Chapter 11 - JACKSON HAD TO LOOK AT THE EMAIL HE WROTE
Jackson’s deposition was not dramatic.
That made it brutal.
Melissa placed the twenty-seven-month-old email in front of him.
Claire’s Arlington place is almost paid off.
Then we make it about family, not business.
“Did you write this?”
Jackson stared.
“Yes.”
“What did you mean by ‘make it about family’?”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
Melissa waited.
Silence became uncomfortable.
Jackson tried again.
“Claire cares about family.”
“So?”
“I thought she would be more open to helping if she understood Mom and Dad were affected.”
“Did Claire know at that time that Genesis had lent money to your company?”
“No.”
“Did she know Robert’s home-equity line would later fund your company?”
“No.”
“Did she know you were considering her condo as a future refinancing asset?”
“No.”
Melissa looked at him.
“So you wanted her to feel a family obligation before she knew the business facts.”
Jackson’s lawyer objected to the characterization.
The answer remained obvious.
Jackson eventually admitted it.
“Yes.”
Claire sat behind Melissa and felt something strange.
Not triumph.
Grief.
She remembered Jackson helping her repaint that Arlington condo after they had been dating four months.
He slept on the floor because they finished at 2 a.m.
They ate pizza sitting against the wall.
Claire had thought:
This is the man I might build a life with.
Years later he looked at the same condo and saw clean collateral.
Both memories were true.
That was harder than deciding one had been fake.
Melissa asked about the plate.
Jackson did not minimize it this time.
“I threw it.”
“At Claire?”
“Across the table near her.”
“Were you trying to frighten her?”
Long pause.
“Yes.”
Claire looked down.
He continued.
“I wanted her to stop saying no.”
The room went still.
Jackson closed his eyes.
“That sounds terrible.”
Melissa replied:
“I didn’t ask how it sounded.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Later, outside the conference room, Jackson approached Claire.
“Can I talk to you?”
Melissa looked at her.
Claire agreed.
Two minutes.
Jackson stood by the elevators.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
His eyes filled.
“I don’t know where to start.”
“Then don’t perform a complete apology.”
He almost smiled.
“I loved you.”
“I know.”
“I still do.”
Claire looked at him.
“That’s not the defense you think it is.”
He nodded.
“I know that too.”
“Why did you let Mom create the fake email?”
“I didn’t know until after.”
“Why didn’t you correct Dad?”
Jackson looked away.
“Because for one day everything became easier.”
Claire closed her eyes.
There it was.
Ease.
Robert believed.
Genesis stopped panicking.
The lender kept moving.
Claire had not yet discovered anything.
One lie temporarily solved the room.
Jackson chose the room.
Not her.
“That’s the part I can’t live with.”
He looked at her.
“Not the plate?”
“The plate was obvious.”
Claire stepped toward the elevator.
“You spent years choosing whatever version of reality made the next week easier.”
May you like
The doors opened.
“I don’t want to spend my life being the person who pays for that.”
