Chapter 4 - The Audit Strikes Back
Vivian looked as though she had been physically slapped. For all her talent at spinning narratives, even she could not find a way to make a chic interior designer named Delaney fit into the respectable family portrait she had spent thirty years painting. “You left your wife and children for a—a decorator?” Vivian whispered, the word sounding like an obscenity in her mouth. “Mom, stay out of this,” Grant growled, his face flushing dark red. “You don’t know what it’s like living here. It was suffocating. Camille stopped trying.” I stared at him, the man I had loved for eight years, the man who had kissed my forehead when our babies were born. “I was raising your children, Grant. While you were building a second life on our home equity line.” The front door was still open a crack, letting in the cool spring air. Outside, the neighborhood was quiet, but inside my kitchen, the walls were closing in on the lies he had built. Renata’s instructions echoed in my mind: Keep your footing. Let them panic. Grant took a step toward me, his voice dropping into a low, pleading tone that used to work whenever he wanted to smooth over an argument. “Camille, please. Let’s be reasonable. Call your lawyer. Tell her to lift the emergency freeze on the checking account. We can settle this amicably without dragging lawyers into court. Think of the kids.” I looked down at Ren, who was still holding onto my leg, and Beckett, who had finally drifted off to sleep in his bouncer. “I am thinking of the kids, Grant,” I said, my voice steady and cold. “That’s why the accounts stay frozen. That’s why every single dollar you funneled out of our family is going to be accounted for in front of a judge.” Vivian realized right then that her grand rescue mission had completely failed. Her son wasn't going to smoothly take control of the situation, and I wasn't going to quietly fold to protect the Whitlock family name. She grabbed her canvas tote bag off the floor, her knuckles white. “This is an absolute circus,” she muttered, turning toward the front door. “When you two decide to behave like civilized adults, let me know.” She walked out without saying goodbye to her grandchildren. Grant watched her leave, completely isolated for the first time since the truth came out.
