Chapter 2 - The Missing MoneyBrooke had known something was wrong before she knew how wrong.
Nolan had always been impulsive.
Before Ethan was born, it had looked like confidence.
He bought expensive watches without asking.
Booked surprise vacations.
Took business risks.
Brooke had admired the fearlessness.
Then fearlessness became recklessness.
After a back injury three years earlier, Nolan was prescribed pain medication.
The prescription ended.
His need for the pills did not.
Brooke discovered the fentanyl eight months ago.
Nolan cried.
Promised treatment.
Entered rehab.
Left.
Promised again.
She believed him again.
Then money started disappearing.
Twenty-eight thousand dollars was only the first transfer she recognized.
That night, after Ethan went upstairs with Brooke’s sister temporarily supervising him, Brooke sat across from Nolan.
The divorce papers remained between them.
Nolan had sobered slightly.
“You embarrassed me in front of my son.”
Brooke stared.
“You smashed his savings.”
“I was drunk.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“I said I’ll replace the money.”
“With what?”
Nolan’s jaw tightened.
“I have money.”
“Where?”
Silence.
Brooke opened her laptop.
“The emergency account is missing twenty-eight thousand.”
“I borrowed it.”
“For what?”
“Business.”
“What business?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Brooke laughed once.
“Try me.”
Nolan looked away.
Brooke turned the screen.
“There’s another withdrawal.”
Twelve thousand.
Then seven thousand.
Then five.
Forty-seven thousand dollars total.
All within ten weeks.
Nolan’s face changed.
“You went through my accounts?”
“They’re joint accounts.”
“I manage the finances.”
“That ended tonight.”
He pushed back his chair.
“You think because your father left you money you can control me?”
“This isn’t about control.”
“Everything with you is control.”
Brooke stood.
“Nolan, where did forty-seven thousand dollars go?”
He didn’t answer.
She stepped closer.
“Drugs?”
“No.”
“Gambling?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I owed people.”
Brooke froze.
“What people?”
Nolan rubbed both hands over his face.
“I made some investments.”
“What investments?”
“Private lending.”
“With whom?”
“You don’t know them.”
The answer frightened her.
“Nolan.”
He looked up.
“I can fix it.”
“You’re not answering me.”
“I said I can fix it.”
“How?”
His eyes moved toward the windows.
Then back.
Brooke caught the hesitation.
“By taking Ethan’s money?”
“That was eight hundred dollars.”
The sentence came out casually.
Brooke stared at him.
Nolan immediately realized the mistake.
“It wasn’t about the amount.”
“No.”
Brooke’s voice became quiet.
“It was about the fact that you could look at our son crying and still put his money in your pocket.”
Nolan’s expression softened.
“Brooke—”
“No.”
She picked up the divorce papers.
“You need to leave tonight.”
His face hardened again.
“You can’t make me.”
“My lawyer says I can ask the court for temporary exclusive possession because of your substance abuse and the violence tonight.”
“You hit me first.”
“I did.”
Brooke did not deny it.
“And I shouldn’t have.”
That surprised him.
“But you struck me in front of Ethan after destroying his property and taking his money while intoxicated.”
Nolan stepped closer.
“You want to destroy me?”
“I want Ethan safe.”
“You’re turning him against me.”
“You did that yourself.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Brooke looked toward the staircase.
Ethan stood halfway down.
His face was pale.
He held a plastic sandwich bag filled with the money he had recovered.
“Mom?”
Brooke’s expression softened instantly.
“What is it, honey?”
Ethan looked at Nolan.
“Did Dad take my money because we’re poor?”
Brooke’s heart broke.
“No.”
“Then why?”
Nolan closed his eyes.
Brooke approached Ethan.
“This is not because of anything you did.”
Ethan clutched the bag.
“Is Dad sick?”
Brooke looked at Nolan.
For the first time all evening, Nolan looked ashamed.
“Yes,” Brooke said carefully.
“But being sick does not mean people get to hurt you.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
Then asked:
“Is he leaving?”
Nolan looked at his son.
Brooke answered.
“For tonight, yes.”
Nolan stood.
“Brooke.”
She turned.
“If you leave now peacefully, we deal with the rest through lawyers.”
“And if I don’t?”
Brooke held up her phone.
“I call the police.”
Nolan stared at her.
Then grabbed his jacket.
As he crossed the foyer, he stopped.
“There’s something you should know before you start digging into the money.”
Brooke’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Nolan looked directly at her.
“That twenty-eight thousand wasn’t the first money I moved.”
The front door closed behind him.
Brooke stood frozen.
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Because she had already suspected there were missing funds.
She had not suspected how far back they went.
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