I felt anger rise in my chest.
“And she believed him?”
“She wanted to believe him.”
Sarah’s voice cracked.
“She told me she was afraid to lose him. She said every time she questioned him, he reminded her how much money he had already invested and how disastrous it would be if the business failed.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn’t excuse what she did to you.”
“I told her that.”
Sarah looked at me.
“For the first time in her life, I didn’t offer to fix everything. I told her she needed to cooperate with the investigation, tell the truth, and accept the consequences.”
“How did she react?”
“She cried.”
Sarah swallowed.
“And then she asked me whether I could ever forgive her.”
I took her hand.
“What did you say?”
“I told her that forgiveness isn’t a magic trick. It doesn’t erase what happened, and it doesn’t mean she gets to walk back into my life as though nothing changed.”
