Chapter 6 - Brad Had Been Lied To Too
Brad asked to meet.
I almost refused.
Then my attorney suggested listening could help clarify timelines.
We met at a coffee shop.
He looked nothing like the man standing with his arm around my wife two nights earlier.
He looked tired.
Embarrassed.
“I didn’t know she was telling Lily you were dead.”
“Did you ever ask Lily about me?”
“Rachel said talking about you triggered nightmares.”
I almost laughed.
Of course.
Another explanation that kept people from comparing notes.
“How long have you been sleeping with my wife?”
He looked down.
“Nine months.”
Five months into my deployment.
That hurt.
But it wasn't the worst part anymore.
“When did she tell you we were divorced?”
“About two months after we started seeing each other.”
“So you knowingly started with a married woman.”
“Yes.”
At least he didn't rewrite himself as innocent.
“What did she say about me?”
“That you were emotionally abusive. Controlling. That you wanted nothing to do with Lily.”
Some of that accusation stung because I knew I had not been an easy husband.
I was emotionally absent during conflict.
I worked constantly.
I had missed anniversaries even before deployment.
Rachel had legitimate grievances.
But abandoning Lily?
Never.
Then Brad told me why he sent her outside.
He had believed Rachel when she said Lily sometimes manipulated adults by pretending to be sick or frightened.
During the party, Lily spilled a drink over Brad’s laptop bag.
He lost his temper.
He told her to “cool off outside.”
He claimed he expected Rachel to bring her back in within minutes.
She didn't.
“You didn’t check?”
His face reddened.
“No.”
“That makes you responsible for your part.”
“I know.”
I believed he did.
Then he gave me a piece of information I hadn't expected.
Rachel was afraid of someone.
Not me.
Her former boss.
A real estate developer named Charles Wynn.
According to Brad, the townhouse and the fake widow status somehow connected to him.
And Rachel had once told Brad:
May you like
“If Charles realizes Daniel is coming home, everything falls apart.”
For the first time, my deployment itself seemed financially useful to someone beyond my wife.
