Chapter 9
“Then explaining it should be easy.”
The line went silent again.
I could almost see his face.
The tightened jaw.
The tiny vein near his temple.
The disbelief that the object he had placed on a shelf had spoken.
“Come back to the apartment tonight,” he said.
“No.”
“I’ll restore your accounts.”
“No.”
“I’ll release your father’s note.”
My fingers dug into my knee.
Mara stared straight ahead.
There it was.
The bargain.
The proof that at least part of his cruelty had always been transactional.
“Put that in writing,” I said.
“What?”
“Put the offer in writing.”
He understood immediately.
His voice changed.
“You really have been planning this.”
I did not answer.
“How long?”
The strange thing was, there was almost pain in the question.
Maybe somewhere inside Damian existed a man who believed marriage meant I owed him the privilege of never planning how to survive him.
“Goodbye, Damian.”
“Clara, if Harbor Crown loses financing because of you—”
I ended the call.
My hand shook afterward.
I hated that it shook.
Mara took the phone gently from me and set it face down.
“He bought the loan?”
I nodded.
“That was not in discovery.”
“No.”
“Did he own it before today?”
“I don’t know.”
She was already typing.
“If he acquired it this morning through an affiliate after financial disclosures closed, I want the transaction documents.”
I looked at her.
“Can he take the house?”
“Not because he says so.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Mara stopped typing.
“No one gets to erase procedure just because they are rich.”
She paused.
“But yes, if the debt is valid and your family defaults, ownership of the note gives the holder rights.”
I felt sick.
“How much is left?”
“About one hundred eighty thousand.”
I had known the number down to the dollar that morning.
Now it sounded enormous.
Before marrying Damian, one hundred eighty thousand dollars had been more money than I could imagine.
After marrying him, I had watched him spend more than that on stone samples for a lobby.
My phone buzzed.
A message from my father.
Court done?
I stared at the words.
He did not know Damian owned the loan.
Not yet.
Fine, I typed.
Free woman.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then returned.
Proud of you, kid.
I pressed my lips together.
Mara looked away.
She understood that kindness could break a person faster than cruelty.