Chapter 6 - The Person Who Defended Marianne
Preston came to Sebastian and Elisa’s house the next morning.
Alone.
Sebastian did not invite him inside.
They spoke on the front porch while Elisa stood behind the storm door listening.
Preston’s jaw still carried a dark bruise from the wedding.
He looked older than forty-two.
He also looked furious.
But his anger was not aimed where Elisa expected.
“Lucinda told you Mom ordered us to blame you.”
Elisa opened the door.
“She said Mom begged you to keep the scandal contained.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“Then tell me what is.”
Preston rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Mom knew about the debt. She knew I paid it. She did not know whose authorization we used until later.”
Elisa stared at him.
Lucinda had made it sound as though Marianne had been involved in the decision from the beginning.
Preston said she had not.
“Did Mom tell you to lie to the audit committee?”
“No.”
“Did she tell Lucinda?”
“Not that I ever heard.”
Sebastian folded his arms.
“So why did Marianne turn on Elisa?”
Preston looked toward the street instead of answering immediately.
“Because by the time she asked us what happened, she had already seen the board minutes.”
Elisa knew the minutes he meant.
The April 8 emergency meeting record.
She had read them six years ago.
They stated that Elisa had verbally approved the reserve transfer while at the hospital.
Marianne had signed those minutes later as chairwoman.
Elisa had always assumed the signature meant her mother knew the truth and had chosen the family business over her youngest daughter.
Preston shook his head.
“She believed the minutes.”
Elisa felt anger rising, but it was not clean anger anymore.
“Who wrote them?”
Preston looked at her.
“Lucinda drafted them.”
“And you signed them.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing I hadn’t approved the transfer.”
Preston did not deny it.
For the first time, the person Elisa had considered the primary villain was defending their dead mother.
That mattered.
It also made the betrayal more precise.
Marianne had not necessarily sacrificed Elisa.
Someone had given Marianne a version of events that made Elisa appear dishonest.
Preston started down the porch steps.
Elisa stopped him with one more question.
“Why didn’t you correct her?”
He turned.
“Because by then the refinance was moving. The bank had already reviewed the governance file. If we changed the authorization story, we had no idea what they’d do.”
“So you let Mom think I lied.”
Preston looked toward the sidewalk.
“Yes.”
He left without defending himself.
That evening, Elisa took out the coldest letter Marianne had ever sent her.
It had arrived six months after Elisa resigned.
One sentence had hurt for years:
I can forgive a mistake, Elisa. I cannot forgive you for denying what you agreed to when the rest of us had to live with the consequences.
Elisa had always read that as proof her mother knew.
May you like
Now she read it again.
Maybe it proved the opposite.
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