Nathan’s Financial Secret
Nathan came home while I was still on the phone with Diane.
He looked pale and exhausted.
“Rachel, hang up. We need to talk in private.”
“You lost the right to privacy the moment you invited everyone else into our marriage.”
He admitted he had told his family and Marissa that we were already separated.
When I asked why, he said he had been unhappy.
“You could have told me,” I replied.
“I tried.”
“No, Nathan. You pulled away and left me guessing what I had done wrong. Silence is not honesty.”
Then I asked the question behind everything else.
“Were you unhappy — or were you ashamed?”
Nathan sat down on the bottom step and covered his face with his hands.
At last, he confessed that he had invested heavily in a new medical technology company. When the business failed, he lost nearly one hundred and forty thousand dollars.
Marissa had connections to investors through her work at the hospital. Their relationship began as business meetings and introductions, then turned into something more.
When I asked about my ring, he first denied taking it.
A moment later, he admitted he had given it to Kendra.
He claimed she knew someone who could value it and possibly use it as temporary security for a loan.
“It wasn’t yours to give,” I said.
“I know.”
“No — you don’t. If you understood that, you would have sold your watch, your car, or anything else that belonged to you. You would never have taken the one thing in this house that came from my family.”
Before he could reply, my phone rang from an unknown number.
Nathan recognized it immediately.
“Please don’t answer that.”
I picked up.
Marissa’s voice came through the speaker.
She confirmed that Nathan had told her we were already separated. He said I knew about the trip to Aruba but had chosen not to come.
Then she revealed the journey was not just a vacation.
Nathan was supposed to meet an investor named Charles Redmond, who had promised to save him from his debts — but only if he brought proof of collateral.
That collateral was my ring.
Just then, a text arrived from Simon.
Charles Redmond passed away nine months ago.
