“We had an acquisition offer eighteen months ago.”
“I rejected it.”
“Exactly.”
“Because it required laying off sixteen employees.”
“It would have made us rich.”
“We already make more money than either of us imagined at thirty.”
“That’s your problem.”
His voice hardened.
“You get comfortable.”
I almost smiled.
Thirteen years.
That was the reason?
Not money exactly.
Resentment.
Ryan had begun believing Sentinel Ridge should become something I had never wanted it to become.
He wanted acquisitions.
Outside investors.
National expansion.
A sale.
I wanted controlled growth and ownership.
Neither vision was inherently immoral.
The difference was Ryan had decided that disagreement entitled him to take.
Claire stared at him.
“You told me Grant was hiding money from you.”
“He was blocking value.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“He was blocking our future.”
“Our?”
Claire laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You used me.”
Ryan stared at her.
“Oh, don't do that.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“You weren't exactly reluctant.”
“I’m talking about the company.”
“And I'm talking about all of it.”
He pointed toward me.
“You hated being married to a man who was never home.”
Claire looked at me.
Then back at him.
“You said you loved me.”
“I do.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You loved access.”
That sentence finally silenced him.
Chapter 6: The Personal Guarantee
I kept digging.
Ridgeline had more documents.
A bank commitment.
Equipment leases.
An office agreement.
Ryan had not simply created a paper shell.
He had been building a competing operation for months.
Then I found the loan.
$1.2 million.
Claire’s name appeared as a personal guarantor.
She went pale.
“I never signed that.”
Ryan said nothing.
Claire grabbed the laptop.
“I never signed that.”
Her digital signature sat beneath the guarantee.
The address was ours.
Her Social Security information was partially masked.
Everything looked legitimate.
Claire turned toward Ryan.
“What did you tell me I was signing?”
He looked away.
“What did you tell me?”
Ryan rubbed his forehead.
“The startup paperwork.”
“You said it was for health insurance and the operating agreement.”
“It was part of the package.”
Claire stared.
“You put me personally on a million-dollar loan?”
“It wasn't supposed to matter.”
“Not supposed to matter?”
Ryan’s voice rose.