Chương 6
Darcy stepped closer.
“Do not keep attempting logins.”
Julian gave her a look.
“Why?”
“Because if somebody else is in the account, repeated attempts may create more confusion about what happened and when.”
“Nobody else is in it.”
He said that too quickly.
I felt the shift immediately.
“Who has the password?”
“No one.”
“Tessa?”
“No.”
The answer came before I finished saying her name.
Darcy looked at him.
“Did you ever send her loan information?”
“No.”
“Did she know about the debt?”
Julian rubbed his forehead.
“She knew I was having money problems.”
“That isn’t what she asked,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
The study suddenly felt too small.
I stood again.
“What exactly did you tell her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You remember enough to lie about half of it.”
“Sloan.”
“What did you tell her?”
He stared past me toward the shelves.
“She knew I was trying to restructure things.”
“And the house?”
A long pause.
“She knew it wasn’t in my name.”
The answer landed differently than the affair itself.
Tessa had known something about my marriage that I did not know she knew.
She had known about my house, Julian’s debt, his financial panic, and probably the version of me he had given her to make all of that sound reasonable.
I wondered whether she knew my favorite restaurant too.
Whether she knew I hated olives.
Whether she knew I slept with socks on in winter and Julian made fun of me for it.
Then I hated myself for caring.
Darcy broke the silence.
“Did she work in finance?”
“No.”
“What kind of consultant was she?”
“Operations.”
“Then why was she involved in your restructuring?”
“She wasn’t involved.”
“You just said she knew about it.”
“Knowing and being involved aren’t the same thing.”
Darcy nodded.
“That part is true.”
Julian looked almost grateful.
Then she asked, “Did she introduce you to Crescent Bridge?”
His gratitude disappeared.
I watched his face.
He did not answer.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
My hands went cold.
That was the first detail that changed the affair from private betrayal into something else.
Darcy pulled out a chair and sat.
“When did you meet Tessa?”
Julian hesitated.
“About eight months ago.”
“You said the affair lasted four months.”
“It did.”
“But you knew her before that.”
“Yes.”
“And she introduced you to the lender before or after the affair started?”
“Before.”
Darcy glanced at me.
I knew what she was thinking because I was thinking it too.
The debt, Tessa, and the attempt to gain access to the house were no longer separate lines.
They crossed.
“Why would an operations consultant know a private lender?” Darcy asked.
“She knew somebody there.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember his last name.”
Julian looked toward the hallway as if considering leaving.
Darcy noticed.
“So you remember enough about him to borrow money but not enough to identify him?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was his first name?”
“Graham.”
“Did Graham meet you in person?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A restaurant.”
“Was Tessa there?”
Julian stopped.
I said, “Julian.”
“Yes.”
A quiet pulse started behind my eyes.
He sat on the edge of the guest chair.
“It wasn’t some setup.”
Nobody spoke.
“It wasn’t.”
Darcy’s voice stayed neutral.
“Then what was it?”
“Tessa knew I was getting squeezed.”
“By whom?”
“The original creditor.”
“What original creditor?”
Julian’s face changed again.
I had the absurd thought that I was watching someone remove doors from a hallway one at a time.
Every answer revealed another door behind it.
Darcy leaned forward.
“Crescent Bridge was not the original lender?”
“No.”
My mouth went dry.
“You said the debt came from your company.”
“It did.”
“Then who was the original creditor?”
“A guy named Marcus Hale.”
Darcy’s eyes sharpened.
“That is a person, not a financial institution.”
“He financed part of the company.”
“You told me investors lost money when the business failed.”
“He wasn’t an investor.”
“What was he?”
Julian looked at me.
“Someone I borrowed from personally.”
The chair beneath him creaked as he shifted.
I heard Eleanor’s voice from the front hallway before I could answer.
“Apparently I forgot my glasses.”
All three of us turned.
She appeared in the study doorway, then stopped when she saw our faces.
“I assume this is not a good time.”
Julian stood so quickly he knocked the chair backward.
“Mom, go home.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because this doesn’t involve you.”
She looked at me.
That was when her expression changed.
Not curiosity.
Recognition.
“Who did he tell you about?”
Julian went completely still.
I felt every muscle in my shoulders tighten.
Eleanor gripped the strap of her handbag.
Darcy rose from the chair.
I heard my own voice before I had fully decided to speak.
“Marcus Hale.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Julian swore.
I looked at her.
“You know him.”
She opened her eyes again.
Her face had lost all color beneath her makeup.
“Yes.”
Julian stepped between us.
“No, she doesn’t.”
Eleanor laughed once, softly and without humor.
“Julian, stop.”
He turned on her.
“Mom.”
“Stop lying when everyone in the room already knows you are lying.”
The sentence seemed to cost her something.
She walked to the desk and lowered herself into the chair I had just left.
Her hands shook slightly as she removed her glasses case from her purse.
She opened it, found the glasses, then did not put them on.
“Marcus lent Julian money before the company failed.”
I looked at my husband.
“How long before?”
Eleanor answered.
“Almost two years.”
Julian paced toward the window.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“Then why didn’t you tell Sloan?” she asked.
He turned.
“Because you asked me not to.”
The room changed.
Eleanor stared at him.
“That is not what happened.”
“You said she would panic.”
“I said you needed to tell your wife before you borrowed more.”
May you like
“You told me not to involve her.”
“I told you not to ask her grandmother for money.”
