by C. C. Wood
Most days she went to work, sometimes followed by a visit to Adam’s grave, and then went home. Brandy was swamped at work and sometimes made it over for dinner or a visit once or twice a week, but it was Greg who made a point to come by almost every day. Sometimes he just came by for a drink after work, others he would cook dinner or take her out, and others he would sit with her and watch television or help out with odd chores. Charlotte saw him more often than when Derek lived at the house. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Slowly, the numbness that plagued her before began to lessen, as did her sensitivity and irritability. She wasn’t happy and didn’t know if she could ever truly experience deep-in-the-gut happiness again, but she was coping. At least that’s what her grief counselor said. Coping with the loss, the pain, the complete destruction of all her hopes and dreams for the future. Though it almost killed her to admit it, life went on. Just a hell of a lot emptier.
Of course, the insanity following Derek’s flight from the country distracted her from the myriad of emotions she experienced. After the charges had been filed and the arrest warrant issued, Charlotte’s life entered yet another level of chaos.
The night Greg helped her burn pictures, they sat in front of the fire, drinking wine straight from the bottle. When all the pictures were gone, Charlotte looked at him.
“I’m sorry, Greg. I had no idea he was stealing from the company,” she said.
Greg took a swig of wine. “I know you didn’t. You are the most honest person I know. Unfortunately, Derek is the most dishonest person. This isn’t even the first time he’s taken money from the company. The first time I caught him, I let him put the money back, thinking it was a one-time thing. It was right around the time we took over the company after his dad died. You guys had just bought this house so I assumed that he wanted the money to help pay for it.”
Charlotte scoffed. “We bought this house with a combination of our savings and part of the life insurance payout from when my mother passed away. He didn’t need the money.” She took the bottle of wine from Greg and took a big swallow of her own. “When did it start this time?” she asked.
Greg stared at the flames of the small fire still burning in the hearth. “A couple of years before Adam was born. I didn’t catch it because I, stupidly, trusted him. It had been years since the last time. I thought he had changed. I was going to give him the same option, to pay back the money. Only, this time, I planned on making him president in name only because this was a lot more than before.”
Something sharp and hot pierced Charlotte’s chest. Her husband began embezzling years ago. She wondered if he had been planning on leaving her even then. That stung. To think she had been preparing for the arrival of their son, struggling with her pregnancy and scared out of her mind and Derek had already been thinking of escape.
“A lot more?” she asked, handing the bottle back to Greg.
He nodded and finally met her eyes. “Around ten million dollars.”
Charlotte’s heart seized. She hadn’t realized that Derek and Greg’s company had grown so much. She and Derek had been living pretty modestly and he always made it seem like things weren’t as good as they seemed.
Greg studied her. “I take it you didn’t know things were going so well.”
She shook her head. “Derek told me the business was in trouble and that’s why we had to cut back around here before Adam was born.”
His jaw tightened and Charlotte knew he was gritting his teeth. “Again, with the lies. Derek lied, Charlotte. He received a million dollar bonus last year and a six figure raise. The company is doing extremely well. In a ten years, we’ll make the Fortune 500.”
“What?” she whispered. Derek had told her that his pay had been cut and that she might need to go back to work to help with expenses. The bastard had lied. “We had maybe twenty thousand in our savings and five or so in checking. Why would he lie?” But Charlotte knew why.
She shot to her feet and started pacing around the living room, her hands fisted in her hair.
“Oh my God, he was planning this all along. Keeping money from me, lying, cheating.” She looked at Greg. “Why? Why would he do this? Why not just leave me if he was so unhappy?”
Greg’s jaw had turned to granite. He started to speak but Charlotte raised a hand.
“No, don’t try to answer. There’s no excuse for what he’s done. Now I’m questioning everything about our marriage. Did he ever truly love me? Is Danielle the first woman he’s cheated with?”
The look of Greg’s face told her the answer to her last question. She groaned, unable to believe how badly that knowledge hurt. With all the horrible things she found out about her husband, she thought that perhaps it would stop hurting at some point. Apparently, she was wrong.
“Was he cheating the first time he stole from the company?”
Greg stood and ran a hand through his hair. “Charlotte, this isn’t helping.”
“Goddammit, tell me!” she yelled. She hated that she cursed, but she was so angry.
“Yes,” Greg answered softly. “He was cheating then.”
“Do you know if that was the first time?”
He only shook his head, but she knew there was more.
“He’s been running around on me our entire marriage, hasn’t he?” She didn’t need Greg to answer. She knew deep in her bones that was true. Her entire life with her husband had been a lie.
Charlotte closed her eyes and let her head drop. “I don’t understand. Why would he marry me if he was going to act that way? Why?”
Greg approached her slowly and put his arms around her. “I can’t answer that. I wish I could tell you why Derek does half the shit that he does, but I don’t even understand that myself.”
Charlotte nodded, her forehead against his pectoral. “I know. It’s not your fault.”
Greg ran a hand down her hair. “It’s not your fault he stole from the company either.”
“I won’t be able to make restitution,” she mumbled against his shirt.
