I did not call Ethan immediately.<\/p>\n
That surprised Daniel.<\/p>\n
It surprised me too.<\/p>\n
I sat in the conference room staring at the photocopy while Margaret waited across from me.<\/p>\n
Ethan Mercer.<\/p>\n
The name appeared beneath a line identifying the contact for the trust that had funded the settlement payment.<\/p>\n
It was not ambiguous.<\/p>\n
It was him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Daniel checked the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne hundred twenty-six thousand four hundred.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s more than the original eighty-four.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInterest?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInterest, fees, perhaps additional secured obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Ethan Mercer?\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man you met at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
Daniel studied the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis does not necessarily mean Ethan personally paid it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis name is the contact.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
Margaret rose too.<\/p>\n
\u201cNora.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t ready to say more.<\/p>\n
Outside the building, evening traffic had begun thickening.<\/p>\n
I called Ethan.<\/p>\n
He answered on the second ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPicking Lily up from Mara\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Mara to keep her another hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNora.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease.\u201d<\/p>\n
He heard something in my voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, Ethan walked into Daniel\u2019s conference room.<\/p>\n
Margaret had already left.<\/p>\n
He saw the photocopy on the table.<\/p>\n
Then he saw my face.<\/p>\n
His expression changed before I said anything.<\/p>\n
That told me enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what this is.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
Daniel said, \u201cThis is Nora\u2019s conversation. I\u2019m here because she asked me to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan nodded.<\/p>\n
Then sat across from me.<\/p>\n
I did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did your name get on the lien release?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at the paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI helped resolve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words were so simple that anger rose instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelped how?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trust was one of my firm\u2019s investment vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou paid Gavin\u2019s debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen explain exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan folded his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter my firm rejected Gavin\u2019s development proposal, another investment group approached us about purchasing distressed positions related to the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral months later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore my divorce?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew the project was collapsing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew my house was involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore your divorce was finalized.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to tilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you said nothing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew who I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew I was Gavin\u2019s wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy then, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed once.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat distinction isn\u2019t helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan looked down briefly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy firm acquired part of the distressed debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe debt secured by my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong other assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know I had supposedly guaranteed it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw your name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know the signature was forged?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you question it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Gavin say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat you had signed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
Everyone had asked Gavin.<\/p>\n
Everyone had accepted Gavin\u2019s answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did your firm buy the debt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the underlying property positions still had value.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The honesty hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did it become about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I discovered the house had been yours before the marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTitle review.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the guarantee looked strange.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe signature date.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know where you were. But another document suggested you were represented separately by a divorce attorney around that period.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked our counsel to isolate the house-related obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I didn\u2019t want the firm enforcing against a spouse who may not have understood the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
My anger faltered slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay not have understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspected something was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why not contact me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was counsel-advised not to interfere with another party\u2019s marital or legal relationship based on suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel spoke for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat advice would not be unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t ask whether it was usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
Fair.<\/p>\n
I turned back to Ethan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe negotiated a settlement with the other creditors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the lien?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe acquired it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou controlled the lien on my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a short period.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Gavin know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he know you were involved personally?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew my firm was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he know your name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of the wedding.<\/p>\n
Gavin recognizing Ethan.<\/p>\n
The tension.<\/p>\n
The unfinished history.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me you rejected his deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t tell me you later bought part of its debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when we met years later, the matter had been resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat phrase is becoming very popular.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNora.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Explain the payment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan did.<\/p>\n
The trust acquired several obligations at a discount.<\/p>\n
Some were collected.<\/p>\n
Some were restructured.<\/p>\n
The lien attached to my house was different.<\/p>\n
Because questions surrounded the guarantee, Ethan pushed internally to release the property in exchange for settlement from other available BMR assets and investors.<\/p>\n
The trust did not simply give away one hundred twenty-six thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
It reallocated recovery.<\/p>\n
The letter Margaret kept recorded the accounting settlement, not necessarily cash Ethan personally supplied.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you didn\u2019t secretly pay my debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you made sure the lien disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t know it was forged.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why was it wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause every conversation with Gavin about that guarantee made me less convinced you knew what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I folded my arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called the house \u2018available collateral.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you were nervous about investments but would understand once the project succeeded.\u201d<\/p>\n
My jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you signed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you didn\u2019t believe him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believed there was a signature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Ross speak to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat the documentation was valid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you still released the lien.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I asked Ross for an original.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never produced one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he produce?\u201d Daniel asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertified-looking copies. Signature page. Witness statement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you record the request for an original?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably in our archived deal file.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel immediately wrote something down.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you access it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can request it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I watched them slip into professional language and felt anger rise again.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both men looked at me.<\/p>\n
