Chapter 10 - MY BEST FRIEND FINALLY TOLD THE TRUTH
Clara returned from Cabo on Wednesday.
Not because her romantic vacation was over.
Because her lawyers wanted her in Chicago.
The resort had required a new payment method, the corporate consulting contract was suspended, and her name appeared in several disputed transactions.
She called me seventeen times before I agreed to meet.
We sat in a conference room at Rachel's law firm.
Both of us had attorneys present.
Clara looked exhausted.
Her expensive coat hung loosely around her shoulders.
The diamond bracelet Derek bought her glittered on her wrist.
I hated that I noticed it.
“Emily,” she whispered.
I said nothing.
She began crying.
Of course.
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
I looked at her.
“You slept with my fiancé.”
She lowered her eyes.
“You helped him take money from my company.”
“I didn't realize—”
“You helped prepare documents that used my signature.”
Her face went white.
“Derek told me you had approved them.”
“Did you watch me sign?”
“No.”
“Did you ask me?”
She said nothing.
I leaned forward.
“Then stop telling me you didn't know.”
Clara wiped her face.
For the first time, she seemed to understand that I wasn't going to comfort her through the consequences of betraying me.
Finally, she began telling the truth.
The affair started eleven months earlier.
Derek told her he had fallen out of love with me.
He said our relationship had become a business arrangement.
He claimed I was controlling and refused to let him make independent financial decisions.
Clara believed him.
At least, she said she did.
Then he began involving her in the consulting company.
At first, she performed small administrative tasks.
Later, he asked her to route invoices and coordinate with Marcus.
The payments increased.
So did their relationship.
“He said we were building something together,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“You were building it with my money.”
She closed her eyes.
“I know that now.”
“Did you know about the planned divorce settlement?”
She nodded.
My chest tightened.
“Did you know he wanted me to sign the Rosehaven agreements?”
“Yes.”
“And you helped him?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
The truth.
Not pretty.
Not complicated.
Just devastating.
Then Clara told me something I hadn't expected.
Derek had promised her that after he completed the restructuring, they would move to California.
He would leave Bellwether.
They would run Crescent Bay together.
She believed the house in Laguna Beach was their future home.
“But yesterday I found another agreement,” she said.
“What agreement?”
“Derek had prepared documents allowing Marcus's investment vehicle to purchase most of Crescent Bay after the transactions closed.”
I frowned.
“And?”
“Derek intended to take a large cash payment and leave.”
“Leave where?”
“I don't know.”
She started crying again.
“He wasn't planning to keep the company with me.”
For the first time, Clara seemed to understand that the man who had betrayed his fiancée might not suddenly become loyal to his mistress.
I felt no satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
Then Clara removed the bracelet and placed it on the table.
“I want to cooperate.”
Rachel nodded.
“We can discuss that through counsel.”
Clara agreed to provide her communications, transaction records, and information about the consulting invoices.
She would still have to answer for her own actions.
Cooperation wasn't a magic eraser.
But it could help establish what happened.
Before leaving, she looked at me.
“Will you ever forgive me?”
For several seconds, I thought about the little girl who used to sleep on my bedroom floor during thunderstorms.
The teenager who helped me survive my father's funeral.
The woman who stood beside me while I chose my wedding dress.
Then I thought about Cabo.
The lies.
The forged documents.
The future she had been trying to steal.
“I don't know.”
Her face crumpled.
I continued.
“But even if I do, Clara, I will never trust you with my life again.”
She nodded.
Then she left.
I watched the door close.
And for the first time, I stopped feeling as though I had lost my best friend that weekend.
I had lost her months earlier.
I was simply the last person to find out.
Then Rachel's assistant entered with a message from Nolan.
The forensic team had recovered a deleted email from Derek's account.
It had been sent to Marcus six weeks earlier.
Subject:
EMILY'S FAMILY TRUST.
I opened it.
The message contained detailed instructions for obtaining copies of my grandmother's trust documents and preparing the Rosehaven contribution agreement.
But the final paragraph made my blood run cold.
If Emily refuses to sign voluntarily, use the authorization we already have. Nolan won't be back in time to interfere.
I stared at the date.
Six weeks earlier.
May you like
Derek had known exactly when Nolan was coming home.
And someone had given him access to private family information that only a handful of people should have possessed.
