Daniel’s keys slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
CHAPTER 4 – The Cost of Lies
The officers separated us into different rooms.
I sat at my dining table while Officer Benson took my statement. Through the open doorway, I could see Mom on the sofa, hands folded so tightly her knuckles had gone white. Dad stood near the window, no longer angry, only old.
Chelsea sat at the far end of the room with a blanket around her shoulders despite the warm morning.
Daniel was in the kitchen with the other officer.
Attorney Patel spread copies of the caterer’s contract beside the bank statements I had pulled up on my laptop. There were transfers I had never noticed because Daniel had moved the money in small amounts. Seven hundred dollars. Twelve hundred. Two thousand. He had used our joint account, then opened two credit cards using my information.
The wedding had not been one terrible act.
It had been the final decoration on months of deception.
“He will likely be charged,” Nina said quietly. “The documentation is unusually clear.”
Daniel heard her from the kitchen.
“I said I would pay it back,” he called.
Officer Ramirez answered, “You can discuss that with counsel.”
Daniel gave a short, humorless laugh. “Counsel. Great.”
I did not look at him.
The final piece came from his email account.
He had forwarded himself a photograph of my passport while I slept before my Denver trip. He had used it to answer security questions for the credit applications. He had also emailed the wedding photographer with instructions to avoid taking pictures of “the groom’s parents” because he did not want anyone asking why his wife was absent.
Then there was one message he had sent to a friend the night before.
Once the wedding is done, Haley will be too embarrassed to make a scene. She always cleans up the mess.
I read that line until the letters stopped meaning anything.
Then I closed the laptop.
“No,” I said.
Nina looked at me.
“I do not want a private repayment agreement. I want to file every report.”
Daniel heard me.
For the first time, fear broke through his face.
“Haley, please.”
He came into the dining room before Officer Ramirez caught his arm.
“Please,” Daniel said again. “I know I do not deserve forgiveness. But don’t destroy my life over this.”
The whole room went silent.
