Chapter 4 - THE SECOND BETRAYAL
The spreadsheet contained hundreds of transactions.
Clara had highlighted dozens.
Hotels.
Restaurants.
Jewelry stores.
Airline tickets.
Spa treatments.
Cash withdrawals.
At first, I didn't understand why she had sent them.
Then I saw the account number.
Our joint savings account.
My blood turned cold.
I had convinced myself that most of the money belonged to me because I earned more.
But the account didn't only contain my salary.
It contained Clara's inheritance.
Thirty thousand dollars her father had left her.
Money she wanted to keep for our child.
I had spent almost eighteen thousand dollars of it.
On Emily.
I called Clara immediately.
She didn't answer.
I called again.
Nothing.
Then a message arrived.
Do not call me tonight.
I stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
I asked you three months ago why our savings were disappearing.
You told me hospital costs had increased.
I remembered the conversation.
Clara had been worried.
I had looked her directly in the eyes and blamed medical bills.
The lie now felt criminal.
Maybe because it nearly was.
I typed three different apologies.
Deleted all of them.
There was nothing I could say.
The next morning, Marcus walked into my office and closed the door.
"You look terrible."
"I deserve to."
I handed him the spreadsheet.
He studied it.
Then looked at me.
"Tell me you didn't use her inheritance."
"I didn't realize how much."
"That's not an answer."
"I did."
Marcus leaned back.
"Jesus."
"I'll repay everything."
"You should."
"I mean today."
"Then do it."
I transferred forty thousand dollars into Clara's personal account.
More than I had taken.
It made absolutely no difference to how I felt.
At noon, Clara called.
"Why did you transfer money?"
"Because it belongs to you."
"You sent too much."
"Keep it."
"No."
"Clara."
"I don't want guilt money."
"It's not guilt money."
"Everything from you feels like guilt money now."
I gripped the phone.
"What do you want me to do?"
There was a pause.
"I don't know."
Her answer frightened me more than anger would have.
"I don't know who you are anymore."
"I want to fix this."
"You keep saying that."
"Because I mean it."
"Then answer something."
"Anything."
"Why?"
One word.
The question I had avoided asking myself.
Why had I done it?
Emily wasn't more beautiful than Clara.
She wasn't kinder.
She didn't understand me better.
There had been no terrible marriage driving me away.
Clara had loved me.
Trusted me.
Supported me.
So why?
"Because I was selfish."
Clara remained silent.
"And arrogant."
My voice became quieter.
"I liked being wanted without having to be responsible for anything."
The confession tasted ugly.
"But mostly because I believed I could have both lives."
"And you didn't care who got hurt?"
"I convinced myself nobody would find out."
"That's not what I asked."
I closed my eyes.
"No."
I finally said it.
"I wasn't thinking about who would get hurt."
Clara exhaled slowly.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For finally telling the truth."
Then she hung up.
That evening, I received another message.
This one came from an unknown number.
You don't know everything about Emily.
There was a photograph attached.
Emily stood outside my office building.
She wasn't alone.
She was speaking with someone I recognized immediately.
Victor Lang.
The attorney representing the company we were fighting in our biggest lawsuit.
May you like
Suddenly, my affair wasn't only destroying my marriage.
It could destroy my career.
