Then:
You’re too conservative, old man.
I had forgotten.
Now every message changed color.
I kept scrolling.
Four months earlier, Chris invited Lauren and me to dinner.
I was traveling.
Lauren went alone.
Grant Keller had been there.
I did not know that until now.
I closed the phone.
The affair had not begun randomly.
Somebody had opened the door.
My brother.
CHAPTER 3: THE BROTHER
Chris called at noon.
I watched the phone ring.
Ignored it.
He called again.
Then texted:
Lauren called Mom. What’s going on?
I stared.
He knew.
Maybe not that I knew.
But he knew more than he was pretending.
I did not respond.
At two, another message:
Mike, answer me.
At four:
Please don’t do anything stupid.
That one made me laugh.
I was sitting in my office reading financial records.
Lauren had been sleeping with another man.
My house had nearly become collateral.
My brother had signed emails hiding financing from me.
And I was apparently the person everyone worried might do something stupid.
I forwarded the texts to Denise.
She called ten minutes later.
“Do not respond.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good.”
“Can we subpoena him?”
“We’re not there yet.”
“How do we get answers?”
“Records first.”
That phrase became our rule.
Records first.
Feelings later.
By evening, Denise had obtained another set of documents.
Chris’s consulting company had been paid $18,500 by Grant Keller’s firm.
“Consulting for what?”
The invoice said:
Acquisition strategy and investor introductions.
Date:
Six months earlier.
One month before the reserve letter.
I looked at the number.
Chris owed me twenty-two thousand dollars.
Two years earlier, his divorce and business problems hit at the same time.
I gave him money.
No interest.
No deadline.
He paid back four thousand.
Then stopped.
I never pushed.
Now another man had paid him nearly the same amount.
The next morning I agreed to meet Chris.
Not at my house.
Not his.
My attorney’s conference room.
Denise sat at the end of the table.
Chris arrived wearing jeans and a quarter-zip.
He looked tired.
Then saw Denise.
His face changed.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“We need lawyers to talk now?”
“I have one.”
Chris sat.
Denise said nothing.
I placed the email in front of him.
He read.
Closed his eyes.
“Mike.”
“What did you do?”
“It isn't what it looks like.”
I smiled.
“That phrase is having a big week.”
He looked toward Denise.
She gave him nothing.
“I introduced Lauren to Grant.”
“I know.”
“It was business.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“Why?”
Chris rubbed his face.
“Grant needed people with capital.”
“Lauren had no capital of her own.”
“She had access to investments.”
I felt anger rise.
“Those were marital assets.”
“I know.”
“Did she tell you I approved?”
Chris looked down.
“No.”
“So why did you send this?”
I tapped the email.
“I was trying to get the deal far enough that Grant could show you actual numbers.”
“Without telling me.”
“You always say no too early.”