Chapter 5 - Derek Had Been Borrowing From Linda
After the wedding was canceled, Derek’s financial documents became relevant to:
our separation,
property disputes,
and the guaranty he had asked me to sign.
What I learned was not one giant secret.
It was a pile of smaller ones.
Linda had loaned Derek:
$62,000
eighteen months earlier.
Then another:
$28,000.
Then paid:
$17,500
toward business taxes.
Total:
just over $107,000.
She had funded much of it from:
a home-equity line
on her condominium.
Derek promised repayment when:
business recovered.
It did not.
Linda began panicking.
That changed her interest in:
my paycheck.
If Derek married a woman earning a stable:
$238,000 base salary
plus annual bonus and equity,
Linda believed the problem would disappear.
Not because she expected me to hand her:
money directly.
Because the household could live on:
mine
while Derek’s future income repaired:
his debt.
That was the plan.
Nobody had asked:
May you like
me.
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