Chapter 9: The Last Thing He Said
The formal hearing was six weeks after Daniel filed.
Christopher arrived with two attorneys and a composure that had clearly cost him effort.
He looked thinner.
The accounts were still frozen.
Pinnacle Crest's board had placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of the SEC inquiry.
His photograph had appeared in a financial news brief that I had read the first paragraph of and then set aside.
We sat on opposite sides of a long table in a conference room.
His attorneys.
Daniel.
A mediator.
Me.
Christopher looked at me once when he came in.
I looked back.
He looked away first.
The session lasted four hours.
His attorneys argued.
Daniel responded.
Documents were presented.
Victor's testimony, submitted in writing, was entered into the record.
Isabela's statement.
Gwen's statement.
The transfer records.
The memo.
At the three-hour mark, Christopher's lead attorney asked for a recess.
They came back twenty minutes later with a number.
It was four times the original settlement offer.
Daniel leaned toward me.
"It's a strong offer.
It reflects what they know the fraud exposure looks like."
"What about the civil fraud claim?"
"They want it withdrawn as part of the settlement."
I looked across the table.
Christopher was staring at the surface in front of him.
His hands were flat on the table.
He wasn't performing reasonableness anymore.
He was just a man in a room who had run out of moves.
"No," I said.
Daniel blinked.
"Lorelei—"
"The civil claim stays.
The money is separate." I looked at his attorney.
"The fraud claim is not mine to withdraw.
The funds came from Pinnacle Crest.
The company's shareholders are the injured party, not just me.
I don't have the authority to make that go away, and I wouldn't if I did."
Christopher's attorney started to speak.
"The settlement for the divorce," I said, "I'll accept.
The rest he can answer for on his own."
The room was quiet.
Christopher raised his head.
He looked at me directly for the first time since he had walked in.
"You could have just taken the money," he said.
His voice was low.
Not angry anymore.
Something past anger.
"The first offer.
You could have walked away and none of this would have happened."
"None of what?" I said.
"The SEC investigation that was already running?
The eleven years of records Victor kept?
Isabela's statement?" I looked at him steadily.
"Christopher, I didn't cause any of this.
I just stopped pretending I didn't see it."
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he nodded once, very slightly, and looked back down at the table.
It wasn't an apology.
It wasn't remorse.
But it was the first honest thing he had done in the same room as me in years.
His attorney signed where Daniel indicated.
I signed where Daniel indicated.
We walked out of the building into the afternoon.
Daniel shook my hand on the steps.
"It's not fully over," he said.
"The SEC process will take time."
"I know."
"Are you all right?"
I thought about it genuinely.
"Yes," I said.
"I think I am."
He nodded and went to get his car.
I stood on the steps for a moment.
The street was ordinary.
People walking.
A bus pulling away from the curb.
Someone's dog straining at a leash toward a pigeon that wasn't interested.
My phone buzzed.
Paula: *How did it go?
Come for dinner.
May you like
I made that soup you like.*
I typed back: *On my way.*
