“I mistook agreement for loyalty.”
I sat opposite him.
“What did you mistake me for?”
His face tightened.
“A threat.”
“To whom?”
“To the company structure I understood. To my authority. To the peace between your mother and Vanessa.”
“There was never peace. There was compliance.”
“Yes.”
The word seemed difficult for him.
I looked at the forged document.
“Did you know about the employee-benefit money?”
“No.”
“Mother’s insurance scheme?”
“No.”
“Adrian’s shell companies?”
“No.”
“What did you know?”
“That he pushed aggressively for rapid growth. That several transactions were difficult to explain. That you had raised concerns.”
“And?”
“I told myself ambition always looked reckless before it succeeded.”
“You risked employees’ pensions on that belief.”
His shoulders lowered.
“I know.”
For several minutes, we sat in silence.
Then he asked, “Why the wedding?”
“You know why.”
“You could have sent the certificate privately.”
“Would Vanessa have believed me?”
He did not answer.
“Would you?”
“No.”
“Would Mother?”
“No.”
“Would Adrian have destroyed evidence?”
“Probably.”
“The investigators acted when they were ready. The box exposed his marriage. Those were separate decisions.”
“You wanted to humiliate your sister.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
The honesty made him uncomfortable.
“I wanted one room where she could not take something from me and call it love.”
“Did it help?”
“No.”
He nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For choosing the daughter who made me feel admired over the daughter who made me accountable.”
The sentence hurt because it was accurate.
