Chapter 8 - JACOB'S FALL
Jacob’s homelessness was not caused by the Mercer deal alone.
He insisted on that.
After losing Lakeshore, he found contract accounting work.
Then full-time work at a manufacturing supplier.
For six years, life stabilized.
Brooke finished college.
Jacob and his wife, Susan, rented a small townhouse.
Then Susan developed ovarian cancer.
Treatment costs accumulated.
Insurance covered much.
Not everything.
Jacob reduced work hours.
Then Susan died.
Jacob began drinking.
Lost the job.
Missed rent.
Moved into his car.
Then the car was repossessed.
Shelters.
Temporary work.
Relapse.
Recovery.
Relapse again.
He had been sober eleven months when he walked into Bell & Vale.
Brooke listened with a face that kept changing.
Some of this she knew.
Some she had avoided knowing.
Then Chloe asked:
“Why not contact Brooke for help?”
Jacob laughed.
“I did.”
Brooke stiffened.
Three years earlier, Jacob emailed:
I’m in treatment. I’m not asking for money. I’d like to hear your voice.
Brooke blocked the address.
A year later:
I have housing for now. I hope you’re okay.
Blocked again.
Then two months before the restaurant, Jacob used a library computer and found Brooke’s professional page.
He sent one last message.
That produced her response:
STOP CONTACTING ME.
Then:
I finally have someone who understands that loyalty matters more than being right.
Jacob printed it because he could not afford a phone and feared losing access.
That was the paper he carried.
Then he said:
“I thought she meant a husband.”
Brooke laughed bitterly.
“Not yet.”
Chloe looked at Dylan.
“Was that the plan?”
Silence.
Then Dylan admitted:
“Yes.”
He had intended to leave Chloe after the Mercer annual meeting.
Not because of Brooke’s pressure alone.
Because he wanted both:
the affair now,
the clean corporate timing later.
May you like
Chloe’s pain became another item on a calendar.
That was when she decided the marriage was over.
