“Don’tElme.” I mock him. “Tell me the truth or I’m filing for divorce first thing in the morning.”
“El—”
“Stop it! Just be honest with me for once, would you?”
He frowns, moves to take a step toward me, then seems to think better of it and pauses. “When I was an intern at your dad’s company—”
“In college?” I ask, disbelief crowding my thoughts.
“In college,” he continues. “I witnessed something that would have ruined all of us. Him, me, you, all of Northrup Thomas.” I don’t say anything because there isn’t anything to say. I start thinking back on the more than ten years since that time—was anything real? “Your dad didn’t trust anyone else, so I helped himhandlethings.”
“Handle things, huh? That doesn’t sound good.” I think about the check stubs and the giant amounts of money that have been flowing back and forth between my dad and Jack. “One of the check stubs in this file is dated from last month.”
Jack nods. I can almost see the thoughts running through his head. “That summer I was an intern at Northrup Thomas was just the beginning.”
“That’s the summer we met.”
Jack nods, his silence confirming all of my worst fears.
“You—you only started dating me because I’m my father’s daughter, right? Did he put you up to it?”
“What? To marrying you?” Jack is shifting back and forth, uncomfortable with my scrutiny. “Of course not.”
“Of course not.Right.” I snap. “I can’t trust anything that comes out of your mouth.”
“You can, El. You’re the only thing I think about from the moment I wake up until I fall asleep at night. Everything I do is for you.”
“Liar. You don’t even come home most nights.” I think of all the nights he must’ve spent with Aubrey—and maybe she’s only one in a line of affairs he’s had right under my nose. “Is that why you moved her in right next to me? To babysit me?”
“That’s insane—of course not.”
“Is it?” I snap. “Seems like the most obvious setup to me.”
“Aubrey and I just met—”
“Bullshit!” I scream.
“I swear.”
“And you didn’t marry me because of my dad? And you didn’t start taking all of this money from him as a payment for marrying me? Like a fucking dowry or some bullshit.”
“El—that’s crazy.” Jack approaches me with an arm extended. “I love you.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.” I shove stacks of his work files and folders off the kitchen island and they fly in a tornado of chaos, landing across our kitchen and dining room floor. “I hate you.”
“No—fuck—please, just hear me out.”
“I can’t.” I admit, shaking my head. It’s so tiring hating someone you love.
I go into our bedroom, closing the door behind me as tears flood my eyes. I settle on my bed, thinking I may never have the energy to leave this room again. What kind of secrets could possibly be worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars my dad has been shuttling into accounts in my husband’s name?
Investments? Money laundering?Murder?
I can’t stand to look at my husband’s face—not now, maybe never again.
Forty-One
Ellie
