The number struck harder than the total.
More than four million dollars was gone.
Vivian sat abruptly in the chair beside the window.
Her shopping bags surrounded her feet like evidence displayed in a courtroom.
She pointed at Mark.
“He controlled the accounts.
I never saw the documents.”
Mark laughed once, without humor.
“You signed the condominium papers.”
“You told me it was a tax arrangement.”
“And the car? The jewelry? The trips?”
“You offered those things to me.”
They turned on each other so quickly that I wondered how I had ever believed their loyalty was strength.
It had never been loyalty.
It was a partnership built on shared access to what belonged to me.
Grandpa watched them argue, then closed the folder.
“The accounts connected to Sterling Crest were frozen twenty minutes ago,” he said.
Mark stopped shouting.
“You can’t do that.”
“The bank can, after receiving evidence of forgery and fraud.”
“My business will collapse.”
Grandpa’s voice remained calm.
“You built it with stolen money.”
Vivian stood again.
“What about my condominium?”
The question escaped before she could stop it.
Everyone looked at her.
She pressed her lips together.
Grandpa’s attorney answered.
“It was purchased almost entirely with traceable trust funds.
A court will decide whether it must be surrendered.”
Vivian’s face twisted.
She turned on me.
“This is your fault.
You brought your grandfather into our marriage because you could never solve your own problems.”
For years, that tone would have made me apologize.
I would have searched for some way I had provoked her.
I would have softened my voice and tried to keep the peace.
This time, I looked at the security officers.
“Please remove her from my room.”
Vivian stared at me.
“You would throw out your daughter’s grandmother?”
“I am protecting my daughter from someone who stole from her mother.”
The officers escorted Vivian toward the door.
She protested until the elevator doors closed at the end of the corridor.
Mark remained.
He looked smaller without her beside him, but not remorseful.
He waited until Grandpa and the attorney were speaking quietly, then leaned close to me.
“We can fix this,” he whispered.
“Tell them you knew about the account.
Say you asked me to manage it.
I’ll put everything back.”
“With what money?”
His eyes hardened.
“You’re my wife.”
“That didn’t stop you from stealing from me.”
