Chapter 10 - Preston Had Tried to Stop One Lie and Start Another
The mortgage broker kept detailed intake notes.
The caller was Preston.
He hadn’t completed an application.
He had asked hypothetical questions about refinancing property owned by a new spouse.
When told I would need to participate and sign everything myself, he ended the call.
That was the major twist.
Margaret and Preston had not been executing one coordinated plan.
They were running separate schemes around the same financial desperation.
Margaret wanted to destabilize my relationship with Sophie and pressure me into selling the townhouse.
Preston, without Margaret’s knowledge, was exploring whether marriage gave him any route to my equity.
Neither plan worked without my consent.
But both revealed what they believed marriage entitled them to pursue.
Three earlier details changed meaning.
Preston’s fear of the CCTV footage wasn’t because he planted the pouch.
He had entered the bridal suite after realizing Margaret was staging something and had confronted her there.
Margaret’s strange insurance report wasn’t designed primarily for a payout.
The missing bracelet was leverage against Sophie.
And Preston’s statement that Sophie “wasn’t supposed to be involved” meant he knew his mother was trying to manipulate me financially, but he believed she would do it without targeting my child.
He had tolerated manipulation as long as he thought it benefited him.
Then Margaret crossed a line.
And instead of stopping her, Preston believed her accusation and assaulted Sophie.
That was the contradiction at the center of him.
He knew his mother was manipulative.
He also trusted her when trusting her gave him permission to release his own anger.
When confronted with the mortgage-broker call, Preston finally stopped denying the financial motive.
“I was drowning.”
“You could’ve told me.”
“I thought you’d cancel the wedding.”
“I would have.”
“That’s why.”
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There was nothing more revealing than that answer.
He had hidden the truth because he knew the truth would change my choice.
