He dropped onto the porch step and covered his face with both hands.
I continued.
“What you hid wasn’t the lake,” I said. “It was the pressure. The fraud. The reason you took them there in the first place. You kept telling yourself silence was protection, but all it protected was Dean.”
Zane raised his head. His eyes were red. “I know.”
“No,” I said. “You know now because Jeremy finally spoke.”
“As part of our separation, you transferred your voting shares to me because you said you couldn’t deal with your family clearly. For once, that was honest.”
“Claire, please.”
But I was finished with please.
One week later, the company held its annual founders’ dinner. Dean was expected to be appointed honorary chairman.
He entered smiling and shaking hands.
Before the announcement could be made, I stepped up to the microphone.
At first, people smiled politely.
Then I spoke Nora’s name, and Dean’s expression changed.
I told them everything.
Not only about the false entries and the loan.
I told them about the silence that followed.
