Chapter 4 - DANIEL'S FIRST DEFENSE
Daniel hired attorney Lauren Pierce for the financial issues and entered therapy for the personal ones.
He did not defend the affair.
He defended one narrower accusation.
“I did not get engaged to Claire for the guaranty.”
The timeline supported him.
Daniel proposed to Claire eight months before Marcus decided to sell his shares.
No financing deal existed then.
So the engagement was genuine when it began.
Claire hated that fact.
It would have been easier if everything had been fake.
Lauren said:
“The later misuse of the engagement does not mean the original engagement was fraudulent from inception.”
Grace Bennett, Claire’s lawyer, agreed.
Then asked:
“When did Daniel know the engagement materially affected underwriting?”
Four months before closing.
When did he know he was in a real relationship with Ethan?
Earlier.
That was the problem.
Daniel’s therapist later asked him when the engagement stopped being genuine.
He resisted the question.
“I still loved Claire.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Daniel looked away.
He still cared about Claire.
He still enjoyed their home.
He still imagined children in some abstract future.
But when he imagined intimacy, he thought about Ethan.
When he imagined canceling the wedding, he thought about:
Claire crying,
the lender,
the apartment,
his parents,
the company,
the humiliation.
Not losing Claire romantically.
That realization destroyed one of his favorite defenses.
He had told himself the engagement remained real because affection remained real.
But marriage required more than affection.
Claire had been promising an exclusive future Daniel no longer intended to live.
Daniel had not proposed as a scheme.
He had converted a real engagement into financial cover after his life changed.
Claire said:
“That might be worse.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
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“Because at some point you knew the promise was dead and kept using it anyway.”
He had no answer.