Greg’s arms tightened slightly. “I don’t expect you to, Char. You didn’t know. You couldn’t know. He hid the money.” He pulled back, cupped her nape with his hand, and used his thumb to tilt her chin up so she looked him in the eye. “You’re going to need my help. Even though I won’t be coming after you to pay back the money, the IRS might try to make you pay taxes on it, and the police will want to speak with you as well. You’ll need a lawyer.”
“Surely Nora can help me,” Charlotte said.
Greg shook his head. “You need to get a good criminal lawyer, and maybe even a tax attorney. Nora handles divorces and custody cases.”
“Maybe Brandy can help me find someone.”
“Actually, Brandy will probably represent you. That woman is a shark in heels,” he muttered.
“Wouldn’t that be a conflict of interest or something?” Charlotte asked.
Greg shrugged. “I don’t know about that, but I do know that it would be difficult for you to find a better attorney to help you deal with this mess.”
“I agree with that. Brandy is a little scary when she’s working.”
Charlotte realized then that she was still standing very close to Greg with her hands on his chest. She dropped her arms and stepped away. While she and Greg would hug from time to time and she might kiss him on the cheek if they hadn’t seen each other in a while, Charlotte suddenly felt uncomfortable touching him so intimately. She shifted from foot to foot and looked everywhere but in his eyes.
Greg didn’t seem to notice her withdrawal or her awkwardness. He bent down and picked up the now empty bottle of wine they had shared.
“Well, I need to eat something and drink some coffee before I try to drive home. Do you want to help me cook or should we order in?”
Charlotte rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Let’s order a pizza.”
“Perfect,” Greg said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“I’m going to ru
n upstairs for a few minutes. I’ll be right back,” she said.
He nodded and turned his back to her, dialing the pizza place they preferred. Charlotte stood there for a moment, staring at him, completely confused. She realized she was staring at his ass and forced herself to leave the room.
She didn’t understand what was wrong with her. Greg was her friend, her best friend right after Brandy. They had known each other for over a decade. She didn’t think about him that way. She couldn’t.
As she climbed the stairs slowly, guilt swamped her. How could she be having these feelings? Her baby was gone. Her heart was broken. She shouldn’t be looking at her best friend and feeling her blood heat. What happened to the apathy that cloaked her for so long? It had only been a few months since Adam passed and since her husband abandoned her. Surely it was wrong for these feelings to be stirring within her.
Charlotte went into her bathroom and washed her face with cool water. When she was finished, she stared at her own face in the mirror. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she still studied her own features closely.
The doorbell rang. Surprised, she headed out of the bathroom, through her bedroom, and toward the stairs. Coming down the steps, she saw Greg standing at the threshold with the door open. A man and a woman were standing shoulder to shoulder on her porch. They were dressed in dark suits and looked intimidating.
She stopped a few steps from the bottom of the staircase. “What’s going on?”
Greg looked at her with sympathy in his eyes.
“Mrs. Fallon?” the man asked.
She nodded. “Who are you?”
He pulled out a leather wallet and showed her a badge of some kind. “I am Special Agent George Bray and this is my partner, Special Agent Renee Cruz. We’re with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and we’re here to speak to you about your husband, Derek, and his whereabouts.”
Chills broke out over her skin. Did they think that she was helping him evade arrest?
“Come in,” she said, coming down the last few steps.
Greg looked angry, but he let them enter. “I told you that Charlotte has nothing to do with this mess,” he said.
Agent Bray gave Greg an assessing look. “Maybe not, but we still have to speak with her. It’s part of the process.”
“Let’s have a seat,” Charlotte said softly, trying to diffuse the tension in the room. “Would either of you like something to drink?”
Both agents shook their head and went to the sofa. Charlotte sat in facing armchair. Greg chose the chair beside hers.
“Let’s get this over with,” Charlotte murmured.
Two hours later, the agents finally left. The pizza had arrived about a half hour after they did, but she figured it was stone cold by now. Charlotte felt like a limp dishrag. Agents Bray and Cruz had asked her questions, many times the same ones just worded differently, for most of that two hours.
After Special Agent Bray asked her, point blank, “Did you help your husband steal the ten million dollars from the company he owns with Mr. Swift?”, Greg had suggested rather forcefully that Charlotte call Brandy to come act as her attorney.
Charlotte had asked him to calm down. Looking at Bray, she asked, “Do you intend to arrest me tonight?”
“No,” he answered shortly.
Charlotte looked to Greg. “I should be safe for now. I don’t think I need to call Brandy.”
Greg gave Agent Bray a cold look. “If I feel as though you are harassing her or treating her with anything less than the utmost respect, I’m calling her lawyer whether she wants me to or not.”
The man stared at him for a moment before responding. “I would think that you would want us to do whatever we needed to in order to get your money back, Mr. Swift.”
Greg shook his head. “Charlotte is my friend. I’ve known her for over ten years. I know she wouldn’t help Derek steal from me. We knew each other before she even met him.”
Both agents wore skeptical expressions, but didn’t argue with him.
