Chapter 10
Colin requested a meeting through his attorney.
My divorce petition had been filed.
Temporary orders gave me exclusive use of the house once police released it, though I chose to stay with my mother during recovery.
The meeting occurred in a conference room with lawyers present.
Colin looked smaller without the doorway behind him.
He had lost weight.
His hands remained folded on the table.
“I never wanted to paralyze you.”
The sentence was not an apology.
It was a limit he hoped would define the harm.
“You knew forcing me up could injure me.”
“Ashley said the witnesses needed to see you refuse.”
“You pulled my leg.”
“I was frustrated.”
“You changed my medication.”
“She handled the pills.”
“You gave them to me.”
He looked down.
“I thought they would make you sleep.”
“Why?”
“So you wouldn’t argue before the paperwork was ready.”
There it was.
Not confusion.
Not mistake.
Purpose.
“Did you know the guardianship petition was false?”
“I knew you were mentally clear.”
“Did you intend to use it anyway?”
“Temporarily.”
“For how long?”
“Until the loan funded.”
“And then?”
“We would withdraw it.”
“You expected me to remain married to you after you had me declared incapable?”
“We could have explained.”
I laughed once.
His face tightened.
“You don’t understand what Ashley was facing.”
“I understand debt.”
“She has children.”
“So do millions of people who do not drug their relatives.”
“She was going to lose everything.”
“You helped her try to take everything from me.”
Colin’s eyes filled.
“I loved you.”
“You loved access.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You chose her company over my spine.”
“I didn’t think you would actually get hurt.”
“You planned for me to fall.”
“That was Ashley’s idea.”
“Did you leave the room?”
“No.”
“Did you stop her?”
“No.”
“Did you warn me?”
“No.”
Each answer removed a place to hide.
He began crying.
“I spent my whole life cleaning up after my sister.”
“And decided I should become the tool.”
“She would have done it for me.”
“No. She did it to you too.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“Ashley made you criminally responsible for her debt. She let you administer the pills, pull me from bed, forge the home loan, and host the witnesses. If the plan failed, who looked like the abusive husband?”
His expression changed.
Ashley had designed the scheme.
Colin had chosen to participate.
Both were true.
He had believed family loyalty protected him.
Instead, it placed him closest to every visible act.
“That doesn’t make me innocent,” he whispered.
May you like
“No.”
It was the first accurate thing he said.
