Chapter 4 - STEPHANIE CHOSE A SIDE
Stephanie drove away the moment she realized I had seen her.
I didn’t chase her.
I took a photograph of the license plate.
Then I sent her one message.
Following me is not friendship. Do it again and my attorney gets involved.
She did not reply.
Calvin did.
Stop talking to Lydia.
I forwarded it to Elena.
By afternoon, Elena had contacted a federal attorney she knew from a previous financial-fraud case.
The next twenty-four hours transformed my divorce into something much larger.
Matthew’s flash drive contained years of spreadsheets, client ledgers, emails and photographs.
I recognized Calvin’s writing style immediately.
Short.
Confident.
Dismissive.
In one email, Matthew warned:
We cannot keep moving escrow funds between projects.
Calvin replied:
Relax. Everything clears at closing.
In another:
These signatures need correction. Clients never approved this.
Calvin:
Then get approvals later.
Matthew:
That is fraud.
Calvin did not respond in writing.
The emails stopped three days before Matthew died.
Federal investigators took interest quickly because several transfers crossed state lines and involved federally insured banks.
I spent the weekend at Natalie’s condo.
Calvin called fourteen times.
Stephanie sent three messages.
The first:
Please don’t destroy his life because you’re hurt.
The second:
You don’t know the whole story.
The third:
I still love you like a sister.
I deleted none of them.
I answered none of them.
On Sunday afternoon, someone pounded on Natalie’s door.
Calvin.
Natalie looked through the security camera.
“You want me to call police?”
“Not yet.”
I spoke through the door.
“Leave.”
“Brooke, open up.”
“No.”
“We need to talk about Lydia.”
“No, you need to talk to your attorney.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain through counsel.”
His palm hit the door.
“Goddammit, Brooke.”
Natalie quietly began recording.
Calvin lowered his voice.
“Lydia is unstable.”
I almost laughed.
Apparently every inconvenient woman became unstable eventually.
“She has been blackmailing me for years.”
“Interesting.”
“She fabricated evidence.”
“Then investigators will figure that out.”
Silence.
“Investigators?”
There it was.
Fear.
“You contacted authorities?”
“I contacted an attorney.”
“Brooke.”
“Goodbye, Calvin.”
He stayed outside for eleven minutes.
Then left.
The next morning, Stephanie appeared at my office.
Security called upstairs.
“Ms. Porter, there’s a Stephanie Dawson in the lobby.”
I should have refused.
Instead, I asked them to send her to a conference room and keep the door open.
She walked in looking completely different from the woman who arrived at my apartment in heels.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
Eyes swollen.
“I need to talk to you.”
“You have five minutes.”
Her face crumpled.
“Brooke, I made a terrible mistake.”
“Six months.”
“I know.”
“That’s a long mistake.”
“I thought he loved me.”
“Maybe he does.”
She looked stunned.
I continued.
“I don’t care anymore.”
“Please don’t say that.”
“What would you prefer? That I compete?”
She sat down.
“Calvin lied to me too.”
“That seems to be his hobby.”
“He told me you were planning to leave him.”
I felt nothing.
“He told me you hadn’t slept together in a year.”
Nothing.
“He said you only stayed married because of money.”
Still nothing.
Then she said:
“He told me he was scared of you.”
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
Stephanie looked ashamed.
“I believed him.”
“Because believing him got you what you wanted.”
She flinched.
That landed.
“What did he tell you about Lydia?”
Her eyes moved toward the open door.
“Almost nothing.”
“Try again.”
“He said she was someone from his past who extorted him.”
“Did you know about North Cedar?”
“Yes.”
Finally.
“How much?”
“He said it was an investment property.”
“And when I told you I thought money was missing?”
She began crying.
“I told him.”
“I know.”
“I thought he deserved to know his wife was investigating him.”
“His wife.”
She closed her eyes.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what happened.”
She reached for my hand.
I pulled mine away.
“I followed you because Calvin told me Lydia was dangerous.”
“No.”
Stephanie looked confused.
“You followed me because Calvin asked you to.”
Silence.
That was the real answer.
“What else has he asked you to do?”
“Nothing.”
I stared.
“Stephanie.”
She started crying harder.
“He asked me to get something from your laptop.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“A folder.”
“What folder?”
“Anything about joint accounts.”
My breathing slowed.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
The same night she came over with wine.
I had gone to shower.
She had sat in my living room alone with my laptop.
“Did you?”
“No.”
I stared at her.
“Do not lie to me again.”
“I opened it. I saw files. I didn’t copy anything.”
“Did Calvin know what I had?”
“I told him you downloaded bank statements.”
That explained everything.
Calvin knew I was looking.
He contacted Lydia.
He accelerated the affair.
Maybe even expected Stephanie to help distract me.
I stood.
“Our five minutes are over.”
“Brooke, please.”
“No.”
“I lost my marriage because of cheating.”
“Yes.”
“And then you did exactly the same thing to me.”
She covered her mouth.
“I hate myself.”
“That is no longer my responsibility.”
She stood too.
“Can I ever fix this?”
“No.”
The answer came easily.
Her eyes filled.
“Not even someday?”
“Forgiveness and access are different things, Stephanie.”
I opened the conference-room door wider.
“Maybe someday I won’t be angry.”
She stared at me.
“But you will never again have access to my life.”
She left crying.
At 4:30, Elena called.
“We have a development.”
“What kind?”
“Investigators confirmed some of Matthew’s files.”
My heart accelerated.
“And?”
“Project 17 had safety logs altered after his death.”
I sat down.
“By whom?”
“Login credentials belonged to Calvin.”
I closed my eyes.
“Could someone else have used them?”
“Yes. Which is why nobody is making conclusions yet.”
There was another pause.
“Brooke, there’s more.”
“What?”
“One archived email references you.”
I froze.
“Me?”
“It was written six years ago.”
Three years before I married Calvin.
“What does it say?”
Elena inhaled.
“Matthew wrote to Calvin: If Brooke ever learns what you’re doing, she’ll leave you. Maybe she should.”
I stared out my office window.
Matthew knew about me.
He knew Calvin was lying to me.
May you like
And suddenly I wondered whether his death had happened because he was protecting more than his company.
Maybe Matthew had been trying to protect me too.
