Chapter 13 - NO DEAL FOR SILENCE
I didn't meet Julian alone.
Our lawyers arranged a discussion about the claims he had made against me and the records he was prepared to provide.
His separate criminal situation was his attorney's problem.
Elena made that clear before he sat down.
Julian looked exhausted.
For years, I had imagined wanting to see him broken.
In person, it felt less like victory than seeing damage after a storm.
He started with Graham.
“He said the money would go back before anyone noticed.”
“Why my name?” I asked.
He looked at his lawyer.
I waited.
“Because you trusted me.”
“No. I didn't by then.”
His jaw worked.
“Because I still had your information.”
“And because you thought nobody would believe me over you.”
He didn't deny it.
I thought of every room where he had introduced me as someone who did a little bookkeeping.
Every laugh when I asked about an account.
Every time he told me the numbers were complicated.
“What happened at the wedding,” he said, “got out of hand.”
“You called me trash.”
“I was drinking.”
“Noah wasn't.”
That stopped him.
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I want to fix things with him.”
“Then stop asking him to make you feel better.”
His attorney placed documents on the table.
Julian would withdraw his claims that I had authorized the transfers and correct his sworn financial disclosures through the pending proceedings.
He would turn over records identified by the investigators.
It wasn't forgiveness.
It was him finally putting his own name next to what he had done.
Outside, Victoria waited with her lawyer.
She had filed to end the marriage and had been removed from client work while her conduct was reviewed.
“I used to think being chosen meant I had won,” she told me.
I looked at her.
“You knew there was a child losing his family.”
“Yes.”
There was nothing else for me to give her.
Not absolution.
Not friendship.
I walked to my car.
Before I reached it, Elena called me back.
Julian had produced another message from Graham.
If she won't sign, make custody expensive enough that she will.
May you like
The fight for my son had never been a separate fight.
It had been part of the theft.