I pointed at Ethan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew there was a problem with my signature before we ever became friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew Gavin had used my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew the lien was removed because your firm intervened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd during all the years we\u2019ve been together, you never thought I deserved to know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan did not defend himself immediately.<\/p>\n
That helped.<\/p>\n
Finally he said, \u201cI made the wrong decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence disarmed me more effectively than any explanation could have.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, because I thought it would only reopen something you had escaped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t your decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen later?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater it became harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I loved you.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat should have made it easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut by then I knew how much Gavin\u2019s financial deception had damaged your ability to trust your own judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you decided another secret would help?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was afraid you would think I had entered your life because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we met, I recognized your last name.\u201d<\/p>\n
My body went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew who I was from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot the first day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you said nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned away.<\/p>\n
That hurt differently.<\/p>\n
Not because Ethan had harmed me.<\/p>\n
Because the beginning of something I considered clean now contained an omission.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did we meet?\u201d Daniel asked gently, apparently trying to understand the timeline.<\/p>\n
I answered without looking at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a community fundraiser.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan had been volunteering through his firm.<\/p>\n
I was helping organize temporary housing for two families displaced by an apartment fire.<\/p>\n
We spent three hours moving donated furniture.<\/p>\n
Afterward, he bought me terrible coffee from a vending machine.<\/p>\n
Nothing romantic happened for months.<\/p>\n
Or so I had believed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you approach me because you knew who I was?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you keep seeing me because of Gavin?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you prove that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pain crossed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer hurt most because it was honest.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you know you loved me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLong after.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night you got the call about Lily.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
I had been terrified.<\/p>\n
Excited.<\/p>\n
Certain I was unqualified.<\/p>\n
Ethan had sat beside me on the floor while I assembled a crib backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told me then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told me before I trusted you with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes burned.<\/p>\n
He did not reach for me.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause by then the lien was gone, the debt was closed, and I convinced myself the information belonged to a past that had no right to disturb you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone keeps protecting me by lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him sharply.<\/p>\n
He corrected himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI withheld something important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the window.<\/p>\n
Traffic crawled far below.<\/p>\n
Daniel quietly excused himself.<\/p>\n
The door closed.<\/p>\n
Ethan and I remained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to ask you something,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever use what you knew to influence my decisions about Gavin?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever keep me from contacting him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever investigate him after we became involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know about Brenda\u2019s role?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly generally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know about the forged guarantee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know Margaret was involved with the spreadsheet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know about the blue folder?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I studied him.<\/p>\n
I believed him.<\/p>\n
That did not erase the rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens now?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can stay somewhere else tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offer hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t trust your judgment about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Lily doesn\u2019t lose her father because adults made mistakes before she knew us.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
I continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t sleep in our room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou answer every question I ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo deciding what I need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I held his gaze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sentence had better mean something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does.\u201d<\/p>\n
We picked Lily up together.<\/p>\n
She ran to Ethan first.<\/p>\n
He lifted her and held her a little longer than usual.<\/p>\n
She complained.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re squishing me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
He put her down.<\/p>\n
She took both our hands.<\/p>\n
Children notice fractures even when adults hide them.<\/p>\n
On the drive home, she talked continuously about a school project.<\/p>\n
Neither Ethan nor I interrupted.<\/p>\n
After she went to bed, I found him setting blankets on the sofa.<\/p>\n
I stood in the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s one more question.\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid your firm make money from the BMR collapse?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer came immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know personally. The portfolio was larger than BMR.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you receive a bonus?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo part of your career benefited from the failure that nearly cost me my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bothers me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt bothers me too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid it then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until I knew who you were.\u201d<\/p>\n
I appreciated that he didn\u2019t rewrite himself into a hero.<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNora.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you decide this changes us, I\u2019ll accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis changes us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pain moved across his face.<\/p>\n
I continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean it ends us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
I went upstairs.<\/p>\n
At two in the morning, I was still awake when my phone vibrated.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
I answered immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found Ross\u2019s archived deal correspondence.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an email from Ross to Ethan\u2019s firm responding to the request for the original guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse accelerated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel read the relevant sentence.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal unavailable. Executed signature page supplied by client representative.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClient representative?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an attachment.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat attachment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA courier receipt showing who delivered the signature page to Ross.\u201d<\/p>\n
I already knew I would hate the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho delivered it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrenda Matthews.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not call Ethan immediately. That surprised Daniel. It surprised me too. I sat in the conference room staring at the photocopy while Margaret waited across from me. Ethan … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22630,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595\/revisions\/22630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}