“I was protecting myself.”
“From your husband?”
“From anyone who thought I would help conceal misconduct because we shared a last name.”
Her breath sharpened.
“You have no proof of misconduct.”
“That is for investigators to determine.”
Then Margaret made the mistake that ended any remaining uncertainty I had about her state of mind.
She began naming documents.
Not generally.
Specifically.
An invoice date.
A consulting agreement.
A payment authorization.
Items I had never mentioned to her.
I stopped speaking except to tell her once more to contact counsel.
She realized too late what she had done.
The call ended thirty seconds later.
Vincent arrived at the house shortly before noon.
He did not use his key because I had engaged the interior lock.
He knocked for nearly five minutes.
I finally opened the door with the security chain still attached.
He looked as if he had aged overnight.
His tie was gone.
His white shirt was wrinkled.
The man who had smiled while my tickets burned now looked at me as though I were holding the floor beneath his feet.
“You have to fix this.”
That was his first sentence.
Not I’m sorry.
Not Are you okay?
Not My mother should never have done that.
You have to fix this.
“I can’t.”
“You can tell them you misunderstood.”
“I didn’t.”
“You can tell them the documents were taken out of context.”
“I didn’t provide conclusions.
I provided records.”
His eyes narrowed.
“So you admit it.”
“I have never denied it.”
He pressed both hands against the doorframe.
“Nina, this is my life.”
I looked at him for several seconds.
“Last night, you watched your mother steal from our home, burn my property in public, tell me what kind of wife I was permitted to be, and you smiled.”
“That was stupid.
Fine.
I admit that.”
“No.
It was clarifying.”
His face tightened.
“You’re ending our marriage over a dinner?”
“I’m ending it because dinner showed me the marriage I was actually in.”
He looked away.
I continued.
“And whatever happens with Meridian will happen because of what the evidence establishes, not because I refused to hide it.”
For once, Vincent had nothing to say.
