“This isn’t panic,” I said quietly. “You planned this.”
Marcus said nothing.
“Tell me the truth.”
His eyes filled.
“The attorney said if things got worse, I needed distance from you fast. He said if we divorced now, it would be harder for you to come after repayment later. He said my family couldn’t survive another financial disaster.”
By this point, I was boiling.
“So that was it?”
“It wasn’t just that.”
“You used me.”
“I was trying to protect you too.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But you made sure to protect yourself first.”
He sat down on the bed like his legs had gone weak.
“I was scared.”
“I know you were.”
That was the worst part.
I knew.
If he had done this out of pure cruelty, I could have hated him cleanly.
But this was who Marcus became when pressure closed in around him.
He became smaller.