Chapter 13 - Carmela’s Debt
Mercer Family Office was collapsing.
Bad real-estate loans.
Overleveraged private investments.
Luxury properties used as collateral.
On paper, Carmela looked wealthy.
In reality, she was months from default.
The Reyes acquisition would have generated an enormous advisory fee through a private side agreement.
Enough to cover the hole.
George needed the sale to bury his theft.
Carmela needed it to hide her losses.
Two desperate people.
One transaction.
One bride with the power to stop them.
“I was going to repay everything,” Carmela said.
Everyone says that after getting caught.
Then she said:
“George planned the dosage.”
“What?”
“He gave me the bottle.”
“Did you know what it was?”
“Yes.”
“So you poured it.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Then stop giving him your guilt.”
That silenced her.
Before I left, she said:
“You switched the glasses.”
I stopped.
“You watched me drink it.”
There it was.
The thing I had avoided.
She was right.
I had seen the bottle.
I did not know what was in it.
I could have taken the glass to security.
Instead, I wanted proof.
I wanted her caught.
Maybe a part of me wanted her to feel what she intended for me.
I sat in my car afterward, shaking.
Truth does not make every decision clean.
Then Anton called.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
For once, I did not pretend.
He asked:
“Do you regret switching them?”
I thought carefully.
“I regret not stopping the drink before either of us swallowed it.”
He was silent.
Then:
“That’s honest.”
It did not make me feel better.
It made me feel responsible.
May you like
There is a difference.
Carmela watched me carefully after mentioning my decision to switch the glasses. I understood what she was doing. If she could make my worst choice the center of the story, maybe her months of preparation would look smaller. I refused to give her that escape.
