Chapter 4 - BROOKE THOUGHT SHE WAS MARRYING AN OWNER
Brooke called Evelyn at 9:12 p.m.
Evelyn almost declined.
Then she answered.
“What?”
Brooke’s confidence was gone.
“Preston said you froze everything.”
“I froze what I control.”
“He said the house accounts are locked.”
“They are.”
A pause.
Then Brooke asked:
“What about the Coronado condo?”
Evelyn sat up.
“What condo?”
Silence.
Brooke realized too late.
Evelyn smiled without humor.
“Thank you.”
“Wait.”
“No. Keep talking.”
Brooke started crying.
Preston had promised her a condominium in Coronado.
He said it was being purchased through Whitaker Development as executive housing and would transfer to them after “the divorce.”
He also told Brooke he owned the Lake Forest mansion.
He told her he controlled Whitaker Development because Evelyn was “only the inherited shareholder.”
He promised her twelve percent of a new development subsidiary.
None of it existed the way he described.
Brooke sounded shattered.
Evelyn did not pity her.
Not yet.
“You sent me that photograph.”
Brooke was quiet.
“Yes.”
“One hour before Henry’s party.”
“I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At him.”
“So you stabbed me.”
Brooke cried harder.
“He kept saying he would tell you.”
“And when he didn’t, you decided my five-year-old’s birthday was the right day?”
No answer.
Evelyn said:
“You were cruel on purpose.”
“Yes.”
That honesty bought Brooke exactly one thing.
Another minute on the phone.
Then she revealed the condo deposit.
$180,000.
May you like
Paid through B.E. Coastal Strategy.
From Whitaker funds.
