PART 12 — DANIEL’S HALF-TRUTH
Daniel asked to meet.
Not privately.
Through attorneys.
He offered to withdraw the guardianship petition.
Laura laughed when she read the proposal.
“What does he want?”
I already knew there would be a price.
“He wants you to sign the building sale documents.”
Of course.
“He’ll drop everything?”
“Guardianship petition. Financial claim. He’ll agree to separation.”
“And the criminal investigation?”
“He can’t control that.”
I looked at the settlement.
Three pages.
Daniel was willing to walk away from our marriage if I completed the sale.
That told me something.
“The building matters more than the insurance.”
Laura nodded.
“Right now.”
I refused.
Daniel asked for a supervised meeting anyway.
I agreed.
I wanted to see his face.
We met in a courthouse conference room.
A deputy stood outside.
Daniel looked tired.
For the first time, he wasn’t dressed like the perfect husband.
His collar was open.
His eyes were red.
“You’re destroying both of us.”
I almost laughed.
“You pressed on my surgical wound.”
His face hardened.
“You think that’s why we’re here?”
“Why are we here, Daniel?”
He stared at me.
Then he finally gave me part of the truth.
“We were going to lose everything.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Our investment account.”
I didn’t know we had an investment account.
His mouth twisted.
“Exactly.”
He had borrowed against our shared assets.
Bad deals.
Private investments.
Debt.
More than seven hundred thousand dollars.
“You never told me.”
“You were sick.”
“I got sick nine months ago. How long have you been hiding this?”
He didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
“Two years.”
There it was.
Before cancer.
The scheme had not begun because I got sick.
My illness had given him an opportunity to solve a problem he had already created.
He leaned toward me.
“If the building sold, I could fix everything.”
“You mean you could fix what you did.”
“I was trying to protect us.”
“You forged my signature.”
“You would have said no.”
“Yes.”
His eyes flashed.
“Because you never understand risk.”
I stared at him.
And suddenly I saw our entire marriage differently.
Daniel didn’t think he had stolen my choices.
He thought my choices were obstacles.
Then I asked one final question.
“Who witnessed the forged power-of-attorney document?”
He went still.
That was all the answer I needed.
Laura had already discovered the signature.
The witness was my brother, Michael.
I hadn’t spoken to Michael in nearly a year.
May you like
When we called him, his phone had been disconnected.
And nobody knew where he was.
