“You chose to make me helpless.”
Jessica’s mouth twisted.
“You were never helpless. You were impossible to control.”
Martin turned off the recorder.
“That statement will be included in the report.”
Jessica seemed not to hear him.
David lowered his head.
“I will repay every dollar.”
Eleanor looked at him for a long moment.
“You will repay the bank first. Then you will repay me. You will also sign whatever documents Martin prepares to remove your access from every account, every file, and every property record connected to me.”
“I will.”
“You will leave tonight.”
David closed his eyes.
“Mom.”
“Tonight.”
Jessica gave a small, disbelieving laugh.
“You cannot throw us out on Christmas.”
Eleanor looked around the house.
“I am not throwing you out of your home. I am asking you to leave mine.”
Mark stepped toward the door and opened it.
Cold air swept into the foyer.
Jessica stood frozen until David picked up his coat.
She looked at him.
“You are really going with them?”
David put on the coat.
“I am going with you.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I know.”
For one moment, Eleanor thought Jessica might apologize.
Instead, Jessica removed her wedding ring and placed it on the console beside the folder.
David stared at it.
“Jessica.”
“I am not staying with a man who chooses his mother over his wife.”
Eleanor’s voice was quiet.
“He should have chosen the truth before he had to choose between us.”
Jessica’s eyes flashed.
Then she walked through the open door.
David remained behind.
The guests watched him stand beneath the Christmas lights, separated from Eleanor by only a few feet and by every lie he had allowed to grow between them.
He reached into his pocket and placed a key on the console.
