I didn’t answer.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” she continued. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if I were you. But Lisa is innocent. She trusted Robert because I trusted him. I introduced them. I encouraged her to listen to him. I told her he was a good man.”
She pushed the envelope toward me.
“Please help me understand these papers. You worked at a bank, didn’t you? Robert said you were good with financial documents.”
I looked at her sharply.
“How did you know that?”
“He told me.”
My stomach tightened.
For the first time that night, I wondered whether Robert’s betrayal had been about more than another woman.
I opened the envelope.
Inside were copies of investment agreements, bank correspondence, a personal guarantee signed by Lisa, and several emails printed on ordinary paper.
I began reading.
The first few pages appeared complicated but not unusual. Lisa had agreed to invest money in a small commercial property development, hoping to open a second bakery in a nearby neighborhood.
