Chapter 13 - The Price of Forgiveness

Julian came to Martha’s office that afternoon without a lawyer. His lip was split, his ribs were bruised, and he looked as if he had aged ten years in one night. Bell let him speak only after his attorney confirmed that he was there voluntarily.

“I’ll testify,” Julian said. “About the transfers. About the building reports. About my uncle.”

I folded my arms. “Why now?”

“Because I can’t keep telling myself I meant to fix it.” He stared at the floor. “I signed the release that let the money move. I didn’t create the shell companies, but I knew the funds were supposed to be replaced. When the first report came in about Harbor House, I told myself the contractor would finish the repairs. Then the second report came in. I read it. I still did nothing.”

“People were sent there anyway.”

“Yes.”

“You let my name take the blame.”

“Yes.”

He didn’t ask me to forgive him. That was the first honest thing he had done in weeks.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.

“Nothing. I wanted you to hear it from me before you heard it in court.”

“You don’t get to call this love,” I said. “You can regret what you did. You can tell the truth. But you don’t get to use your guilt as a bridge back to me.”

“I know.”

He placed his engagement ring on the table. “I’m not asking you to wear it.”

I didn’t touch it.

“I wish I could stop caring.”

“That part takes longer.”

The next morning, Julian gave Bell a sworn statement and turned over his laptop. His testimony connected the transfers to Eleanor and Richard, but it also implicated him. He was not a hero. He was a witness who had finally decided to stop lying.

By evening, the company’s board had called an emergency meeting. Eleanor’s attorneys argued that I had no right to attend because my shares were “subject to unresolved questions.” Martha filed the trust certificate and a court order confirming my voting rights.

At 8:13 p.m., the board secretary sent the agenda.

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The final item read: Removal of Avery Sinclair from all company premises and suspension of shareholder privileges.

They were planning to vote me out of a company I legally owned.