Chapter 3 - ZAYN DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS THE OTHER MAN
Zayn stepped away from Talia.
Not far.
Enough.
Mason noticed.
“What did she tell you?” he asked.
Talia snapped, “Don’t interrogate him.”
Mason ignored her.
Zayn looked between them.
Then said, “She told me you were separated.”
Mason laughed once.
A dry, ugly sound.
Talia closed her eyes.
Zayn continued.
“She said this trip was basically the end.”
“The end of what?”
“Your marriage.”
Mason looked at Talia.
“Our anniversary trip was the end of our marriage?”
She folded her arms.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
“What was supposed to happen?”
No answer.
Zayn’s face tightened.
“Talia.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“You said he knew about Blue Meridian.”
“He knew we were investing.”
Mason stared.
“I did not.”
Zayn looked sick.
The story began coming apart fast after that.
Blue Meridian was not doing well.
Zayn had started the tour company with a friend two years earlier.
One storm season damaged boats and equipment.
Insurance paid less than expected.
Tourism dropped for six months.
The business was surviving, not thriving.
Talia met Zayn at a travel-industry conference in Miami five months earlier.
She introduced herself as strategy director for Hartley Consulting.
That was technically true.
She handled brand partnerships.
Then she offered to help Blue Meridian raise capital.
Zayn believed Hartley Consulting planned to invest.
He had signed preliminary consulting documents.
The $68,000 was presented to him as a legitimate retainer and equipment advance.
“Did you sleep with her?” Mason asked.
Zayn went silent.
Talia said, “Mason—”
He looked at Zayn.
“Did you?”
Zayn nodded.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three months.”
Mason’s chest tightened.
Three months.
His birthday.
Talia’s mother’s surgery.
The week she told him she was “too emotionally exhausted” for intimacy.
He looked at her.
“You’ve been sleeping with him for three months.”
Talia’s eyes filled.
“It wasn’t supposed to—”
“Stop saying that.”
She did.
Mason turned back to Zayn.
“Did you know she was using my company card?”
“No.”
“Did you know she requested a quarter-million-dollar draw yesterday?”
Zayn went pale.
“What?”
Talia snapped, “It wasn’t for you.”
Mason laughed.
“That’s comforting.”
Zayn looked at her.
“What was it for?”
She said nothing.
He stepped closer.
“Talia.”
“Not here.”
“Then where?”
“Zayn, stop.”
Now he looked angry.
Mason almost pitied him.
Almost.
Zayn had participated in the affair.
He was not innocent.
But he might not have understood the financial part.
And suddenly Mason realized something even worse.
Talia had built two different realities.
To Mason:
anniversary.
reconnection.
marriage.
To Zayn:
separation.
future.
investment.
Neither man knew the whole story.
The only person who did was Talia.
Mason picked up his suitcase.
“I’m leaving.”
Talia grabbed his arm.
“Please.”
He pulled free.
“No.”
“If you go now, you’ll destroy everything.”
Mason stared at her.
“What exactly is everything?”
For the first time, she looked scared enough to tell part of the truth.
“My mother’s house.”
Mason frowned.
“What does your mother’s house have to do with my company?”
May you like
Talia started crying.
And the affair finally gave way to the real disaster underneath it.
