Chapter 4 - The First Time I Walked Away From Him
Jasper entered the shop smiling.
That frightened me more than if he had shouted.
“There you are.”
Sarah stayed behind the counter.
“We’re closed.”
Jasper ignored her.
“Camille, come home.”
“Why did you tell me not to call Dad?”
The smile held.
“Because he’s confused.”
“He knew about the transfer.”
“Of course he did.”
“He knew Victor needed my shares to control the company.”
The smile slipped.
Only slightly.
“Who have you been talking to?”
I didn’t mention Rosa or the USB.
“Why have letters from my father been disappearing?”
Jasper’s face changed again.
“Your father sends manipulative garbage. I protected you from it.”
“You opened my mail?”
“We’re married.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Jasper lowered his voice.
“You were miserable every time he contacted you. I made a judgment.”
He said it so calmly that for one terrible moment I almost stepped back into the marriage I understood.
Jasper had always framed control as judgment.
He chose which invitations were “too stressful.”
Which friends were “bad influences.”
Which financial decisions were “too complicated” for me when I was grieving my mother.
Sarah came around the counter.
“Camille isn’t leaving with you.”
Jasper looked at her as if she were an insect.
“This is between my wife and me.”
I picked up my purse.
“No. This is between me and whoever has been trying to steal my shares.”
His expression finally cracked.
“Steal?”
“That word bother you?”
He stepped closer.
Sarah reached for her phone.
Jasper stopped.
“Fine. Be dramatic. But when your father’s company collapses, don’t come crying to me.”
He walked out.
I watched through the window as he sat in the Mercedes without starting it.
He was making a call.
Twenty minutes later, Sarah drove me to a hotel near the Mission Inn. I changed the passwords on my email, banking accounts, cloud storage, and phone carrier.
Then I called an attorney.
Laura Chen handled shareholder disputes and business fraud.
Her first instruction was simple:
“Do not sign anything. Do not confront Victor. Preserve the USB exactly as you received it.”
Her second was more personal.
“And if you believe your husband has been intercepting your mail or accessing your accounts, separate your finances today.”
I did.
The cost hit immediately.
Jasper froze our joint credit card before dinner.
Then I discovered our savings account held less than half what I believed.
$186,000 was missing.
May you like
The transfers had begun eighteen months earlier.
Right around the time Jasper started telling me my father wanted nothing to do with me.
