The second showed the file had been emailed to Veronica.
The third showed Vale Hospitality had used inflated asset valuations to satisfy covenants on a Marlowe-backed loan.
Adrian’s uncle, the CFO, went pale.
I looked at him. “You came here to teach me financial obedience while your company was falsifying collateral?”
He sat down.
Veronica turned toward Adrian. “Do something!”
He finally did.
He walked toward me.
“I should have stopped this the second they walked in,” he said.
“Yes.”
“I thought if I kept the peace—”
“You kept their peace.”
I removed my wedding ring.
His expression collapsed.
“I love you.”
“I believe you.”
That made it worse.
I placed the ring on the counter.
“But love without courage becomes permission.”
Veronica snapped, “You’re ending a marriage over a photograph?”
I looked at the torn pieces beneath the overturned table.
“No. I’m ending it over the eleven people who came into my home to inventory my life while my husband watched.”
