Chapter 4 - Cabo
The photographs from Cabo arrived without anyone asking for them.
That was the cruelest part.
Derek and Clara had lied carefully to me and then lived carelessly everywhere else.
On Saturday morning, a mutual friend named Jenna sent me a screenshot with the message: Please tell me this is old.
It was not old.
Clara had posted a story to a private account she apparently forgot Jenna still followed. The image showed two champagne glasses beside an infinity pool. Derek’s watch was visible near the edge of the frame. Another story showed his hand resting on Clara’s bare knee under a restaurant table.
I sat at Nolan’s kitchen island staring at the screen.
“Do people committing financial fraud usually post location tags?” I asked.
Cole, who had been awake since five coordinating with outside counsel, looked up from his coffee. “You would be disappointed by how often vanity defeats operational security.”
Nolan entered in running clothes and took one look at my face.
“What happened?”
I handed him the phone.
He swore.
“Don’t send that to anyone,” Cole said.
“It was sent to me.”
“I know. Preserve it exactly as received.”
Nolan leaned against the counter. “Meridian’s board has enough without social media.”
“Good. Because I don’t want his job taken away for cheating on me.”
My brother studied me.
“I mean it,” I said. “I want him out of my life. I want my money back. But if he loses his job, it should be because of what he did at work.”
Nolan nodded slowly. “That is exactly why you’re not in the board meeting.”
“Rude.”
“Accurate.”
At eight, Meridian’s directors convened by emergency call. I was not allowed in, and I was grateful. I went downstairs to the small gym and walked on a treadmill without going anywhere, which felt appropriate.
At eight forty-seven, Nolan texted me from his study.
Derek suspended pending investigation. Access terminated. Do not contact him.
At nine fifteen:
Acquisition closing postponed. Independent forensic review approved.
At nine twenty-two:
Bank froze disputed wedding account transfers still in receiving account. Roughly $27K preserved.
I read the last message twice.
Twenty-seven thousand dollars was not forty-two thousand.
It was something.
My phone rang at nine thirty-six.
Derek.
I watched his name pulse on the screen.
Nolan appeared in the gym doorway.
“Don’t answer if you don’t want to.”
“I do want to.”
“Then remember he doesn’t know what you know.”
I accepted the call and forced my voice steady.
“Hey.”
“Em.” Derek sounded breathless. “Something insane is happening with work.”
I watched Nolan’s face.
“What happened?”
“They locked me out of every system. My boss won’t call me back. HR sent some legal notice saying I’m suspended. I think this has something to do with your brother’s acquisition.”
“Why would it?”
“I don’t know. Nolan has always hated me.”
Nolan mouthed, Impressive.
I almost laughed.
Derek continued. “Can you ask him what he’s doing?”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Seattle.”
The lie landed softer this time because I had already buried the man telling it.
“What hotel?”
“Why?”
“I was going to send you something.”
Another pause.
“The Westlake.”
Cole had told me not to bait him, so I stopped.
“Okay.”
“Em, this is serious. If Nolan is freezing the deal because of family stuff, that could be tortious interference.”
I could hear Clara in the background, not words, just movement.
“Family stuff?” I asked.
“You know he never thought I was good enough for you.”
Interesting. Nolan had never once said that.
“You should talk to your lawyer,” I said.
“I don’t need a lawyer. I need your brother to stop acting like a king.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Derek, are you alone?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
I looked at the screenshot of his hand on Clara’s knee.
“Okay,” I said. “Call me when you’re home.”
I ended the call.
Nolan’s eyes were on me.
“Well?”
“I think I just attended my own funeral.”
He came closer.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
At noon, Clara called.
I let it ring once before answering.
“Hey,” I said.
Her voice was full of practiced exhaustion. “I’m sorry I disappeared. Mom had another episode last night.”
I looked at Cole.
He had just received an investigator’s factual report showing Clara’s mother, Denise Vale, was not hospitalized in Ohio. She had been at a church fundraiser in Naperville the previous evening, photographed beside a raffle table.
“How is she?” I asked.
“Not good.” Clara sniffed. “I’m trying to stay strong.”
I almost admired the commitment.
“Do you need anything?”
“No. Just… if Derek calls you, he’s freaking out about work. He told me before I left that the acquisition was messy.”
“Derek told you?”
“Just as a friend. You know how he vents to me about business because you hate finance talk.”
My stomach turned.
I did not hate finance talk. Derek hated explaining things once I asked questions.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said.
“Exactly. And don’t let Nolan stir you up. He’s so protective.”
I looked at my brother, who was across the kitchen arguing with a printer.
“I won’t.”
“Love you.”
I closed my eyes.
“Bye, Clara.”
I could not say it back.
She noticed.
The silence stretched.
“Em?”
“Bad connection.”
I ended the call.
Cole’s expression was unreadable.
“I was terrible,” I said.
“You were better than I would have been.”
“What would you have said?”
“That depends whether I was billing by the hour.”
I laughed unexpectedly.
It felt disloyal to my grief.
Then I realized grief did not require constant suffering to prove itself.
By afternoon, Meridian’s internal review had found another issue. Derek had approved a consulting agreement giving Bellmont a success fee if the Arden Crown acquisition closed. The fee was six hundred thousand dollars.
“He was going to get paid for selling his own company?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Nolan said. “But he appears to have built himself a side arrangement tied to the transaction.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Would you have bought Meridian if you knew?”
“Not without rewriting half the deal.”
Now I understood my brother’s promise at the airport.
Derek’s job, bonus, stock options, and reputation were tied to a closing that could no longer proceed on the same terms. Clara’s event company depended on contracts being challenged as fictitious. Their lavish weekend sat on top of money that might not survive the audit.
They were not losing everything because Nolan was powerful.
They were losing everything because evidence was finally catching up.
That night, my phone lit with another message from Derek.
I need you. Please call.
I did not.
A second arrived.
Whatever Nolan told you, don’t believe him without hearing my side.
I stared at the words.
Then a third message appeared.
And please don’t talk to Clara about any of this. She doesn’t understand the business side.
Across the room, Cole looked up from his laptop.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
He read the message once.
“Interesting,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means scared people often begin separating themselves from their partners before anyone asks them to.”
I looked toward the dark windows.
May you like
Somewhere two thousand miles away, Derek and Clara were sitting in paradise, each probably wondering whether the other had become a liability.
For the first time, I did not envy them.
