"She claims she thought the money was part of a legitimate business arrangement," Martin continued. "But the emails make that difficult to believe." One email showed Tammy discussing the forged loan. Another showed her asking Liam whether the transfer from Bayline had cleared. She knew exactly what she was doing.
That afternoon, Tammy asked to see me. I almost refused, then I agreed. She was waiting in a small conference room when I walked in. She looked exhausted. "I didn't think you'd actually go this far," she said.
"I didn't go anywhere. You brought me here." She looked down at the table. "I was going to leave you anyway." "I know."
"I thought you'd fight for me." I stared at her. "Why?" "Because that's what you always did." "You mean I was supposed to beg after you told me you were going on a date?"
Her eyes filled with frustration. "I wanted you angry." "Why?" "Because Liam said if you lost control, we could use it against you." I said nothing.
She continued. "He said you'd look unstable in court, that you might threaten me, that you'd make yourself look guilty." I leaned back. "So, the date was deliberate?" "Yes."
She finally looked at me. "I wanted you to react." "You underestimated me." She nodded slowly. "I did."
I stood. "Did Liam plan all of this?" Tammy hesitated. "Yes." "And you agreed?"
"I wanted out." "That isn't an answer." She closed her eyes. "Yes." For the first time, she stopped blaming someone else.
She admitted that she had helped Liam move money, provided company information, and approved the forged loan documents.
But there was still one problem. Liam was gone. He had stopped answering his phone the night before. Martin walked into the room. "We've got another problem."
I turned. "Liam disappeared." "Where?" "We don't know yet." Martin put a photograph on the table.
It showed Liam leaving a bank with a suitcase. "He withdrew cash this morning." I looked at Tammy. She stared at the photograph. Then she whispered, "He's going to run."
Martin nodded. "And he's taking evidence with him." I picked up my coat. "Then let's find him."
Martin had one advantage Liam didn't know about. The money. Every time Liam moved it, he left a trail. By that evening, Martin had found a transfer from one of Liam's accounts to a private storage company outside Charleston. I looked at the address.
"What's he storing there?" "We don't know." "Then let's find out." Gregory stopped me. "You don't go anywhere near him, Alan."
"I wasn't planning to." Martin nodded. "We'll give the location to the investigators."
The following morning, officers searched the storage unit. Inside were boxes of company documents, copies of contracts, hard drives, and several folders containing information from my business. There was also a passport. Liam had planned to leave the country, but the biggest discovery was a folder marked with my company's name. Inside were documents showing exactly how he intended to take control of one of my largest contracts.
He had already prepared a proposal for Northstar Marine. He planned to tell them my company was collapsing and that he could take over their supply agreement. The investigators issued an arrest warrant. Liam was found two days later at a motel near the airport. He had changed his appearance and was carrying more than $40,000 in cash.
When they brought him in for questioning, he immediately tried to blame Tammy. "She gave me the information," he said. "She wanted out." But the investigators had the emails, they had the bank records, they had the forged documents, and they had Daniel's testimony. Liam couldn't explain any of it.
He was arrested and charged with fraud, forgery, conspiracy, and attempted theft of my company.
Tammy was arrested, too. She faced serious charges for helping move the money, providing confidential company information, and approving the forged loan documents. But Tammy agreed to cooperate fully. Her testimony helped investigators recover much of the stolen money and establish exactly how Liam had planned the scheme. In exchange for her cooperation, prosecutors offered her a reduced sentence.
She pleaded guilty to financial fraud, conspiracy, and forgery. She still went to prison. I didn't feel sorry for her. She had made her choices. The fraudulent loan was canceled, most of the stolen money was recovered, and my company survived.
Months later, Tammy and I appeared at the courthouse for the final divorce hearing. By then, she had already pleaded guilty and was waiting to begin her prison sentence. The hearing was brief. The judge finalized our divorce, divided the remaining marital assets, and confirmed that Tammy had no claim to my business. When the hearing ended, two officers were waiting to escort Tammy back into custody.
As I walked toward the courthouse exit, I heard her behind me. "Alan." I stopped. "Do you ever think about what we had?" "I do."
She looked hopeful for half a second. Then, I continued. "I think about what I believed we had." Her expression fell. "I was wrong," she said.
"So was I." She looked at me. "Could we ever start over?" I shook my head. "No."
"Why?" "Because I don't want the woman who told me not to be jealous." She swallowed. "Then who do you want?" I looked toward the courthouse doors.
"Myself." Then I walked away.
Six months after the divorce, my life looked completely different. Not because I had forgotten Tammy. I hadn't. I had simply stopped letting her decisions control my future. My company had recovered.
Northstar Marine renewed its contract and I hired an outside accountant to oversee the business finances. I also changed the way the company operated. No single person would ever have access to everything again.
One Friday afternoon, Gregory stopped by my office. "You look different," he said. "Better or worse?" "More relaxed." "I don't have someone trying to steal my company anymore."
He laughed. "Fair point." He put a folder on my desk. "The final recovery payment came through." I opened it.
Almost all of the money Tammy and Liam had moved had been recovered. I closed the folder. "That's it?" "That's it." For the first time, the entire mess felt finished.
That evening I drove home and sat on the back porch with a beer. I thought about that Tuesday night. Tammy standing in the hallway wearing a black dress, the way she had laughed, the way she had said, "Don't be jealous." At the time she thought she was in control. She thought I would get angry.
She thought I would chase her. She thought she could use my reaction against me. Instead, she gave me the clearest answer I had ever received about our marriage.
My phone rang. It was Gregory. "Everything okay?" "Yeah, just checking in." There was a pause.
"You ever regret filing so quickly?" I looked across the yard. "No." "Not even once?" "Not even once."
I remembered something Tammy had asked me during our final conversation. She had asked who I wanted after losing her. My answer had been simple, myself. But that wasn't entirely true anymore. I didn't want to become the man I was before Tammy.
I wanted to become someone better. Someone who trusted people without ignoring facts. Someone who cared about his marriage without abandoning his judgment. Someone who could walk away when the person beside him chose betrayal. I finished my beer and stood up.
The next morning, I had an early meeting at the office. There was work to do. A company to run. A life to build. And for the first time in 19 years, every decision in that life belonged to me.
Tammy had told me not to be jealous. She was right. I wasn't jealous of the man she chose. I was grateful she showed me exactly who she was before I wasted another 19 years finding out.