Chapter 10 - WHAT BARBARA KNEW
Barbara had known almost everything.
Not the details of the competitor deal.
But enough.
Bradley finally admitted she had helped him plan the resort investment.
She had introduced him to the lender.
She had told him marriage meant my assets were "basically family property."
She had pushed him to stop asking my permission.
I listened without interrupting.
Then I asked, "Whose idea was the fake board consent?"
Bradley looked at the floor.
"Derek's."
"Whose idea was using my digital signature?"
Silence.
"Bradley."
"Mom said you would approve it later."
I stared at him.
Barbara appeared in the hallway.
"Because you would have."
"No."
"You always say no first."
"To eight-million-dollar guarantees for projects I have never reviewed? Yes."
She stepped closer.
"You do not understand what it is like for Bradley."
I almost laughed.
"Being married to me?"
"Being in your shadow."
"He earns four hundred thousand dollars a year."
"And everyone still calls him your husband."
There it was.
Barbara did not want her son secure.
She wanted him superior.
I said, "Did you know he met a divorce lawyer?"
Her eyes flickered.
Bradley turned sharply.
"Mom."
That was new.
She knew.
He had not realized she knew.
Barbara folded her arms.
"I told him to protect himself."
"From what?"
"From ending up with nothing if you got tired of him."
I looked at Bradley.
He whispered, "I was not going to file."
"You made an asset spreadsheet."
"It was backup."
"You labeled it exit value."
He had no answer.
My phone buzzed again.
Serena: WE RECOVERED THE TRANSFER FILE.
Attached was a list of twenty-three hospital clients Bradley intended to move from Bennett Mobility to Halcyon after he "resolved control."
One client represented seventeen percent of our annual revenue.
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This was no longer a bad marriage with financial misconduct.
It was corporate sabotage.
