Chapter 12
The confrontation happened in a neutral law office.
Elisa requested separate meetings.
Harlan first.
He looked thinner.
No wedding ring.
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
“The truth without your mother editing it.”
He looked away.
The affair began because Harlan was angry.
Not at Elisa alone.
At Marciano.
At the publishing house.
At being introduced as Elisa’s husband after years of work.
Meredith admired his judgment.
Asked for his opinion before Marciano’s.
Made him feel like his own name existed.
“That explains why you liked her,” Elisa said.
“It doesn’t explain bringing her into our house.”
“No.”
“Or letting your mother make me serve her.”
Harlan rubbed his face.
“I should’ve stopped it.”
“You watched it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because for once, you were the person being made uncomfortable instead of me.”
Elisa stared at him.
There was the emotional truth.
Not romance.
Resentment.
He wanted her to feel small because he had spent years feeling small beside her family.
“Did you marry me for access to the company?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Elisa believed him.
That almost hurt more.
He had loved her.
Then punished her for what loving her made him feel about himself.
Dorothea’s meeting came next.
She entered wearing pearls.
Elisa nearly laughed at the familiarity.
“Was the money worth it?”
Dorothea sat.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because nobody ever admitted Thomas was cheated.”
“We’re admitting it now.”
“After I forced you to look.”
“You didn’t force an audit. You stole.”
Dorothea’s mouth tightened.
“I took back part of what was ours.”
“You took almost seven times what the review says was owed.”
Silence.
“And you used my name to do it.”
Dorothea finally looked away.
Elisa leaned forward.
“You didn’t want justice.”
Dorothea looked back.
“You wanted us beneath you for once.”
That landed.
May you like
Dorothea’s face changed.
For the first time, she had no answer.
