“You remember the money. How suddenly everything got paid off. You asked me a hundred times where it came from.”
“You told me it was the bank. A loan.”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t the bank. It was Leah.”
His face stills.
“Leah? The ex-wife who left you with a shattered leg and an empty home?”
“She showed up six weeks after Della left. Said she could help. That she had a massive real estate project and needed a contractor. She’d cover everything—debts, payroll, the whole thing.”
David’s voice sharpens. “At what cost?”
I look away. “Della.”
The room drops a degree.
“Jesus, Dorian.”
“She said if I wanted the deal, I needed to be all-in, no distractions. No ties. No wasted time searching for Della.”
David leans back like he’s been punched. “And you never told me.”
“I was drowning, Dave. She threw me a rope. A poisonous one, yeah—but I took it. And hated myself for it every day since.”
I pause, the words catching in my throat.
More to myself than to him, I add “She even showed me pictures.”
He shakes his head.
“All this time, I thought you took some shady loan.”
I shrug bitterly.
“I paid every damn cent back in two years. But it didn’t matter. By then, it was too late. Damage done.”
I down the rest of the whiskey in one swallow. It burns, but it’s not enough. Not enough to erase the image of her in someone else’s arms.
I close my eyes. But it’s still there.
Her body. That dress. The emptiness in her eyes. Like I’d already lost her twice.
My mind spins, dragged backward—pulled into the memory I never stopped carrying. Back to when I first saw her.
* * *
5 years ago
I hadn’t even wanted to go out that night. David had dragged me to Excalibur.
“You need air, Dorian. A drink. A night without numbers and bricks and bank notices.”
We had just lost a major investor for a suburban development outside Northfield. Tensions were high. Money was tight. I had limped out of a four-hour meeting with my lawyer, then spent another two standing in the middle of a half-gutted construction site, arguing over permits and concrete.
I had not much left. Not broke. But drained.
And then—there she was.
