Chapter 12 - No More Cover Stories
For one terrible minute, I considered it.
One sentence.
One ugly lie.
Then I could put sheets on the crib mattress and stop wondering whether my daughter’s first home would be taken from us.
Rachel stayed quiet on the phone.
She knew better than to make the choice for me.
“If I say it was a misunderstanding, what happens to Nina?” I asked.
“It could undermine her account. And yours.”
“And the investigation?”
“We cannot trade away a prosecutor’s decisions. But a false statement would create new problems.”
I looked at the roses on the counter.
They had started dropping petals into the sink.
“Tell him no.”
The next morning, Camille returned with her own lawyer.
This time, she did not ask to speak to me alone.
She had left Adrian’s hotel suite after learning the sale payout was frozen.
I didn’t mistake the timing for courage.
Still, she brought her phone and agreed through counsel to preserve and provide the relevant messages.
“Adrian told me you had agreed to the loan,” she said.
Rachel laid out the recovered email about using my repair signature.
“Then explain this.”
Camille’s lawyer leaned toward her.
They whispered.
When she looked up, her eyes were wet.
“I knew she hadn’t signed that page.”
Hearing her say it aloud hurt in a new way.
She had watched me hold my stomach and still laughed.
She had known exactly how little safety I had left.
“Why?” I asked.
She looked at me for a long time.
“He said everything would be paid back after the sale.”
“That’s what you told yourself. I asked why you did it.”
Her mouth tightened.
“Because I wanted what he promised me.”
There it was.
Small enough to fit in one sentence.
Large enough to wreck a family.
Her messages showed Adrian directing the false email account and coordinating the mortgage paperwork through the broker.
They also showed Camille requesting the consulting payments and discussing how to disguise some personal expenses.
Her cooperation did not erase her part.
Her lawyer did not pretend it would.
When the meeting ended, Camille stopped beside my chair.
“I’m sorry.”
“I hope you mean that,” I said.
“But I’m not the person who can make this easy for you.”
She left without answering.
Two days later, Northbridge completed its internal review.
Its attorney called Rachel with an offer to release the house claim and pursue its recovery elsewhere.
There was one final obstacle.
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Adrian had filed a new declaration claiming I had approved everything in person.
The court wanted my testimony.
