Chapter 8 - THE MOVE LORRAINE COULDN’T CONTROL
Callum resigned from Kesler River Holdings.
Not dramatically.
He sent a formal letter.
Offered six weeks of transition assistance.
Returned company devices.
Requested an independent review of the investigator expense.
Lorraine responded within eleven minutes.
Don’t come back.
Then she terminated his access immediately.
Callum lost his salary.
Company vehicle.
Health plan after the applicable coverage period.
And the estate cottage where he and Marin had lived.
For the first time, Lorraine’s generosity revealed its conditions.
Callum moved into a furnished apartment in Guilford.
Marin remained temporarily with Hannah.
They were married.
They were not living together.
That distinction became painful.
Callum asked if Marin wanted him closer.
She said no.
He accepted it.
That was new too.
Marin returned to the estate with Caroline to collect belongings.
Lorraine stood in the foyer.
“You’ve won.”
Marin looked at her.
“This is what winning looks like to you?”
“My son walked away from his father’s company.”
“He resigned from yours.”
Lorraine’s expression hardened.
“You’ve been trying to separate him from us since the wedding.”
“Callum is thirty-four.”
“You think that means he can’t be manipulated?”
Marin almost admired the shamelessness.
Lorraine could describe exactly what she herself had been doing as long as she placed Marin’s name over it.
Then Lorraine glanced toward Elise.
“You should still do the test.”
Marin stopped packing.
“Why?”
“For Callum.”
“He hasn’t asked.”
“He should.”
Marin studied her.
“You really need him to doubt me.”
Lorraine’s eyes shifted.
Tiny movement.
Enough.
Marin stepped closer.
“What happens if he doesn’t?”
Lorraine said nothing.
“What happens if Callum believes me, chooses Elise, takes the Boston job, and never moves back here?”
Lorraine’s face changed.
There it was.
Not certainty.
Fear.
Marin walked away.
By the end of the week, Callum accepted the Boston offer.
Hybrid schedule.
Two days in the city.
Three from Connecticut.
No family company.
No estate house.
No salary signed by Lorraine.
That evening, the independent director at Kesler River Holdings called Callum.
The review of the investigator expense had uncovered something else.
Lorraine had commissioned more than one investigation.
Marin’s was the newest.
May you like
There had been three before her.
All involved women Callum had dated.
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