Chapter 8 - THE FLIGHT LEFT WITHOUT THEM
Daniel formally withdrew from the Bellamy Harbor investment Thursday morning.
Russell sent the notice.
Daniel did not enjoy it.
He had expected satisfaction.
Instead, he pictured sixty employees receiving emails they had no part in causing.
He asked Russell whether the Whitmore family office could help arrange introductions to restructuring advisers without investing money.
“We can make introductions,” Russell said. “We cannot rescue Harold from his own disclosures.”
“Good.”
Daniel also instructed his attorney to separate every financial commitment connected to the Bellamys.
No more informal loans.
No shared investment accounts.
No vendor reimbursements without documentation.
He and Chloe had never merged major assets before the wedding, which simplified matters.
Their marriage did not.
He was legally married.
Angry did not erase that.
Daniel moved into his Boston townhouse alone.
Chloe remained in Manhattan, where she had lived before the wedding.
They agreed through attorneys that neither would make public statements.
The tabloids were not interested.
Their social circle was.
A Newport wedding with two prominent families generated gossip efficiently enough without press.
Chloe called him that night.
“You canceled it.”
“Yes.”
“My father says the lender may take control.”
“He should talk to his lender.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
Her breathing changed.
“You said you loved me.”
“I do.”
That hurt more than saying he did not.
Chloe became quiet.
“Then how can you do this?”
Daniel stood in the kitchen where she had chosen the marble two months earlier.
“Because loving you cannot require me to finance something you lied to me about.”
He ended the call.
Then he took his suitcase from the bedroom.
It was still packed for St. Barts.
He unpacked it alone.
At the bottom was the cream linen shirt Chloe had bought him for their first dinner on the island.
Under it lay an envelope.
Inside were photocopies of the Bellamy Harbor financial projections.
Chloe had written notes in the margins.
Three months old.
Beside the projected reserve requirement, she had written:
Ask Dad how long we can hide this.
May you like
Daniel sat on the edge of the bed.
For the first time, he knew her deception had begun much earlier than she admitted.
