“If the review showed it was sound.”
“It would have saved us.”
“No,” Claire said. “A review would have found the debt. It would have found the project delays. It probably would have found the forged guarantee.”
Daniel stared at the table.
“So even then, you would have left.”
“I don’t know.”
His eyes lifted immediately.
Claire folded the paper again.
“If you had told me the truth before I discovered it myself, maybe there would have been something to discuss. But you were sleeping with Vanessa. You lied about the company. You let someone use my name. And when I confronted you about the affair, you shoved me and ordered me out.”
Her voice stayed perfectly level.
“The inheritance didn’t end our marriage, Daniel. It only made you understand what you had thrown away.”
His eyes reddened.
“I was angry.”
“You were entitled.”
“I can change.”
“Then change.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Does that mean there’s a chance?”
“No.”
Claire answered immediately.
Then she stood.
“You should change because you have to live with yourself, not because you think there’s still a prize at the end.”
She walked out.
In November, Martin Kessler pleaded guilty to bank-fraud-related charges under an agreement requiring his cooperation.
Daniel was not charged with forgery.
