Clare grabbed Tyler’s hand and left, slamming the studio door hard enough to rattle the window. Tyler looked back once before the door closed completely. Confused. Sad.
That was when I understood something I hadn’t wanted to admit to myself yet. Tyler was not the villain in any of this. He was a kid being trained by terrible adults.
Three days later another email came through from Joel. Discovery documents. Derek was required to provide financial records as part of the case, and Joel had attached a summary. Derek’s actual financial life appeared in stark black and white. The remaining Mercedes loan, eighty seven thousand dollars. A home equity loan, two hundred fifteen thousand. Credit cards across four different accounts, fifty two thousand combined. A personal loan from Derek’s own parents, thirty eight thousand more. Total debt, three hundred ninety two thousand dollars. His assets looked even worse once you factored in the mortgage and the equity loan eating away at whatever value the house actually held. Savings thin. Investments negligible. His net worth was negative.
Joel’s note at the bottom read simply, your brother in law was drowning long before the car went into the lake. The Mercedes was there to maintain appearances. I read it twice. Derek was not successful. He was desperate. The Mercedes had been the mask the whole time. I had simply taken it off.
