Chapter 10
Colin requested a meeting through attorneys.
The criminal investigation was active.
The divorce had been filed.
Custody remained temporary.
His lawyer proposed a recorded settlement conference where he could discuss financial recovery and the children.
Leah advised against emotional conversation.
I went anyway.
Not alone.
Not privately.
Colin entered using a cane.
For one absurd second, I wondered whether the cane was another performance.
Then he explained that his left foot remained weak after prolonged walking.
Both things could be true.
He could be physically impaired.
He could also have lied about paralysis.
He sat across from me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“That is not specific.”
His attorney shifted.
Colin looked toward him, then back at me.
“For lying about my recovery.”
“What else?”
“For the money.”
“What money?”
“Our savings.”
“The children’s education account?”
“Yes.”
“Fake medical invoices?”
“Yes.”
“Planning to hide the settlement?”
His face tightened.
“I was protecting it.”
“From your wife?”
“I thought we were over.”
“You never told me.”
“I didn’t know how.”
“You let me bathe you.”
The sentence escaped before I could stop it.
During his first weeks at home, I helped him into the shower.
Washed his back.
Lifted his legs.
He had still been genuinely impaired then.
The memory remained intimate and real.
The later lies contaminated it anyway.
“When did you first walk alone?” I asked.
“Late February.”
Four months before Lily saw him.
“Why not tell us?”
“The attorney said the claim value would collapse.”
“Which attorney?”
He looked down.
“Not my official lawyer. Holly knew someone.”
A claims consultant named Marcus Vale had advised them informally. Marcus later became part of the fraud case.
Colin continued:
“I had lost my career.”
“You were still employed on disability leave.”
“I could not go back after the safety records.”
“Because you helped keep the platform open.”
He looked at me.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Holly and I made a mistake.”
“You made a maintenance decision. Then you created a conspiracy.”
“I was angry.”
“You were greedy.”
He flinched.
I felt no satisfaction.
“What did you plan for the children?”
“I never intended to take them.”
“The phone recorded you discussing custody.”
“Leverage.”
“Against me.”
“Yes.”
“How is threatening to take children different from intending to take them?”
“I thought you would settle.”
“Settle what?”
“The divorce. The money.”
“You had not told me there would be a divorce.”
His eyes filled.
“I’m trying to answer.”
“Then answer without asking me to appreciate the effort.”
He pressed both palms against the table.
“I loved you.”
“Past tense?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you love Holly?”
“I thought I did.”
“Because she helped you lie?”
“Because she saw me as strong.”
I looked at the cane.
“Your children saw you as their father.”
“They saw me as broken.”
“They saw what you allowed them to see.”
He began crying.
“I couldn’t stand the way Nathan looked at me.”
“Nathan admired you.”
“He pitied me.”
“That was your interpretation.”
“I wanted one thing that wasn’t defined by the accident.”
“So you built a life defined entirely by fraud about the accident.”
Colin closed his eyes.
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
“Financial records. Full disclosure. No pressure on the children. Acceptance that contact depends on their safety, not your timetable.”
“And us?”
“There is no us.”
May you like
The words came out calmly.
That was when I knew they were true.
