Chapter 4 - The Account in Vancouver
Claire stared at the television.
For the first time that evening, she was as confused as Adrian.
Evelyn's recorded image continued.
"Claire does not know this," Evelyn said. "At least, I don't believe she does."
Adrian stood abruptly.
"Turn it off."
Martin did not move.
"Turn it off!"
Claire looked at him.
"Why?"
Adrian stared at the screen.
"Because this is private."
Claire almost laughed.
"Private?"
"Financial matters."
"Between my husband and the woman whose medical care I financed?"
He rubbed the back of his neck.
Bianca watched him with growing suspicion.
Evelyn continued.
"During Adrian's first four months away, Claire received regular transfers from what she believed was Adrian's Canadian account."
Claire remembered them.
Three thousand dollars.
Then another three.
Occasionally five.
Adrian told her his employer reimbursed housing and travel expenses, allowing him to send extra home.
She had thanked him every time.
"I was proud of you," Claire whispered.
Adrian closed his eyes.
On the screen, Evelyn continued.
"Those transfers came from a savings account Claire herself had created years earlier."
Claire stared.
"What?"
Martin glanced at her.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
Evelyn explained.
Years before Adrian left, Claire had opened an investment account with money from her freelance work.
She intended it as a future house fund.
Adrian had access because they were married.
During his first months in Vancouver, he transferred money from that account into a secondary account.
Then sent it back to Claire.
Making it appear as though he was supporting her and Evelyn.
Claire looked at Adrian.
"Is that true?"
He said nothing.
"Adrian."
"I intended to replace it."
Bianca stared.
"You took her own money and sent it back to her?"
"It wasn't like that."
Claire stood.
"What was it like?"
"I had startup costs."
"For what?"
"Life."
"Your company paid for your apartment."
He looked at her.
Claire knew.
He had told her.
Corporate housing.
Travel stipend.
Meal allowance.
"What startup costs?"
Adrian's silence answered.
Bianca's voice became quiet.
"Me."
He turned.
"Bianca."
"The apartment?"
Adrian said nothing.
"The furniture?"
"Stop."
"The trips?"
"Bianca."
She laughed once.
Not happily.
"So while you told me you were separated, you were taking money from your wife's account?"
Claire's heart stopped.
"Separated?"
Bianca looked at her.
"He told me you were legally separated."
Adrian turned toward Claire.
"This is getting out of control."
Claire ignored him.
"When did he tell you that?"
Bianca hesitated.
"Two years ago."
Claire's eyes stayed on her.
"How long have you been together?"
Adrian stepped between them.
"This doesn't matter."
Claire looked past him.
"Bianca?"
The younger woman's confidence had disappeared.
"Two and a half years."
Claire nodded slowly.
Adrian had been gone six months when the affair began.
Maybe sooner.
Bianca's eyes filled.
"He told me you hadn't lived as husband and wife for years."
Claire laughed softly.
"Interesting."
Adrian looked furious.
"Claire."
"No. I genuinely want to hear this."
She looked at Bianca.
"What else?"
Bianca hugged Noah closer.
"He said you stayed because of his mother."
"That part is almost true."
"He said you refused to work."
Claire glanced at Adrian.
"Did he?"
Bianca nodded.
"He said he paid all your expenses."
Claire almost admired the efficiency of the lie.
Adrian had created two realities.
In one, Claire believed he was sacrificing himself abroad to build their future.
In the other, Bianca believed Claire was a lazy dependent refusing to release him from a dead marriage.
Both women had been given exactly enough fiction to keep Adrian comfortable.
Bianca sat down.
Her voice trembled.
"I didn't know."
Claire believed her.
Not because Bianca had been kind.
She hadn't.
But cruelty and ignorance could exist together.
The woman who had insulted Claire at the airport had believed a story.
A convenient story.
Claire turned toward Adrian.
"How much did you take?"
He looked away.
"Adrian."
"About twenty thousand."
Martin cleared his throat.
Claire looked at him.
"What?"
"Evelyn's records indicate significantly more."
Adrian's head snapped toward him.
"What records?"
Martin opened another folder.
