Chapter 8 - Nathan Had Promised Both Women the Same FutureClaire met Nathan in a lawyer’s office.
Not Peter’s.
A divorce attorney.
Her name was Maya Brooks.
Forty-seven.
Calm.
Precise.
She had already advised Claire not to return home alone and not to discuss finances without documentation.
Nathan arrived believing they were meeting privately.
His face changed when he saw Maya.
“You hired a lawyer?”
Claire sat across the conference table.
“You hired my mother.”
Nathan almost smiled.
“This isn’t funny.”
“No.”
Maya introduced herself.
Nathan refused to sit for several seconds.
Then did.
Claire placed the old photograph between them.
Nathan looked down.
His face tightened.
“Diane gave you that?”
“I found it.”
“What did she tell you?”
“Everything.”
Nathan laughed softly.
“No, she didn’t.”
Claire expected that.
“Then you tell me.”
Nathan looked at Maya.
“This is marital communication.”
Maya replied:
“You’re free not to answer.”
Nathan hated not controlling the room.
Claire saw it now.
“So you knew Mom before me.”
“Yes.”
“You slept with her.”
Nathan looked at the table.
“Yes.”
“While you were dating me.”
“One time.”
Claire laughed.
Diane had admitted at least a continued emotional relationship.
Nathan instantly narrowed it.
“One time?”
“Yes.”
“April eighteenth?”
He looked up.
“Probably.”
“And after?”
“Nothing.”
“Until eleven months ago?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why restart it?”
He rubbed his hands together.
“I was unhappy.”
Claire stared.
“In our marriage?”
“Yes.”
She hadn’t expected honesty.
“What was wrong?”
“You were always busy.”
“Working?”
“Yes.”
“To pay half our bills.”
“I know.”
“You complained I worked too much while your business lost money?”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“You asked.”
“I did.”
“You became emotionally unavailable.”
Claire laughed.
“Did my mother become emotionally available?”
Nathan looked away.
“She understood me.”
Claire felt disgust.
“Because she had already slept with you.”
“Because she knew me before all this.”
“All this being your wife and child?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Claire leaned back.
“When did you plan to leave me?”
Nathan froze.
Maya looked toward Claire.
Nathan said:
“I didn’t.”
“You bought a condo.”
“For investment.”
“You told Diane it was for the two of you.”
“She told you that?”
“Yes.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“She’s lying.”
“So you never promised her a future?”
“No.”
Claire believed that part might be a lie.
Nathan continued:
“Diane wanted me to leave you.”
Claire’s hands tightened.
“When?”
“For months.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you.”
Claire felt nothing.
Nathan leaned forward.
“I made horrible choices.”
“Yes.”
“But I never planned to abandon you and Sophie.”
“You only created a second home with my mother.”
“It wasn’t a second home.”
“Sophie has been there.”
Nathan stopped.
Claire watched the panic.
“She told me.”
His face changed.
“What exactly did she say?”
Claire stared.
That question mattered.
He wasn’t worried Sophie had been there.
He was worried about what Sophie had seen.
“What are you afraid she’ll remember?”
“Nothing.”
“Nathan.”
“She’s six.”
“So?”
“Kids misunderstand things.”
Claire laughed.
“Apparently that phrase runs in my family.”
Maya slid documents forward.
“Mr. Carter, my client also has questions regarding trust assets transferred into your companies.”
Nathan’s posture changed.
“I had a loan agreement.”
“Please provide it.”
“I will.”
“Was the loan approved by Claire?”
“Diane was trustee.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Nathan looked at Claire.
“You knew my business was struggling.”
“I knew nothing about $320,000.”
“I was going to repay it.”
“With what?”
“The Naperville project.”
“The condo?”
“It’s worth more now.”
“Then sell it.”
Nathan stared.
Claire continued.
“Repay every dollar.”
“That would be stupid.”
“Why?”
“Because we’d lose future appreciation.”
“We?”
Nathan stopped.
Claire smiled coldly.
“Who is we?”
Silence.
“You and me?”
“Yes.”
“Or you and Diane?”
Nathan rubbed his face.
“Claire.”
“No.”
She leaned forward.
“You have spent eight years telling different women whatever version kept them useful.”
His eyes hardened.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You told Mom the condo was your future together.”
“I didn’t.”
“You told me it was a client project.”
“I didn’t exactly say—”
“You let me believe it.”
Nathan’s voice rose.
“And she let you believe things too!”
“Such as?”
He looked at Maya.
Then Claire.
“Your mother knew exactly what she was doing with the cabin.”
“I know.”
“She didn’t give me money because she cared about my company.”
“Why?”
Nathan smiled bitterly.
“Because she wanted leverage.”
“Over you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She said if I ever ended things with her, she would call the loan.”
Claire stared.
Diane had described herself as partly manipulated.
Nathan described Diane as blackmailing him.
Both could be true.
Neither erased the affair.
“What else?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Ask her why she really wants access to the condo.”
“She says you promised to live there with her.”
“She wants somewhere to go after she sells her townhome.”
“Why would she sell?”
Nathan’s face changed.
Claire saw it.
“What?”
“She’s in debt.”
Claire frowned.
“My mother?”
“Over four hundred thousand.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Diane lived comfortably.
Thomas’s pension.
Investments.
Her home was nearly paid off.
“What debt?”
Nathan shook his head.
“You need to ask her.”
Claire was tired of being sent from liar to liar.
“Tell me.”
Nathan looked directly at her.
“She’s been gambling.”
Claire stared.
“No.”
“Online casinos. Sports books. Mostly the last three years.”
Claire almost laughed at the absurdity.
“My mother doesn’t gamble.”
“Check her accounts.”
Nathan’s voice became quieter.
“She didn’t sell your father’s cabin because my business needed money.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“She sold it because she needed to cover losses.”
“But $320,000 went to you.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“The rest went to her.”
Claire thought of the missing amounts.
Fees didn’t explain everything.
Peter had already found $75,000 transferred to Mercer Advisory.
“How much did you know?”
“All of it.”
“And you still let her control my trust.”
Nathan looked ashamed for the first time.
“I thought she would stop.”
Claire whispered:
“You had evidence my trustee was financially compromised and you used that information to get money from her.”
Nathan didn’t answer.
There it was.
He hadn’t protected Claire.
He had exploited Diane’s vulnerability.
Just as Diane exploited his affair.
A circle of leverage.
Secrets keeping secrets alive.
Nathan spoke softly:
“Claire, your mother and I are both guilty.”
She looked at him.
“But don’t make the mistake of thinking she betrayed you because of me.”
“What does that mean?”
Nathan’s expression turned sad.
“She had been taking money from your trust before the affair restarted.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“How long?”
“Three years.”
The affair was eleven months old.
The theft was older.
Claire looked toward Maya.
Her attorney had already begun writing.
Nathan continued.
“And there’s one reason Diane is terrified you’ll audit everything.”
“What?”
Nathan took a breath.
“Because your father noticed before he died.”
Claire stared.
“My father?”
Nathan nodded.
“Thomas knew your mother was moving money.”
Claire felt the room shrink.
“That’s impossible.”
“Diane showed me his letter.”
“What letter?”
May you like
Nathan looked at her.
“The one she never gave you.”
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