CHAP 12 — THE HALF-TRUTH
Sebastian requested another meeting.
Olivia refused.
Then he sent a photograph.
Her mother's accident report.
A page missing from Jonathan's copy.
The report indicated brake damage.
Olivia went.
Sebastian waited inside an empty conference room.
“Did Daniel kill her?”
Olivia asked.
“I don't know.”
“Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Giving me enough truth to make the next lie believable.”
Sebastian looked exhausted.
“I loved you.”
Olivia almost laughed.
“No.”
“I did.”
“You investigated me before we met.”
“Yes.”
“You married me knowing about the trust.”
“Not everything.”
“You collected medical records.”
His eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
“You brought Camille into our home.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect ‘I loved you’ to improve this?”
“No.”
That stopped her.
Sebastian looked at the table.
“I expect it to make it worse.”
For the first time, Olivia saw the man underneath the strategy.
Not an innocent man.
Not a misunderstood husband.
A damaged man who had repeatedly chosen damage.
“My father believed Jonathan destroyed ours,” Sebastian said. “Then he died. Daniel showed me documents. I believed the Whitmores destroyed everyone and called it business.”
“So you married one.”
“I wanted access.”
“At first?”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
“At first.”
Olivia felt tears finally come.
She hated them.
He did not move toward her.
Good.
“Then why keep going?”
“Because every time I had the chance to stop, stopping meant admitting what I had already done.”
There it was.
The half-truth.
Not greed alone.
Cowardice.
Pride.
Momentum.
The machinery of one bad choice protecting the last.
Sebastian slid the missing accident page toward her.
“I didn't damage her brakes.”
“I didn't ask if you did.”
“No. But eventually you would.”
“Who did?”
“I think Daniel ordered it.”
“Think?”
“I found an invoice years later. Vehicle maintenance. Cash reimbursement. Wrong date. Wrong shop.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe deposit box.”
“Give me access.”
Sebastian shook his head.
“What do you want?”
“One thing.”
Olivia waited.
“Protect Hale Meridian's employees when you destroy me.”
She stared.
Not freedom.
Not money.
Not Camille.
His company.
Perhaps the only thing he had ever loved without needing it to love him back.
“I won't punish innocent people for you,” Olivia said.
May you like
Sebastian nodded.
Then gave her the key.
