Chapter 5 - SabrinaSabrina Cole called Brooke before Brooke could call her.
“Nolan told me you’re upset.”
Brooke almost laughed.
“Upset?”
“I know this is difficult.”
“Did Nolan pay you seventy-eight thousand dollars?”
Silence.
Then Sabrina said:
“My services included extensive private recovery support.”
“Show me invoices.”
“I don’t discuss client records casually.”
“I’m his wife.”
“He’s an adult.”
Brooke’s jaw tightened.
“Did you know he was using fentanyl?”
“I knew he had relapsed.”
“When?”
Another hesitation.
“Several months ago.”
Brooke closed her eyes.
“You told me he was sober.”
“I told you he was engaging with recovery.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
The calmness enraged Brooke.
“How much of the money Nolan paid you was actually for treatment?”
Sabrina’s voice changed.
“I don’t appreciate your accusation.”
“That wasn’t an accusation.”
“It sounded like one.”
“Then provide the invoices.”
Sabrina hung up.
Marcus uncovered more.
Northstar Wellness Consulting had no clinical license.
Sabrina was not a physician.
Not a licensed addiction counselor.
Not a registered treatment provider.
She had completed a private recovery-coach certification course.
That itself was not illegal.
But Nolan had presented her to Brooke as if she were supervising medical treatment.
Brooke remembered allowing Sabrina into their home.
Allowing her to speak privately with Ethan once after Nolan’s first relapse.
Rage rose.
Claire warned:
“Stay focused.”
“I let that woman talk to my son.”
“You were deceived.”
Brooke looked up sharply.
“Don’t make me innocent.”
Claire paused.
Brooke continued.
“I wanted to believe Nolan was getting better so badly that I stopped asking questions.”
That realization became important.
Brooke had spent months blaming Nolan.
Rightly.
But she also needed to understand why she had repeatedly accepted promises without verification.
Because Ethan had paid for those choices too.
The next financial trail revealed Northstar transferred $30,000 to Victor Kane’s company.
That connected Sabrina to the development deal.
“This is not recovery money,” Marcus said.
Brooke stared.
“It’s investment money.”
“Looks that way.”
That evening Nolan appeared at Claire’s office unexpectedly.
Brooke was there.
Claire told reception not to let him through.
Nolan shouted from the lobby.
“Brooke!”
She remained seated.
“Brooke, please!”
Claire asked, “Do you want security?”
Brooke hesitated.
Then said, “Let him in.”
Nolan entered looking sober.
Truly sober.
That somehow made the situation sadder.
He sat opposite Brooke.
“Sabrina stole from me.”
Brooke stared.
“That’s your explanation?”
“I invested through her.”
“You paid your recovery coach seventy-eight thousand dollars.”
“She introduced me to Victor.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor had a project.”
“What project?”
“Luxury townhouses.”
“Did you invest Dad’s lake-house money?”
Nolan looked down.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred twenty thousand.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Where’s the rest?”
“I used some.”
“For drugs?”
His eyes filled.
“Some.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always know when the number helps you.”
Nolan wiped his face.
“Victor said the development would triple the investment.”
“And?”
“It collapsed.”
Brooke felt no surprise.
“What did Sabrina get?”
“A referral percentage.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
“Then why did she receive seventy-eight?”
Nolan went silent.
Brooke leaned forward.
“Nolan.”
His breathing changed.
“I owed her.”
“For what?”
He looked at Claire.
Then back at Brooke.
“She bought pills for me.”
Brooke went cold.
Claire immediately sat straighter.
“Be very careful what you say next.”
Nolan covered his face.
“Sabrina started getting them when my prescription sources dried up.”
Brooke felt physically sick.
“How long?”
“Five months.”
“The woman you told me was keeping you sober was supplying you?”
Nolan whispered:
“Yes.”
Brooke stood.
For a moment she wanted to scream.
Instead she walked to the window.
Ethan had believed his father smashed a piggy bank because Nolan was drunk.
The truth was larger.
Nolan had surrounded his addiction with lies, money and people willing to profit from him.
Brooke turned.
“You’re going to tell investigators everything.”
Nolan looked up.
“What investigators?”
Brooke held his gaze.
May you like
“The ones I’m calling next.”
And for the first time, Nolan looked less afraid of losing his marriage than of what his addiction had connected him to.
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