Chapter 12 - The Marriage Was the Asset
Nathan agreed to sit for a deposition in the divorce case.
Olivia could not question him directly because separate divorce counsel handled Emily’s matrimonial case, but Emily attended.
Nathan entered looking composed.
The man Emily had loved was still physically there.
Same gray eyes.
Same habit of straightening his cuff before answering difficult questions.
That familiarity was a cruelty of its own.
Under oath, Nathan admitted knowing Serena before meeting Emily.
“How long?” Emily’s attorney asked.
“Several years.”
“Were you romantically involved?”
Nathan glanced at Emily.
“Yes.”
Emily did not move.
“Did Serena pay you $250,000 before you met your wife?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Consulting.”
“What consulting?”
“Background analysis concerning the Bennett family.”
“Did that include Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Did Serena instruct you to begin a personal relationship with Emily Bennett?”
Nathan paused.
His lawyer objected.
He answered anyway.
“Yes.”
Emily felt the room tighten.
“Was your initial relationship with Emily genuine?”
Nathan’s jaw moved.
“It became genuine.”
“That was not my question.”
“No.”
Emily looked down once.
Then back up.
“Why did you marry her?”
Nathan’s attorney objected.
The lawyer repeated.
Nathan stared at Emily.
“At first, access.”
“To what?”
“Bennett Meridian.”
“And later?”
“I loved her.”
Emily’s attorney let silence sit.
“While loving her, did you continue a sexual relationship with Serena Vale?”
Nathan’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“How many years?”
“Off and on.”
“How many?”
“Five.”
Emily’s breath caught.
Five of their seven years.
“Did you remove Catherine Bennett’s emerald necklace from the marital residence?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Serena wanted it.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know initially.”
“When did you learn?”
“Later.”
“What did you learn?”
“That it contained a bank-box key.”
“Did you give the necklace to Serena knowing it belonged separately to your wife?”
“Yes.”
“Did you strike Emily in Suite 1907?”
“No.”
The lie came easily.
“Did you prepare or participate in documents bearing Emily’s signature on pages she had not knowingly approved?”
Nathan’s lawyer instructed him not to answer based on potential criminal exposure.
For the first time, Nathan invoked the Fifth Amendment.
Again.
And again.
Northstar.
Vendor payments.
False emails.
Suite 1908 surveillance records.
The room changed.
Nathan had gone from explaining to refusing.
Afterward Emily stood near the courthouse elevators.
Nathan approached under his lawyer’s eye.
“Now you know.”
Emily looked at him.
“I already knew.”
“No. You heard me say it.”
“That wasn’t for me.”
“What?”
“The deposition.”
She stepped closer.
“You think confession is intimacy.”
Nathan’s expression flickered.
“It isn’t.”
“You think I never loved you?”
“I think you want that question to matter more than what you did.”
“It matters to me.”
Emily almost pitied him.
Almost.
“You paid people to study how I grieved my mother.”
Nathan looked away.
“You learned what restaurants made me feel safe. You learned which charities I volunteered at. You learned I distrusted flashy men, so you built yourself into the opposite.”
“I changed.”
“You adapted.”
“I tried to leave Serena.”
“The half-million-dollar buyout.”
His eyes widened.
Emily saw confirmation.
“What happened?”
Nathan lowered his voice.
“She wouldn’t let go.”
“She blackmailed you?”
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“The original arrangement. The surveillance. Your father’s files.”
“You could have told me.”
“I would have lost you.”
“So you chose to keep lying.”
“I chose our marriage.”
“No.”
Emily’s voice softened.
“You chose possession of it.”
The elevator doors opened.
Nathan did not enter.
“Serena pushed Northstar,” he said quickly.
Emily turned.
“She wanted your father’s properties because she believed they should have been hers sixteen years ago.”
“That explains Serena.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“What about you?”
He looked at her for a long time.
“By then I needed the money.”
Finally.
A motive without romance.
“What money?”
Nathan hesitated.
Emily waited.
“My investments failed.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-three million.”
Emily stared.
She had never known.
Nathan had hidden enormous leveraged investments through personal entities.
Serena had covered margin calls.
In return, he reentered the Northstar plan.
“He owned you,” Emily said.
“She financed me.”
“You say the same ugly things in expensive language.”
Nathan looked away.
Then he whispered, “The board vote is next Friday.”
Emily already knew.
“What you don’t know,” Nathan continued, “is Serena has a fourth director.”
Emily froze.
“Who?”
Nathan stepped backward.
“If I tell you, I lose the only leverage I have left.”
Emily almost laughed.
Even now.
Everything was currency.
Nathan entered the elevator.
Before the doors closed, he said, “You trust Robert Hale.”
Emily stopped breathing.
May you like
Nathan smiled sadly.
“You shouldn’t.”
