I woke before dawn the following morning, unable to shake the conversation with Adrian Cole. The house was still dark, and a thin line of light showed beneath the bedroom door where Mauro had left the hallway lamp burning. His side of the bed was empty.
I found him downstairs in the study, sitting at the desk with his laptop open. He had changed into a fresh shirt but had not shaved. An untouched cup of coffee stood beside his elbow.
“Did you sleep?” I asked.
He closed the laptop.
“Not much.”
“Neither did I.”
For a moment, the admission seemed to soften him. He rubbed his face and leaned back in the chair.
“Rebecca, I know things have gone too far. I never wanted this to happen.”
“Which part?”
He looked at me wearily. “All of it.”
I waited for him to explain, but he said nothing more.
“Did you borrow money from Adrian Cole to finance your business?”
“Partly.”
“How much?”
He gave a frustrated sigh. “I don't have the exact number in front of me.”
“Do you have an agreement?”
“Yes.”
“Then give it to your attorney.”
He looked up sharply. “Why would I give my private financial documents to your attorney?”
“You told me you borrowed money. Someone contacted me about an arrangement that might involve my company. Until we understand whether there's any overlap, I can't simply accept your assurance that the matters are unrelated.”
“You don't trust me at all.”
“I don't have enough information to trust your explanation.”
He pushed back his chair and stood.
“I'll deal with Adrian myself.”
“That is your choice. The company will deal with its own records.”
He walked past me, but this time he paused at the doorway.
“I was trying to build something of my own,” he said. “I wanted to prove that I wasn't just living off your success.”
I looked at him carefully.
“Then why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?”
“Because every time I came to you with an idea, you wanted figures, projections, and guarantees. You made me feel as though I had to justify every decision.”
“Those are normal questions when someone asks for financial support.”
“I didn't want your support. I wanted you to believe in me.”
The words were painful because I could hear the disappointment in them. Mauro had always wanted my confidence, but he had also wanted that confidence to excuse him from the practical questions that came with financial risk.
“I believed in you,” I said. “I just didn't believe that every idea would succeed. Those aren't the same thing.”
He shook his head and left the room.
I returned upstairs and prepared for work. I had no intention of pursuing his private finances beyond what was necessary to protect myself and the company. His loan agreement belonged to him unless the evidence established a legitimate connection to my business or property.
But I could not ignore the possibility that his creditors might believe they had rights they did not actually possess.
At nine, Veronica called.
“Adrian Cole has contacted the company through counsel,” she said. “He has provided a preliminary statement concerning an alleged financial arrangement with Mauro. We have not verified every assertion, and we haven't accepted any claim against the company.”
“What does he allege?”
“That Mauro sought financing for a private business venture. According to the statement, Mauro discussed potential future payments from a company project, but the documents do not establish that he had authority to pledge company funds or that the company agreed to guarantee his personal debt.”
I closed my office door.
“Did Mauro have authority to make that promise?”
“Not based on the information we currently have. But we're examining the documents and the scope of his access. We need to determine exactly what was said, what was signed, and whether any company funds were transferred.”
“Has Adrian provided the loan agreement?”
“He has provided a copy of a document that appears to be a financing agreement. Its authenticity and legal effect are still being reviewed.”
I took a slow breath.
“Does it mention my company?”
“Yes. That's why we're treating it seriously.”
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
The caller had not merely been asking about an overdue personal debt. He appeared to believe that my company was relevant to the arrangement, perhaps because Mauro had represented that future business income would be available.
I asked Veronica to send me the documents I was authorized to review.
When the call ended, I opened the secure report Daniel had prepared. He had already flagged the related vendor payments for additional scrutiny. The amounts and dates were being compared with the alleged financing arrangement, but no final conclusion had been reached.
I did not need to know every detail to understand the immediate danger. If Mauro had made promises involving my company without authorization, the issue could become more serious than a marital dispute.
At midday, Daniel joined me in the conference room.
“We've confirmed that the company did not formally approve a guarantee for Mauro's private borrowing,” he said. “The records we've reviewed so far contain no valid authorization for that arrangement.”
“Does the lender believe we guaranteed the debt?”
