Chapter 3 - THE FIRST WIFE
Michael sat down hard.
I had never seen a person lose faith in someone in real time before.
Now I knew what it looked like.
It looked like a man staring at his own mother as if he had never met her.
“You paid Lauren to leave?”
Diane rolled her eyes.
“Michael, you were twenty-four.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“You were building your career.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She was unstable.”
“That still isn’t an answer.”
His voice rose with every sentence.
Finally Diane slammed her palm against the table.
“Yes.”
The room froze.
“Yes, I gave her money.”
Michael stared at her.
“Why?”
“To get rid of her.”
There it was.
Not guilt.
Not regret.
Just irritation that the truth had finally become inconvenient.
Michael whispered, “She told me Lauren left because she was seeing someone else.”
Diane looked at me when she answered.
“Lauren was never good enough for him.”
Something cold traveled down my spine.
Because I had heard almost those exact words before.
About me.
Diane had told relatives I was using Michael.
That I isolated him.
That I controlled his money.
That I was raising Emma to disrespect his family.
Lauren had been accused of cheating.
I had been accused of greed.
Different charges.
Same courtroom.
Diane was always the judge.
Michael turned toward the phone.
“Rachel, where did you get the agreement?”
“From a storage archive attached to one of the company’s old legal accounts.”
“Who signed it?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Lauren.”
Michael exhaled.
Then Rachel added, “And Diane.”
Diane smiled triumphantly.
“You see?”
Rachel continued.
“And a witness named Thomas Reed.”
Diane’s smile vanished.
An older man at the far end of the table slowly put down his fork.
Michael’s uncle Robert frowned.
“Thomas Reed?”
“You know him?” I asked.
Robert looked at Diane.
“He was your father’s attorney.”
Diane stood.
“This dinner is over.”
I stepped between her and the doorway.
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
“You do not block me in my own home.”
“You wanted Michael to tell me the truth.”
I held her stare.
“Now we’re going to hear all of it.”
Diane glanced around the room.
Nobody came to help her.
Not this time.
Rachel said, “Claire, I’m twenty minutes away.”
I frowned.
“From here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was already coming.”
Michael looked up.
“With what?”
Rachel’s answer came immediately.
“The original ledger.”
Diane went completely still.
Michael noticed.
“So you know what’s in it.”
Diane said nothing.
I felt the room tilt again.
“What ledger?”
May you like
Rachel replied, “The one showing where the money really came from.”
*
