Chapter 2 - HIS FIRST QUESTION WAS ABOUT MONEY
Rowan stared at me.
“Sterling?”
“Yes.”
“Gideon Sterling?”
Dad raised one eyebrow.
“There aren’t many of us.”
Rowan ignored him.
“You never told me.”
“I told you my father and I were estranged.”
“You said he was retired.”
“He mostly is.”
“You let Mom call him a salesman.”
“Yes.”
His face reddened.
“Why would you hide something like this?”
I stared at him.
“Our son is three days old.”
He went silent.
“You missed his birth.”
Nothing.
“You told me to call a cab while I was in labor.”
Still nothing.
“You have not asked whether I’m okay.”
His eyes flickered.
Then, finally:
“Are you?”
Too late.
Dad carefully stood.
“Leo needs changing.”
“I can do it,” I said.
“I know.”
He looked at Rowan.
“I’d prefer the baby not be in the room for this conversation.”
That was the closest my father came to threatening him.
He carried Leo upstairs.
Rowan waited until Dad disappeared.
Then whispered:
“How wealthy are you?”
I actually laughed.
That was his first genuine question.
Not:
Why did you hide your father?
Not:
Can we repair this?
Not:
What happened during labor?
Money.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that.”
“I’m your husband.”
“Yes.”
“So your finances affect me.”
“Interesting.”
“What does that mean?”
“Where did the money for Selina’s watch come from?”
His expression changed.
A fraction.
Enough.
“From my account.”
“Which account?”
“Phoebe, seriously?”
I went to the dining table.
Opened my laptop.
I had checked our accounts after returning from the hospital.
Mostly because our household debit card had declined when Dad offered to pick up groceries.
I originally assumed Rowan had moved money to cover the credit-card balance.
He had.
Just not where I expected.
Our joint emergency savings should have contained approximately $46,000.
Balance:
$8,214.
Transfers over fourteen months:
Selina Mercer.
Mercer Event Concepts.
Mercer Lifestyle Holdings.
Rowan’s mother controlled all three.
Total transferred:
$71,600, including money that had cycled through our joint checking.
Rowan stood very still.
“You went through my transactions?”
“Our transactions.”
“It was family money.”
“That phrase does not answer the question.”
“Mom needed help.”
“For what?”
“She had business expenses.”
“And her sixty-thousand-dollar birthday?”
He flinched.
“The watch wasn’t sixty.”
“How much?”
Silence.
“Rowan.”
“Thirty-eight.”
Thirty-eight thousand dollars.
I closed my eyes.
“We argued over a four-hundred-dollar crib.”
“That’s different.”
“Explain.”
“Mom turned sixty once.”
I stared.
“Leo was born once.”
Nothing.
Then:
“You could have called your father if money was a problem.”
That sentence ended the conversation.
I looked at him.
He realized it too late.
“You thought I was ordinary when you spent our savings.”
“Now that you know who my father is, suddenly the missing money should not matter?”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Yes.”
“It is.”
I closed the laptop.
Then said:
“I want you to leave tonight.”
His mouth opened.
“You’re throwing me out of my own house?”
“The house is jointly titled.”
“Then you can’t.”
“I’m asking.”
“And if I refuse?”
“My attorney will explain our options tomorrow.”
His face hardened.
“Attorney?”
“Yes.”
“You’re divorcing me because I missed one night?”
“No.”
I looked toward the stairs.
“I’m divorcing you because when your son was being born, you showed me exactly where we ranked.”
Then my phone rang.
My office.
I almost ignored it.
Then I saw the caller.
DANIEL PRICE — INTERNAL AUDIT DIRECTOR.
I answered.
“Phoebe?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry to call while you’re on leave.”
“What happened?”
A pause.
“We found a vendor registered under your name.”
I sat up.
“What vendor?”
“Hayes Forensic Solutions LLC.”
My blood went cold.
“I don’t own a company called Hayes Forensic Solutions.”
Silence.
Daniel’s voice changed.
“Phoebe.”
“Yes?”
“That company received three hundred twelve thousand dollars from Vantage Medical over the last eighteen months.”
Rowan stopped moving.
I looked directly at him.
And suddenly—
May you like
the missing household money became the smaller betrayal.
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