?”
“Eighty thousand.”
I stopped walking.
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Eighty.”
“They were negotiating.”
“Who is they?”
“Helix’s lawyers.”
“And you?”
“I wasn’t covered for everything.”
“What were you exposed to?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Did you hire a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“With what money?”
“Our savings.”
The answer came quietly.
I closed my eyes.
“Our savings.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“About twelve thousand.”
I pressed my fingertips into my forehead.
“That was when you told me the market had dropped.”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
I remembered standing in our bedroom while he showed me a brokerage account on his phone, explaining that we had lost more than expected.
I had believed him because I understood markets poorly and trusted him completely.
“You fabricated losses.”
“I moved money.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“To pay a lawyer you never told me existed.”
“Yes.”
I heard something break inside my understanding of the last two years.
Not a dramatic break.
More like a shelf giving way under too much weight.
“What happened with Tessa?”
“She kept pushing.”
“For what?”
“A settlement.”
“From you personally?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said Helix would settle with her, but she wanted me to admit retaliation.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Because you didn’t retaliate?”
Julian hesitated.
That hesitation answered before he did.
“Because I didn’t think I had.”
I stared at the dark glass above the sink.
“That is not the same answer.”
“I know.”
“Did you retaliate?”
“I was angry.”
“At her.”
“Yes.”
“For reporting you.”
“Yes.”
“Did that affect the performance plan?”
“I don’t know.”
“Julian.”
“I thought she was difficult before that.”
“That still doesn’t answer it.”
He snapped suddenly.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
“I am telling you the truth.”
“No, you’re telling me pieces after I find the pieces myself.”
Silence.
His breathing was heavy.
Then he said, “I probably treated her unfairly.”
I closed my eyes.
“Probably.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell your lawyer that?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He said it made settlement more sensible.”
“So you settled.”
“Eventually.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
The number hit me harder than eighty.
Because twenty-five was real.
Twenty-five had left somewhere.
“When?”
“Over the last year.”
I looked down at the custodial statement.
“The withdrawals from Sophie.”
He said nothing.
“The money came from Sophie.”
“Some of it.”
“How much?”
“Claire.”
“How much?”
“Seventeen thousand.”
My throat tightened.
Seventeen.
Dad’s money.
Birthday checks.
Savings meant for a child.
“You took seventeen thousand dollars from our daughter to settle a retaliation claim you hid from me.”
“I was going to put it back.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I was.”
“With what?”
“My income from Nathan.”
“The income you hid.”
“Yes.”
“And instead you rented an apartment.”
Silence.
“And bought clothes.”
May you like
“Yes.”
“And lied to everyone.”