“The preliminary statement suggests that Mauro discussed expected business revenue. We're asking for the complete correspondence before reaching a conclusion.”
“Could the company be liable?”
“That depends on the actual documents, the representations made, and the applicable law. Our counsel is reviewing it. We should not assume liability simply because someone says they expected payment from us.”
I nodded.
“Protect the records and continue the review.”
Daniel closed his folder. “There's another concern. Some of the questionable vendor invoices were submitted around the same period as the financing discussions. We can't yet say they're connected, but the timing is significant enough to investigate.”
I stared at the table.
“Please keep the teams independent and document the reasons for any additional review.”
“Of course.”
When he left, I called Veronica again and told her about the timing. She agreed that the overlap deserved examination but warned me against treating it as proof of a coordinated scheme.
I spent the afternoon in meetings, answering questions about a project launch and reviewing a proposal from a new partner. The ordinary work felt strangely grounding. The company still had employees depending on their salaries, clients expecting reliable service, and obligations that had nothing to do with Mauro's private problems.
I would not allow the investigation to become an excuse to neglect those responsibilities.
At six, I returned home and found Patricia sitting in the living room with a stack of printed pages. Jamie was beside her, looking at something on her phone. Mauro stood near the fireplace, his hands buried in his pockets.
Patricia looked up as I entered.
“Your husband tells me you've been speaking to people about his debts.”
“I have spoken to my attorney and the company's finance team about information that may affect my business.”
“You have no right to involve strangers in family matters.”
“If someone believes my company is responsible for a private debt, it is no longer only a family matter.”
Patricia's eyes narrowed.
“Mauro built his own opportunities. He has every right to pursue them.”
“I haven't said otherwise.”
“Then why are you trying to destroy him?”
I set my bag down.
“I'm trying to establish whether anyone made promises on behalf of my company without authorization.”
Jamie stood. “You could simply pay the debt and end all this.”
I looked at her.
“How much is it?”
She hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you asking me to pay it?”
“Because you're the only one who can afford to!”
The admission came out before she could stop herself.
Silence settled over the room.
Patricia turned toward her daughter, visibly irritated by the outburst. Mauro stared at the fireplace.
I understood then that the family had begun treating my wealth as a solution to a problem they had not even bothered to explain to me. They did not know the amount, the terms, or the legal position. They simply believed that if I paid, the uncomfortable questions would disappear.
“No,” I said quietly. “I won't pay an unverified debt.”
Mauro lifted his head.
“You're letting this ruin everything.”
“No. I'm refusing to make a payment without knowing what it is for.”
He looked at me with open resentment.
I recognized the expression. He had expected me to rescue him, just as I had done before. He had assumed that the threat of humiliation, family disappointment, and marital collapse would be enough to make me transfer money before asking questions.
That assumption had been the foundation of our relationship for too long.
“I'll help you understand the facts,” I said. “I won't help you hide them.”
Mauro turned away.
Patricia began speaking again, but I left the room before she could draw me into another argument.
Upstairs, I received an email from Veronica containing the preliminary financing document. I opened it and read the first page, then the second.
The agreement referred to projected revenue from a future commercial arrangement. It did not, by itself, prove that my company had accepted responsibility for Mauro's debt. The language was complicated, and Veronica had highlighted several clauses that required professional review.
But one detail stood out.
The document listed a company project by name—a project Mauro had no authority to use as collateral.
I read the line again, then called Veronica.
“Did Mauro have permission to represent this project as security for his loan?”
“Not according to the records we've seen. We need to confirm the circumstances with the parties involved, but there is no authorization in the company file.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then we need to find out exactly what he told Adrian.”
“Yes,” Veronica said. “And we need to do it through the formal process.”
I agreed.
The marriage was no longer the only thing at risk. If the document was authentic and Mauro had represented company revenue as security without permission, his private financial problems might have reached into the business I had built.
I had spent years helping him maintain an image of success.
Now I needed to know whether he had used that image to make promises he could not keep.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Patricia Demanded That I Rescue Her Son, but the Financing Agreement Suggested He Had Already Put My Company in Danger
He Stole My Platinum Card for a Luxury Vacation, Never Realizing the Woman He Threatened Had Already Prepared Her Final Move
Part 10 of 20
