Chương 11
“About a week before.”
“Where?”
“A steakhouse in Riverside.”
“Who paid?”
“Curtis.”
“What did you talk about?”
“The business.”
“What else?”
Evan hesitated.
“Your job.”
Charlotte’s finger stopped.
“My job?”
“Brandon mentioned you worked in compliance.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“What kind of compliance did he say?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
“He said something about vendor risk.”
Charlotte’s chest tightened.
That was close enough.
She worked in corporate procurement compliance for a regional medical supply distributor.
Her job involved contracts, vendor reviews, documentation, and internal controls.
Brandon had mocked the paperwork more than once.
Curtis had apparently heard about it before asking Brandon to sign anything questionable.
“Did Curtis react?”
Evan thought.
“He joked that Brandon must have the toughest wife in California.”
Hailey gave him a sharp look.
“That’s not funny now.”
“It wasn’t funny then.”
“Did Curtis ask whether I handled our finances?”
Charlotte asked.
Evan’s eyes shifted.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“He asked who was better with paperwork.”
Charlotte felt something cold settle beneath her ribs.
“And Brandon said?”
Evan looked away.
“That you were.”
Charlotte imagined the dinner.
Brandon probably laughing.
Curtis listening.
Questions disguised as conversation.
Who owned the house.
Who handled paperwork.
Who had equity.
Who would notice.
The shape forming in her mind was still inference, but it had edges now.
“What did Brandon say about me?”
Evan looked uncomfortable.
“Nothing bad.”
“That was not my question.”
“He said you checked everything.”
Charlotte gave a humorless smile.
“Apparently not everything.”
Hailey looked at her.
“Charlotte.”
She ignored it.
“What else?”
Evan hesitated.
“He said that was why he needed the investment to work before he told you.”
Charlotte went still.
“Before he told me?”
Evan looked as though he wished he could pull the sentence back.
“So Curtis knew from the beginning that Brandon was hiding it from me.”
“Yes.”
The room fell quiet.
A truck passed outside.
The sound faded.
Charlotte looked at the date again.
April 18.
A week before Brandon invested forty thousand dollars.
Then another thought came.
“How did Brandon get the forty?”
Evan blinked.
“I thought you knew.”
“I know some came from retirement and eight thousand from our joint savings.”
“That’s not forty.”
“No.”
“How much was retirement?”
Charlotte felt suddenly stupid for not asking.
“I don’t know.”
Evan looked at Hailey.
Hailey shook her head.
Charlotte took out her phone and called Brandon.
He answered on the first ring.
“Hey.”
“How much did you take from retirement?”
Silence.
“Charlotte—”
“Number.”
“Twenty-two.”
She calculated.
Twenty-two plus eight made thirty.
“Where did the other ten thousand come from?”
Brandon did not answer.
Charlotte’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Brandon.”
“I borrowed it.”
“From who?”
Another silence.
“Curtis.”
Charlotte stared at Evan.
Evan’s face changed.
“You borrowed ten thousand dollars from Curtis before putting forty thousand into Curtis’s company.”
“It wasn’t his company.”
“You told me WestArc was his opportunity.”
“He said he was connected to it.”
“Did you sign a note for the ten?”
“Yes.”
“Secured?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“How did you pay it back?”
“I didn’t.”
Charlotte looked at Evan’s spreadsheet.
“Was it rolled into the seventy-five?”
“Yes.”
“Then your seventy-five-thousand-dollar loan was not all new money.”
“No.”
“How much new money did you actually receive?”
“Sixty-five.”
“And some of that paid credit cards.”
“Yes.”
“How much actually went into WestArc the second time?”
Brandon breathed out.
“Forty-four.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
“So you invested forty thousand, lost it, then borrowed seventy-five thousand secured against our house, received sixty-five after rolling in old debt, paid twenty-one thousand toward credit cards, and put forty-four thousand more into the same failing company.”
“It hadn’t completely failed yet.”
The absurdity of the correction stunned her.
“Did Curtis tell you the second forty-four would rescue your first forty?”
“Yes.”
“And did he know the seventy-five was secured by the house?”
“Obviously.”
Evan muttered something under his breath.
Charlotte looked at him.
“What?”
Evan shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
He stared at the spreadsheet.
“That’s the trap.”
Brandon heard him through the phone.
“Evan’s there?”
Charlotte ignored the question.
Evan continued.
“He gets Brandon in for forty.”
“He makes Brandon desperate to recover it.”
“He lends him ten to make the first investment look bigger.”
“He waits until Brandon is underwater.”
“Then he offers the rescue loan against the house.”
Charlotte’s skin prickled.
Brandon’s voice became sharp.
“You don’t know that.”
Evan leaned toward the phone.
“I know he offered me the same thing.”
Silence.
Charlotte looked at Evan.
“When?”
“Three weeks before Brandon’s seventy-five.”
Brandon said, “What?”
Evan’s face hardened.
“He offered me a loan against my townhouse after my payments stopped.”
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was embarrassed.”
The irony sat there between them.
Nobody touched it.
Charlotte spoke into the phone.
“Did Curtis know Evan refused?”
“I assume.”
“Then you came next.”
Brandon did not answer.
Charlotte looked down at the sequence again.
For the first time she could see why Marisol had told her not to call Curtis.
She had been thinking like an angry wife.
Curtis, if Evan was right, had been thinking like someone who selected pressure points.
“Do you still have the original ten-thousand-dollar note?”
Charlotte asked.
“No.”
“Copy?”
“Maybe in email.”
“Find it.”
“What are you doing?”
“Building a timeline.”
“Charlotte, please.”
“What?”
“I know this looks bad.”
She stared at the names and dates in front of her.
“It doesn’t look bad.”
Her voice came out quieter than she intended.
“It looks organized.”
Brandon said nothing.
Charlotte continued.
“Do not contact Curtis.”
“That’s what I told you.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Why?”
“Because my attorney told me not to, and because I don’t trust you not to say something stupid.”
Brandon inhaled sharply.
She regretted the wording again but not the instruction.
“Send me every email, note, transfer record, and message you have involving Curtis, WestArc, Vane Capital, or Inland Venture.”
“Your attorney said not to give me anything.”
“She said I should preserve what I have.”
“That’s different.”
May you like
“Yes.”
Charlotte paused.
