Chapter 13 - Cole Finally Admitted He Counted On Me Not Looking
I met Cole once before the case resolved.
Attorneys present.
Neutral room.
He looked older.
“Why?” I asked.
He stared at the table.
“I thought I could replace it.”
“You sold Laura’s things.”
“I know.”
“Mia’s things.”
“I know.”
“You let your wife tell my daughter she imagined seeing her mother’s ring.”
Cole closed his eyes.
“I didn’t know Elena was being that hard on her.”
I believed part of that.
Not all.
“You knew Mia recognized it.”
“Yes.”
“And what did you do?”
“I told Elena to stop wearing it around her.”
That answer revealed everything.
Not:
Return it.
Not:
Tell Victor.
Stop wearing it around Mia.
Manage the witness.
Not the wrongdoing.
Then he said:
“I knew you wouldn’t check the vault.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Laura’s things hurt too much.”
That was true.
I had avoided that box because opening it meant reopening a life I still missed.
Cole knew.
He used grief as a security weakness.
May you like
That betrayal was harder to forgive than the money.
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