"Evelyn hired a forensic accountant."
"You've got to be kidding."
"No."
He slid papers across the table.
Claire saw transfers.
Credit cards.
Joint accounts.
Withdrawals.
The total at the bottom made her stomach drop.
One hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars.
Claire stared.
"Where did that come from?"
Martin pointed.
"Your joint savings. Your design business account. A home equity line Evelyn says she did not authorize."
Claire looked up.
"Home equity?"
Adrian's face had gone pale.
Martin continued.
"Against this property."
"How?"
"Adrian held financial power of attorney before leaving."
Claire remembered.
Evelyn had signed it years earlier when she underwent surgery.
She trusted her son.
"Did he borrow against the house?"
"Yes."
Adrian stood.
"It was temporary."
Claire stared.
"One hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars is temporary?"
"I had investments."
"What investments?"
"They failed."
Bianca looked at him.
"You told me you made money in cryptocurrency."
"I did."
"Then lost it?"
He did not answer.
Claire understood.
The gold watch.
The apartments.
The trips.
The appearance of success.
Adrian had not simply abandoned his family.
He had financed his new life using the family he abandoned.
Evelyn's recorded voice filled the room again.
"When I discovered the loan," she said, "I confronted Adrian."
Claire turned toward the screen.
Evelyn continued.
"He told me the money would be returned before anyone noticed."
Adrian stared at the floor.
"I asked him to come home."
Claire's chest tightened.
"He refused."
The recording changed.
An audio clip played.
Adrian's voice.
Claire recognized it instantly.
"Mom, stop being dramatic. It's an asset. Assets are supposed to make money."
Evelyn answered.
"You mortgaged my house."
"You signed the power of attorney."
"For emergencies."
"This is an emergency."
"What emergency?"
A pause.
Then Adrian's voice:
"I need to build something for myself."
Evelyn's response was almost a whisper.
"You already had something."
The recording ended.
No one spoke.
Adrian looked broken.
But Claire no longer knew whether what she saw was remorse or fear.
Martin turned off the television.
"That is why Evelyn revoked the power of attorney and changed the trust."
Adrian sank onto the sofa.
"I was going to fix it."
Claire stared at him.
"When?"
"I had a deal coming."
"When?"
"Last year."
"You didn't even call when she went into surgery."
"I was trying to solve the financial problem."
"You created the financial problem."
He stood again.
"I know."
"No, I don't think you do."
Claire pointed around the room.
"I was selling my car to pay your mother's hospital bill while you were living in an apartment bought with money you took from this house."
"Claire—"
"I thought you were struggling."
"I was."
"I defended you."
Her voice cracked.
That was the first time.
"I defended you to everyone."
Adrian went silent.
"When your mother asked why you didn't come home, I told her you loved her."
Claire's eyes finally filled.
"When friends asked why my husband hadn't visited in two years, I told them your work was impossible."
She wiped one tear away angrily.
"When I couldn't pay the hospital deposit, I thought you were trapped somewhere in Vancouver trying to help us."
Adrian whispered, "I'm sorry."
Claire shook her head.
"Don't."
"Claire."
"Don't use that word because you're uncomfortable."
Bianca looked down at Noah.
The baby slept peacefully through the collapse of everything around him.
Martin gathered the documents.
"There is one remaining issue."
Adrian laughed bitterly.
"Of course there is."
Martin looked at Bianca.
"It concerns the child."
Her head lifted sharply.
"What about Noah?"
Adrian froze.
Claire noticed immediately.
Martin's gaze remained on Adrian.
"Evelyn received a letter two weeks before her death."
Adrian stood slowly.
"From whom?"
"A private investigator."
Bianca's face drained.
"What investigator?"
Martin did not answer her immediately.
Instead, he removed another sealed envelope.
Evelyn's handwriting appeared again.
This time the name was not Adrian.
It was Claire.
Martin held it out.
"Evelyn instructed me to give you this only if Adrian returned with Bianca and the baby."
Claire stared at the envelope.
"How did she know?"
May you like
Martin answered quietly.
"Because Evelyn knew about Bianca months before you did."
