Chapter 4 - The Debt Behind His SilenceThat question destroyed the last excuse Serena might have given him.
Not:
What are you talking about?
Not:
That's impossible.
Lucas had asked how she found out.
He knew.
Serena looked at the man she had slept beside for five years and suddenly felt as though she were staring at a stranger wearing her husband's face.
“Everybody out.”
Beatrice stepped forward.
“You cannot throw my guests—”
Serena turned.
“Out.”
Something in her voice ended the argument.
Within minutes, the house emptied.
Nobody wanted dessert anymore.
When the front door closed behind the final guest, Serena returned to the dining room.
The broken wineglass remained on the floor.
Red wine had spread across the pale rug like blood.
Lucas stood beside the table.
Beatrice remained near the kitchen.
Serena placed the loan inquiry beside the deed.
“Explain.”
Lucas rubbed both hands across his face.
“The company has been having problems.”
Lucas owned a small logistics consulting business.
He had always described it as stable.
“What problems?”
“Cash flow.”
“How much?”
He didn't answer.
“How much, Lucas?”
“About four hundred thousand.”
Serena almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the number was so absurd that her mind briefly refused to accept it.
“You're four hundred thousand dollars in debt?”
“Not personally.”
“Stop.”
Lucas looked away.
Serena understood.
“How much personally?”
“Two hundred and thirty.”
Beatrice interrupted.
“He was trying to save his company.”
Serena turned.
“Nobody asked you.”
“He's your husband.”
“And this is my house.”
“There you go again!”
Beatrice slammed her palm against the counter.
“Your house. Your money. Your inheritance. Your father. Everything is always yours.”
Serena stared at her.
“Yes.”
Beatrice blinked.
Serena stepped closer.
“My father worked forty-three years for this house.”
She pointed toward the walls.
“He repaired this roof himself until he was seventy. He refinished those floors. He planted every oak in the backyard. He left this property to his daughter.”
Her voice trembled now.
Not with fear.
With fury.
“You don't get to turn his life's work into collateral because your son made bad business decisions.”
Lucas moved between them.
“I never completed the application.”
“Because you couldn't.”
“I was going to talk to you.”
“When?”
Silence.
“Before or after the paperwork?”
Lucas's face drained.
Beatrice looked sharply at him.
Serena saw it.
“You had paperwork prepared.”
Lucas sat down.
That was answer enough.
Serena's knees nearly weakened.
“What did you prepare?”
“A quitclaim deed.”
The words landed like stones.
Beatrice suddenly spoke.
“It wasn't going to take the house away from you.”
Serena slowly turned.
“You knew.”
Beatrice said nothing.
“You knew.”
“It would simply have added Lucas.”
“You were planning to put his name on my deed.”
“You're married!”
Serena stared at her.
Then she looked at Lucas.
“How were you going to get my signature?”
Lucas looked ashamed.
And Serena suddenly became afraid of the answer.
“It was going to be included with the refinancing documents.”
For several seconds, she couldn't process what he meant.
Then she did.
“You were going to hide it.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I would have explained.”
“After I signed?”
Lucas stood.
“I was desperate.”
Serena backed away.
That sentence frightened her more than anything else.
Desperate people justified things.
Desperate people crossed lines and renamed them necessities.
Desperate people could look at betrayal and call it survival.
Serena walked upstairs.
Lucas followed.
“Where are you going?”
She entered the bedroom.
Pulled his suitcase from the closet.
Placed it on the bed.
“Serena.”
She began putting his clothes inside.
“Don't do this.”
“You already did.”
“This is our marriage.”
“No. This is the consequence.”
Beatrice appeared in the doorway.
“You're throwing my son out of his own home?”
Serena stopped.
She looked at her mother-in-law.
Then she smiled.
Very slightly.
“No, Beatrice.”
May you like
She zipped the suitcase.
“I'm removing him from mine.”
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