Chapter 18 - The Confession TrapNathan did not want to see Marissa again.
That was exactly why he went.
He needed to know what she still believed she could win.
The jail interview room smelled of bleach and old coffee. Marissa entered with no lawyer this time. Her face was bare, her eyes bright, her smile almost peaceful.
“You saved Lily,” she said.
“And Jamie.”
A flicker crossed her face.
Not guilt.
Irritation.
“Children complicate everything,” she said.
Nathan sat very still. “They are people, Marissa.”
“So was I.”
There it was.
The wound she used as a crown.
Nathan looked at the recorder on the table. “This conversation is being recorded.”
“I assumed.”
“Then tell the truth.”
Marissa laughed softly. “Truth is just a story with better lighting.”
Nathan almost stood.
But Eleanor’s lesson held him in place.
Evidence first.
“Why marry me?” he asked.
“At first? Access.”
“And later?”
Marissa studied him.
“For a little while,” she said, “I thought you might choose me.”
“I did choose you.”
“No. You loved the version of me that needed nothing ugly from you.”
“You gave me a performance.”
“You wanted one.”
Nathan absorbed the blow without reacting.
Marissa leaned forward.
“Your mother saw me too clearly. From the beginning. Do you know what that feels like? To spend your whole life surviving men who only see what they want, and then one old woman looks at you and sees the knife?”
Nathan said nothing.
“She could have helped me,” Marissa whispered. “She could have told you the truth about Richard, about Caroline, about your father. Instead she protected the family name until it protected no one.”
“She made mistakes.”
“She made monsters.”
“No,” Nathan said. “Pain made a door. You chose to walk through it.”
Marissa’s eyes flashed.
For the first time, Nathan saw he had hurt her.
Good.
He placed a folder on the table.
“Caroline is alive. Lily and Jamie are safe. Roy talked. Victor talked. Caleb is negotiating. Richard is finished.”
Marissa looked at the folder but did not touch it.
“And you?” she asked.
“I’m divorcing you.”
“You already said that.”
“No,” Nathan replied. “This time I mean legally, financially, publicly. You get nothing.”
Marissa smiled again, but it trembled.
“I never needed your money.”
Nathan opened the folder and slid one document forward.
It was the original prenuptial agreement Marissa had signed eight years earlier.
Eleanor had insisted.
Nathan had resented her for it.
Now it was the wall between Marissa and the company.
Marissa stared at her own signature.
Nathan said, “You needed me to sign over authority because divorce gave you nothing.”
Her breathing changed.
“You tried to kill my mother because once Richard was exposed, your last path to the company was gone.”
Marissa whispered, “Richard promised me Caroline’s proof.”
“He lied.”
“I know that now.”
Nathan stood.
Marissa looked up sharply. “Don’t walk away.”
He paused.
She lowered her voice. “Ask Eleanor about the night your father died.”
Nathan’s blood chilled.
“She still hasn’t told you everything.”
Nathan forced himself to turn away.
Behind him, Marissa shouted:
“He didn’t die in an accident, Nathan!”
May you like
The door closed.
But her words followed him home.
