Chapter 11 - THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Andrew read the emails without touching them.
Then he said the sentence I expected.
“I can explain.”
“Start.”
He stared at the tabletop.
“Dad would’ve shut the company down before taking your money.”
“So you lied.”
“I saved forty-seven jobs.”
“You lied to me.”
“I knew you’d pull out if you saw how he talked about you.”
“You lied about Nina.”
His head lifted.
“I never wanted them treating her like that.”
“You taught them to resent her.”
“No.”
“You told Charles my money was unavailable because I spent it on Nina.”
“I needed an explanation.”
“For what?”
“For why I couldn’t get more.”
There it was.
Not malice.
Cowardice.
Andrew had spent his entire adult life trying to become the son Charles respected.
When independent lenders rejected Whitmore, Andrew found one his father could not dismiss because Charles did not know who controlled it.
Every new advance made Andrew more valuable.
Every restriction made him need a scapegoat.
And I had been convenient.
So had Nina.
“I thought I could keep everyone separate,” he said.
“Your parents from the financing. You from their opinions. Nina from the business.”
“You didn’t keep us separate.”
I tapped the emails.
“You connected all of us with lies.”
He looked exhausted.
“Please don’t end the facility.”
“That is now a credit decision.”
“Don’t talk to me like a borrower.”
“That’s exactly the problem. You never wanted me to.”
His eyes reddened.
“I love Nina.”
I believed him.
That made it worse.
“You loved being your father’s successful son more.”
He looked away.
For seven years, Andrew had been gentle with Nina.
He built her science-fair volcano.
He learned to braid her hair badly.
He sat outside the bathroom when she had the stomach flu.
People can love someone and still fail them when protecting that person costs too much.
I had learned that about Sylvia.
Now I was learning it about my husband.
Andrew asked one final question before leaving.
“Are you going to tell Dad?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After the review.”
He stood.
“You don’t know what that’ll do to him.”
I looked toward Nina’s bedroom.
“I know what not telling him did to her.”
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The next decision was no longer whether the truth would come out.
It was how to expose it without destroying everyone Andrew had hidden behind.
