Chương 8
She looked frustrated.
“That is not fair.”
I almost laughed.
“Fair?”
She looked away.
“I know.”
The admission was quiet.
Not enough.
But real.
I picked up my coffee.
It had gone cold.
I had not noticed.
“Did Nathan ever talk about the company with you?”
“Sometimes.”
“What did he say?”
“That he was under pressure.”
“That is vague.”
“He said his father built everything and that he was always afraid of losing control.”
That surprised me.
I had never heard Nathan say that.
His father had died when Nathan was thirty-two.
Everyone described Nathan as confident after taking over the company.
Driven.
Focused.
Nobody talked about fear.
“What else?”
Paige looked uncomfortable.
“He said people were always waiting for him to fail.”
I studied her face.
There was something strange about hearing her describe him.
Not because she was defending him.
Because she sounded disappointed.
“You believed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She gave a small, tired smile.
“Because he was very good at making you feel like you were the only person who understood him.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Because I knew that version of him.
I had married that version.
Nathan had never pulled people in by being perfect.
He pulled them in by showing small pieces of vulnerability and making them feel chosen.
The problem was that eventually everyone realized the vulnerability had limits.
The pain was real.
The responsibility was not.
“Did he tell you he was going to leave me?”
Paige looked down.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About two months after we started seeing each other.”
I nodded slowly.
Two months.
A lifetime ago.
A lifetime and yesterday.
“And did he?”
“No.”
Her answer came quickly.
“Why?”
She looked embarrassed.
“Because every time he tried, something happened.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“He said you were struggling after the miscarriage.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
There it was again.
My grief.
Used as a reason for his choices.
“He said he could not abandon you when you were vulnerable.”
The bitterness surprised me.
Not because I believed Nathan was noble.
Because I knew exactly how he would tell that story later.
He would not say he stayed because he was afraid.
He would say he stayed because he was kind.
“He made himself the hero,” I said.
Paige did not disagree.
The silence between us lasted longer than either of us expected.
Then she whispered, “Did he ever love you?”
The question was so unexpected that I almost looked around to see if someone else had asked it.
I looked at the woman sitting across from me.
The woman who had helped destroy my marriage.
The woman who was now asking me about it.
“I do not know.”
It was the most honest answer I had.
She nodded slowly.
“I thought he loved me.”
“What changed?”
She looked at her phone.
At Nathan’s unanswered message.
“He stopped making me feel chosen.”
That was the first thing she said that made me understand her.
Not forgive her.
Understand.
Because I knew that feeling.
The slow disappearance.
The waiting.
The excuses.
The constant attempt to find the person who used to look at you differently.
The difference was that I had been abandoned by someone I trusted.
She had been abandoned by someone she helped become cruel.
“I need to ask you something,” I said.
She nodded.
“Did you know about the money transfers?”
Her face changed.
“No.”
“Did you know your name was connected to company expenses?”
“No.”
“Did Nathan ever ask you to sign anything?”
“No.”
The answers came too quickly to be fake.
Then she stopped.
A memory crossed her face.
“What?”
She looked uncertain.
“There was one thing.”
I waited.
“Last month, he asked me to sign a confidentiality agreement.”
“About what?”
“He said it was because of rumors about our relationship.”
That sounded believable.
Too believable.
“Did you sign it?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a copy?”
She looked nervous.
“I think so.”
“Where?”
“At my apartment.”
I leaned back.
“Paige.”
She looked at me.
“You need to get that document.”
“Why?”
“Because if Nathan was hiding something from both of us, that agreement may not be what he told you it was.”
Her expression changed.
Fear replaced confusion.
“I thought you hated me.”
I looked at her.
“I did.”
She swallowed.
“And now?”
I looked through the coffee shop window.
People walked past carrying bags.
Cars moved through traffic.
The city kept going.
“I think I hate what happened more than I hate you.”
She looked down.
That was the closest thing to mercy I could offer.
It was also the most I could offer.
When I left the coffee shop, Richard was waiting outside.
I had not told him where I was going.
That bothered me.
“How did you know?”
He held up his phone.
“Your assistant shared your calendar location.”
I stopped.
“My assistant?”
He gave me a look.
“Your temporary assistant.”
I remembered.
The woman from the foundation.
I had forgotten she was helping with scheduling after I separated from Nathan.
Another reminder that my life had changed faster than my habits could follow.
“Did you follow me?”
“No.”
He looked toward the coffee shop.
“I saw Paige enter.”
I sighed.
“You need to stop appearing places like a detective.”
A faint smile appeared.
“I am a lawyer.”
“That is not better.”
For the first time in days, his expression softened.
“You look different.”
I frowned.
“That sounds like something people say before insulting someone.”
“It is not.”
“Then what does it mean?”
He thought about it.
“You look like you are making decisions instead of surviving them.”
I looked away.
I did not know how to respond to that.
So I did not.
Instead, I asked the question that had been waiting since I left the coffee shop.
“What happens now?”
Richard’s expression became serious again.
“Now we find out how far this goes.”
May you like
The answer should have scared me.
Instead, I felt something I had not felt in months.
