Chapter 5 - Brooke Thought I Was Destroying Their Future
Brooke requested another interview with counsel present.
Her version changed.
She admitted the affair.
Nine months.
Hotels.
Late nights at the office.
Grant promised to leave me after the baby was born.
Then the company began failing.
Everything changed.
“He was terrified.”
“So you attacked his wife?”
Rebecca did the questioning through appropriate channels, not me.
Brooke cried.
“I wasn't supposed to hurt her like that.”
That sentence mattered.
“Supposed to?”
Brooke stopped.
Her attorney interrupted.
Later, through discovery and communications, we learned more.
Grant had spent weeks telling Brooke I was emotionally abusive.
According to him:
I controlled money.
Used the pregnancy to manipulate him.
Threatened to take the children.
Wanted his company to collapse so he would become financially dependent on me.
Almost none of that was true.
One part was.
I had told Grant:
“If you keep lying about money, I will protect the children and myself.”
He translated protection into threat.
Brooke believed him because she wanted to.
She also believed Grant’s promise that after the loan closed, he would leave me.
They had looked at apartments.
One message:
Brooke:
Once Sarah signs, how long?
Grant:
Two weeks max.
Brooke:
And the kids?
Grant:
We'll deal with custody after.
Brooke:
What if she fights?
Grant:
She won't look good after Thursday.
Thursday.
My kitchen.
May you like
The ladle.
My children waiting beside the cabinets.
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