“Aliases.”
“And cash.”
“Emergency foreign currency.”
“And the gun.”
“Legal.”
“You had an escape kit!”
“No.”
That was what she had believed.
I finally understood.
After my military career, I had kept a sealed deployment bag because I couldn’t throw it away.
Claire had interpreted it as preparation to disappear.
“So you decided to steal from me before I could leave?”
“I decided I needed protection.”
“Then where was the money going?”
Claire’s lips trembled.
“To Melissa.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted a life you couldn’t control.”
Derek laughed bitterly.
“You told me we were opening a second gym.”
Claire looked at him.
“I was going to.”
“With stolen money?”
“You were going to benefit!”
“That isn’t the point!”
For the first time, Derek looked less like a villain and more like what he actually was.
A young, arrogant idiot who had walked into a much older mess believing he was the smartest person in it.
He looked at me.
“She told me you abused her.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
“She said you controlled everything.
Money.
Friends.
Where she went.”
Claire shook her head.
“Derek—”
“She said you hit her once.”
I looked at my wife.
Fourteen years.
Never.
Not once.
Not even when she threw a wineglass at me during the worst year of our marriage.
“Did you tell him that?”
Claire said nothing.
Derek’s face drained.
“You lied about that too?”
“I needed you to understand why I couldn’t just walk away!”
“You could have said you were cheating on your husband!”
“I loved you!”
“No,” Derek said.
His voice had changed.
The swagger was gone.
“You used me.”
That was the moment I understood the entire shape of it.
Derek had not seduced my wife away from me.
Claire had selected him.
Young.
Impulsive.
Protective.
Proud.
A man easy to provoke.
A man who would call me.
A man who would create conflict.
A man who might make me walk away from the house voluntarily.
And, perhaps, a man foolish enough to take the blame if the financial crimes surfaced.
Derek had never been the replacement husband.
He had been the fall guy.
Rebecca seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“Oh,” she said softly.
Derek looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed at him.
“The loan.”
Then at Claire.
“She didn’t forge your signature because she trusted you.”
Derek’s face tightened.
