Page 159 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

“That wasn’t my question.”

A muscle shifts along his jaw.

“We made certain the lender understood the extent of Richard’s exposure. They made their own decision about how much risk they were willing to carry.”

The words are calm. Reasonable, even.

And that only makes them worse.

“And then you were conveniently there to rescue him.”

His answer is tidy. “Alder provided financing, yes.”

“At a higher rate.”

He angles his head to one side in acknowledgement.

I turn back to the screen and find the next transfer, then another.

It has been in front of me for the last hour, but now I can see the entire architecture instead of individual transactions.

A door closes.

Another opens.

My father staggers through it.

That one narrows.

Another appears.

But none of them lead to freedom. Never to freedom.

“You kept him liquid.”

Caleb answers this time. “At certain points.”

I look at him.

Of the two of them, he has always been less polished when forced into an uncomfortable truth. Lucian can make almost anything sound inevitable. Caleb simply stands there and takes the hit.

“How many points?”

“Enough.”

Anger flashes through me. “That’s not an answer.”

“No.” His dark eyes remain on mine. “It isn’t. We acquired some of his obligations. We knew when others were likely to be called. We knew which lenders would extend him again and which ones wouldn’t. Sometimes we stepped in. Sometimes we made sure someone else didn’t.”

The room seems to tilt.

I grip the edge of the desk.

All my professional knowledge begins arranging the facts faster than I want it to.

Financial stress doesn’t merely make people poor. It changes the way they think. Scarcity compresses time until survival becomes more important than consequences six months from now. Shame makes people hide information that might save them. Sunk costs make them continue long after a rational person would walk away.

And intermittent relief is its own kind of trap.