“I want the truth established,” I said. “I want the money accounted for. I want my name removed from obligations I never authorized. And I want the court to decide the claims based on evidence.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“I should have stood up for you.”
“Yes,” I replied. “You should have.”
He began to cry.
I did not reach across the table to comfort him.
Not because I wanted him to suffer, but because I had spent too long comforting him whenever his choices hurt me.
For once, he needed to sit with the consequences without asking me to make them easier.
Before he left, he told me that Arthur had been pressuring him to change his account of the transactions.
“Dad says the family will never forgive me if I keep cooperating.”
I looked at him.
“Daniel, you are responsible for your own choices. Your father cannot make you tell the truth, and I cannot make you do it either.”
