Chapter 11 - Richard Couldn’t Blame His Mother for Everything
Richard came to the townhouse after that.
I met him outside.
He looked thinner.
Bennett Events had lost two major contracts beyond Sterling because clients became nervous during the audit.
“Vanessa told you.”
“Yes.”
“She shouldn’t have.”
I almost smiled.
“You people really hate information escaping.”
He looked ashamed.
“Claire…”
“Did you know who Ruth Hale was when we got married?”
“Yes.”
That answer hurt more because it came quickly now.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Mom said the accusation was legitimate.”
“After Eleanor Sterling said it wasn’t?”
“I didn’t know about Eleanor’s letter.”
That part I believed.
“But you knew enough to ask.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t.”
He looked toward the townhouse.
“Are you divorcing me?”
“Probably.”
His face tightened.
“I love you.”
“I believe you.”
That surprised him.
I continued.
“Love isn’t the question.”
“What is?”
“Why did loving me still allow you to treat me like labor you owned?”
He had no answer.
I listed it.
Seven years of unpaid work.
Financial decisions made without me.
A company receiving value from my expertise while denying me ownership.
His mother humiliating me.
His sister filming it.
Richard grabbing my hair and putting my face in Lily’s cake.
“You didn’t do those things because Olivia made you.”
He looked down.
“I know.”
“Say it.”
“I chose them.”
There.
The first useful sentence.
Then he admitted Hale Event Logistics existed for one purpose.
To move additional compensation to him outside the ordinary Bennett Events payroll structure.
He believed it was legal because accountants had handled the filings.
Whether that belief was accurate would be determined by professionals.
But ethically?
He knew the invoices obscured what the customer was paying for.
“I kept telling myself everybody marks up events.”
“Everybody charges margins. They don’t invent vendors named after women their mothers ruined.”
He closed his eyes.
“I didn’t know why she chose the name.”
“But you never cared enough to ask.”
“No.”
That was Richard’s deepest problem.
He was not Olivia.
May you like
He was passive whenever questions threatened his comfort.
And passivity had become cruelty the moment he used force to keep me in my place.
