Chapter 5: Mercy With Boundaries
“I won’t call the investors today,” I said. “You will.”
Owen looked up.
“You’ll tell them the property was never yours to offer. You’ll repay the missing savings from your retirement share, and our attorneys will handle everything else.”
Tessa closed her portfolio. “I’m withdrawing from the project. And from whatever this was between us.”
She apologized to me before leaving. I believed her regret, though I did not excuse her failure to ask harder questions. Adults can be misled and still be responsible for what they ignore.
Owen remained by the counter, looking older than when he had entered.
“I hated being known only as your husband,” he confessed. “When Tessa admired my work, I became the man I thought I should have been.”
“You could have become that man without lying to me.”
He nodded, tears gathering in his eyes. I felt compassion, but compassion was not reconciliation. I would not pretend our marriage could be repaired by one sorry afternoon.
I handed him the number of a mediator and asked for his store keys. After a long pause, he placed them in my palm. Continue Reading ⬇️
