Chapter 8 - I CLOSED THE DOOR
Andrew arrived twenty minutes later.
He didn’t knock.
I had forgotten he still had a key.
He walked straight into the kitchen.
“You froze the line?”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand what that does?”
“Yes.”
“Payroll is next Thursday.”
“Then use operating cash.”
“We don’t have enough.”
I stared at him.
“You told me receivables were strong.”
“They are. Timing is bad.”
“You reported a ninety-day receivable as current.”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
“Rebecca showed you that?”
“Rebecca showed me what North River owns.”
He pulled out a chair.
“Elena, listen to me.”
“No.”
“Forty-seven people work there.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t punish them because Mom insulted Nina.”
I walked toward him.
“Stop using my daughter to make this look irrational.”
His face tightened.
“This started because of what happened at dinner.”
“No. Looking started because of dinner. What I found existed before it.”
He stood.
“What do you want?”
The answer surprised both of us.
“Space.”
“Elena.”
“You’re staying somewhere else.”
“This is my house too.”
“Yes.”
I placed a folded paper on the table.
It was not a divorce filing.
It was the contact information for a family-law attorney and a written request that we communicate about Nina and finances by email for the time being.
Nina wasn’t Andrew’s biological daughter.
Her father had died when she was two.
Andrew had been in her life since she was three.
For years she called him Dad.
That made what came next harder.
“You told your family Nina costs too much.”
He looked away.
“I said raising a child costs money.”
“You used her as an explanation for why I wouldn’t invest more in your company.”
“I was trying to get Dad off my back.”
“So you put him on hers.”
Andrew’s eyes closed.
For once, he didn’t have an answer.
He packed a suitcase that evening.
Before leaving, he stopped outside Nina’s bedroom.
She was awake.
She knew he was there.
She didn’t call him inside.
The next morning Rebecca sent formal notice to Whitmore Millwork:
No additional advances would be made until the financial review was completed.
The existing facility would also be evaluated for non-renewal.
That notice could not be quietly undone.
At 8:40, Charles left me a voicemail.
His voice contained none of its usual amusement.
May you like
“Elena, I don’t know what you’ve done, but Andrew says you can fix it.”
That was when I realized Andrew still hadn’t told him the truth.
