Chương 3
Finally Chloe said, “I’m sorry.”
He nodded once.
“For which part?”
She looked at him.
He still did not look back.
“The part where you found out that way.”
“That’s one part.”
“I know.”
The valet brought their car around.
Liam opened the passenger door for her automatically.
Even angry, he did that.
The small courtesy hurt more than if he had slammed it.
Chloe got in.
He walked around the front of the car, tipped the valet, then slid behind the wheel.
For three blocks neither of them said anything.
At a red light, Liam drummed his thumb once against the steering wheel.
“Seventy-eight million?”
“Yes.”
“Not seven point eight.”
“No.”
He gave a short breath through his nose.
“Just checking.”
The light changed.
He drove.
Chloe watched the buildings move outside her window.
“You can ask me anything.”
“That would’ve been useful yesterday.”
She accepted that.
Liam turned onto their street.
“How long?”
“How long have I had money?”
“Yes.”
“Most of it, about four years.”
He looked at her, then back at the road.
“We’ve been together three.”
“Yes.”
“Married eleven months.”
“Yes.”
“And when you said you stopped consulting last year—”
“I did stop consulting.”
“But you didn’t need to work.”
“No.”
“You never needed to work.”
“Not for income.”
He laughed quietly.
There was no humor in that either.
“You watched me calculate whether we could afford the kitchen renovation.”
“I paid half.”
“I know you paid half.”
“I didn’t lie about that.”
“You let me think half was a meaningful expense for you.”
Chloe turned toward him.
“It was meaningful because it was ours.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
She looked back out the window.
He was right.
Their townhouse came into view.
Liam pulled into the garage and shut off the engine.
Neither opened a door.
The darkness inside the garage was broken by the soft yellow light from the opener.
Liam sat back.
“Where did it come from?”
Chloe took a breath.
“Northline.”
He frowned.
“The medical billing company?”
“Patient payment systems.”
“You told me you worked there.”
“I did.”
“You told me you left after the acquisition.”
“I did.”
He turned fully toward her.
“You owned it?”
“Part of it.”
“How much?”
“Twelve percent when it sold. Less on a fully diluted basis.”
Liam stared at her.
She went on because stopping would have looked like retreat.
“I joined when there were nine people. I took less salary for equity. Later I bought more shares from one of the early founders when he left. Then we sold.”
“For how much?”
“Enough.”
He closed his eyes.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“That. ‘Enough.’ Like we’re talking about a restaurant check.”
“The transaction value was a little over six hundred million, including debt.”
Liam opened his eyes.
“And you walked away with seventy-eight?”
“Not exactly. Taxes, diversification, growth afterward. My gross proceeds were lower.”
He looked at her for a long time.
“You know what’s strange?”
She waited.
“I don’t care about the number.”
Chloe’s throat tightened.
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
He got out of the car.
Inside the house, he loosened his tie out of habit before remembering he was not wearing one. His hand dropped.
Chloe set the portfolio on the kitchen island.
Liam stared at it.
“I defended you.”
“I know.”
“For three years.”
“I know.”
“When Brittany called you lazy, I defended you. When my mother asked whether you were planning to ‘find something serious,’ I defended you. When Marcus joked that I’d picked up another dependent, I nearly threw him out of my house.”
“I remember.”
“You knew the whole time that it wasn’t true.”
“I knew they were wrong.”
“You knew why they were wrong.”
Chloe’s eyes dropped.
There was no defense that improved that sentence.
Liam walked to the refrigerator, opened it, stared inside, then closed it without taking anything.
A ridiculous, ordinary movement.
It made the kitchen feel suddenly real again.
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Did you ever plan to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
She hesitated.
His expression changed.
“That long, huh?”
“I kept moving the date.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of what happened after.”
He leaned against the counter.
“What happened after what?”
She rested one hand on the portfolio.
“When Northline sold, people changed.”
Liam said nothing.
“My cousin wanted me to fund a real-estate deal. My father’s oldest friend asked me to cover his son’s legal bills. People I hadn’t heard from in ten years invited me to lunch. A woman I knew from college sent me a seventy-page deck for a wellness app and then called me selfish when I said no.”
“Those people weren’t your husband.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
She looked at him.
He was angry now, but quietly.
That was worse.
“My fiancé at the time found out the approximate amount before the deal closed,” Chloe said.
Liam’s face altered slightly.
He knew there had been a serious relationship before him. He knew it had ended badly. Chloe had never offered much detail, and he had never pushed.
“What did he do?”
“He started planning.”
“Planning what?”
“Our house. Investments. A restaurant with his brother. He asked me to guarantee a loan. I said no. He said marriage meant shared risk.”
Liam’s mouth tightened.
“That sounds familiar.”
“Yes.”
She let the word sit.
“One night I found copies of my account statements in his desk. He’d photographed papers from my home office.”
Liam looked at the black portfolio.
“He was trying to use your money?”
“He never stole anything. He never got that far.”
“But you ended it.”
“The next morning.”
Liam folded his arms.
“And after him, everybody became a test.”
Chloe looked away.
There was the word again.
“I told myself I was being careful.”
“You told yourself you were being smart.”
“Yes.”
“And with me?”
She swallowed.
“I wanted one relationship where the number never entered the room.”
May you like
Liam’s eyes hardened.
“So you kept the number outside and watched what happened inside.”
