Chapter 5: What He Came Home to Say
Christopher called three times while I was driving back from the airport.
I let all three go to voicemail.
When I pulled into the driveway, his car was already there.
He was sitting on the front steps, jacket off, sleeves rolled up.
He looked like a man who had decided to be reasonable.
I got out of the car and walked toward him.
"We need to talk," he said.
"All right."
He stood.
"Inside."
We went into the living room.
He didn't sit.
Neither did I.
"I've been thinking," he said.
"About what's fair.
About what both of us need." He ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't want this to become ugly, Lorelei.
I think we can handle this like adults."
"What are you proposing?"
"A quiet separation.
I keep the house — you'd get a settlement, a generous one.
You'd be comfortable.
You could start over somewhere new." He paused.
"Gwen and I would be discreet.
No one needs to know the details."
I looked at him for a moment.
"You want me to take a settlement, leave quietly, and let you continue using company funds to support her."
His expression tightened.
"That's not what I said."
"It's what you meant."
"Lorelei—"
"How much?" I asked.
He blinked.
"What?"
"How much is the settlement?"
He named a number.
It was significant.
He said it with the confidence of a man who had never been told no by anyone who needed the money.
"And in exchange," I said, "I sign something."
"A standard agreement.
Confidentiality.
Nothing unreasonable."
"Like the one Isabela Carmo signed."
The color left his face so quickly it was almost clinical.
He didn't speak for four full seconds.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"Does it matter?"
"Lorelei." His voice had changed.
The reasonableness was gone.
Something harder had taken its place.
"I don't know what you think you know, but you need to be very careful right now.
Very careful."
"Are you threatening me, Christopher?"
"I'm warning you.
There's a difference." He stepped closer.
"You have no idea what you're getting into.
The people involved in Pinnacle Crest's operations — they don't respond well to interference.
I have protected you from that world for years.
If you start pulling at threads, I cannot guarantee what unravels."
I held his gaze.
"Is that the best you have?" I asked.
Something moved behind his eyes.
He hadn't expected that.
He had expected fear, or tears, or a woman who would take the number and the pen and sign where he pointed.
"Think about what you're doing," he said.
"Think very carefully."
"I have been," I said.
"For six weeks."
He stared at me.
I walked to the door and held it open.
"You should go back to Gwen," I said.
"I think she's waiting for you."
He left without another word.
But at the bottom of the front steps, he stopped and looked back at me.
"This isn't over," he said.
"No," I agreed.
"It isn't."
I closed the door.
My phone was already in my hand.
I typed one message to Daniel: *He mentioned Isabela by name.
He knows someone talked.
Move faster.*
Daniel's reply came in under two minutes: *Already on it.
Don't be alone tonight.*
I looked around the quiet house.
The kitchen where Gwen had sat at my table.
May you like
The balcony where Christopher had stood with his cigarette, telling me things I didn't need to know.
I picked up my bag and drove to my sister's house.
