He had spent years telling me we were saving together for a house.
He had repeatedly lied about the balance.
And he had hidden the transfers while encouraging me to continue depositing most of my income into that account.
Over the following weeks, Claire and the financial team traced the money.
What we discovered was worse than I expected.
Lucas had used a large portion of it to purchase a small investment property.
Liam had received money for “emergencies” that turned out to include credit card debt and a failed business idea.
Susan had received tens of thousands and passed part of it back to Lucas.
Everyone had a different explanation.
No one had a convincing one.
At first, they tried to present themselves as innocent.
“We thought Brandon was giving us his own money.”
But the messages told another story.
Brandon had told Lucas:
Don’t mention this to Elena.