The grilling began shortly after the exchange between Greg and the investigators. Charlotte knew they were trying to trip her up, pressure her into revealing any lies she might be telling. Somehow she managed to remain calm in the face of their skepticism and answer their questions clearly.
Once the interrogation was over, Agent Bray gave her a card. “If you hear from Derek or think of something that can help us, please call me,” he said.
Charlotte nodded. “I will. I am not hiding my husband nor do I intend to help him evade arrest.”
She didn’t think that they believed her, but she meant every word.
The special agents left and Charlotte made a beeline for the wine rack. Even though she had already consumed a half a bottle that night, the visit from the police had sobered her up quickly. She couldn’t decide on a wine so she grabbed a bottle of rum instead, deciding to mix herself a rum and coke. Charlotte rarely drank but she honestly needed something to bolster her mood.
When she entered the kitchen, Greg was pulling the pizza out of the oven.
“I put the pizza in the oven to keep it warm,” he said.
“Great, I’m starving.” Charlotte went to the cabinet and grabbed a glass. She dumped some ice into the glass, poured a hefty serving of rum over the ice, and topped it with cola.
When she turned around, the glass to her lips, she saw that Greg was watching her closely.
“Are you okay, Char?” he asked.
“Not really. Another couple of drinks though, and I won’t care.”
He started putting slices of pizza on plates. “That’s not going to solve the problem, babe.”
She shrugged and took the plate he gave her before going to the table to sit down. “I know, but it’ll make me feel better for now. I’ll figure out what I’m going to do tomorrow.”
He sat at the table next to her. “I can’t disagree with that.”
Even though her world was still crumbling around her head, Charlotte smiled because she knew that she wouldn’t have to face it alone if she didn’t want to. Tomorrow, the pain of this latest hit would flare again, but, for tonight, she was going to drown it in alcohol and pizza and take comfort however she could.
Chapter Twelve
October, 2004
The little apartment bustled with activity. Today was Charlotte’s wedding day. Though Charlotte and Brandy had graduated in May, they were still living together in their apartment to save money and Brandy was about to start law school. She intended to keep the small apartment for herself even after Charlotte moved out.
After a great deal of cajoling on Derek’s part, Charlotte finally agreed to a large ceremony at one of the biggest churches in Dallas. She hated the idea of two hundred people she didn’t know sitting in pews to watch her walk down the aisle. The idea of all those eyes on her gave her the willies. The guest list actually held two hundred and fifty guests, but Charlotte did know about fifty of them as they were her friends and family. The other two hundred guests were Leah Fallon’s friends, relatives, and business associates.
Leah was determined that her son’s wedding would be the wedding of the decade. Everything she did was extravagant. This ceremony would be no different. Huge flower arrangements, special lighting, and even topiaries were brought into the church where Charlotte and Derek would be married.
At the Fallon home, where the reception was staged, tents were to be set up with standing heaters set up to keep everyone warm on the crisp October night. Charlotte had given up trying to do anything or choose anything for herself when it came to her wedding. Leah Fallon was a bulldozer in a stylish suit.
Charlotte hated her wedding dress. It was long, fitted, and strapless. It was also beautiful. But it just wasn’t her. Just like the dress she wore to her engagement party, the cut and color were fabulous and extremely flattering to her figure, but they were too sophisticated and revealing. Charlotte always dreamed of a ‘princess’ wedding dress, with a big tulle skirt and
a fitted bodice covered in seed pearls and lace.
Leah immediately dismissed such a dress as too immature and tacky for the ‘society wedding of the century’. Charlotte tried to argue and actually managed to put her foot down, but Derek talked her out of it. He said such a dress wasn’t flattering to her figure or her style and, though Charlotte knew better, she gave in. She wanted Derek to be happy on their wedding day.
It never occurred to her that he should also want her to be happy on their wedding day too.
Now the day had arrived and she was zipped into the heavy white satin dress that hugged her curvy figure and made her fair skin glow. Her dark brown hair was curled and pulled on top of her head. Her veil would be attached later. A tiara, borrowed from one of the finest jewelers in Dallas, would be pinned on top of her head, nestled in front of the curls.
There was one suggestion Leah made that Charlotte had no argument with and that was hiring a make-up artist to do her face before the wedding. Charlotte was useless when it came to make-up. She could manage a simple, put-together look, but that was all. Anything more dramatic was beyond her meager abilities. Any time she needed more than basic make-up, Brandy had done it for her.
The make-up artist was doing the entire wedding party, which Charlotte arranged as a sort of present for her bridesmaids, not that she was close with half of them. Leah insisted several of Derek’s cousins be bridesmaids because Charlotte only had a Brandy, Greg, and a couple of other girlfriends that she felt were close enough to be in her wedding party. Derek, however, had a million friends and had quite a few groomsmen.
Now it was a few minutes before they were supposed to get in the limo and take the ride to the church. Charlotte asked the bridal party to give her a few minutes alone with Brandy, who was her maid of honor. They were in her bedroom, sipping champagne, so Charlotte could relax. The entire day had already consisted of chaos and a crowded apartment and it would only be more chaotic and crowded once they got to the church for the wedding.
