Chapter 13 - He Chose the Land
Cole's formal interview before the independent committee took place under oath to the company's outside investigators.
Emma was not present.
She received a transcript afterward because portions concerned her property and identity.
She read it at home after midnight.
For sixty pages, Cole resisted simple answers.
He said Harbor East was preliminary.
He said North Coast was intended to become legitimate.
He said Nate misunderstood instructions.
He said Bell's advice had been aggressive.
He said the duplicate vendor payment was an administrative error.
He said the loan application was only a financing test.
Then outside counsel asked one question differently.
Did the commercial importance of Emma Bennett's Pier Nine property affect the timing of your proposal to her?
Cole's first answer was no.
The lawyer showed him the Bell meeting calendar.
No again.
The lawyer showed him Nate's statement about title records.
Cole said title research was normal.
Then the lawyer showed him a text Cole had sent Bell twenty minutes after buying the engagement ring.
Ring done.
Next phase starts tonight.
Emma read those words three times.
The lawyer asked the question again.
Did the property affect the timing?
This time Cole answered.
Possibly.
Emma laughed softly in the dark.
Possibly.
The smallest word capable of carrying a betrayal.
The questioning continued.
Cole insisted he had already planned to propose.
He said Bell merely accelerated his thinking about the project.
He said he loved Emma.
Then came the question Emma did not expect.
If Ms. Bennett had refused to contribute the property after marriage, what would you have done?
Cole's answer filled six lines.
He would have explained the opportunity.
He would have obtained a second valuation.
He would have asked Adrian to approve alternative access.
He would have tried to persuade Emma.
The lawyer asked whether he would have remained married if she still refused.
There was a twenty-seven-second pause noted in the transcript.
Then Cole said he did not know.
Emma set the pages down.
There it was.
Not proof that he never loved her.
Something worse.
Proof that her answer about property might have changed whether he stayed married.
The next morning, Emma requested one meeting with Cole through Hannah.
Hannah objected.
"You do not need closure from a man who writes 'next phase starts tonight' after buying a ring."
"I don't want closure."
"What do you want?"
Emma looked at the transcript.
"I want to tell him something while he can no longer edit the facts."
They met in Hannah's conference room.
Cole arrived with his attorney.
He looked older than he had a month earlier.
Emma felt no satisfaction.
They sat across from each other.
"I read your interview," she said.
Cole nodded.
"Then you know I admitted mistakes."
"You admitted possibilities."
His attorney shifted.
Emma continued.
"I have one question."
Cole looked at her.
"If I had refused to put the warehouse into Harbor East after we married, would you have left me?"
"No."
The answer came quickly now.
Emma almost smiled.
"Yesterday you didn't know."
"Yesterday I was being interrogated for six hours."
"Today you have a lawyer and sleep."
"Emma."
"I don't need you to improve the answer."
Cole's shoulders fell.
"I loved you."
"I believe you loved parts of being with me."
He looked wounded.
Emma continued anyway.
"You loved that I was stable."
"That's not fair."
"You loved that my parents treated you like family."
"They were family to me."
"You loved that my business made me useful around your projects."
"I admired your work."
"And you loved the warehouse."
Cole's face tightened.
"I did not propose because of a building."
Emma leaned forward.
"Maybe not."
He blinked.
"But the fact that I still cannot separate the ring from the property is something you created."
Cole looked down.
"I am sorry."
For once, there was no explanation after it.
Emma waited.
Nothing came.
That made the apology the first one she could almost hear.
"Tessa said something to me in the hotel," Emma said.
Cole closed his eyes briefly.
"I know."
"She said you chose her."
He looked at Emma.
"I never told her that."
"I know."
Emma's voice remained quiet.
"Because you didn't choose her."
Cole swallowed.
"You didn't choose me either."
She placed the transcript on the table.
"You chose the trust."
Another page.
"You chose Harbor East."
Another.
"You chose Bell."
Another.
"You chose the land."
Cole's eyes filled.
"Emma."
"And every time one choice threatened another, you lied so you could keep both."
She stood.
"That is the only answer I needed."
Cole stood too.
"What happens to us now?"
Emma looked at him.
"There is no us now."
"Ever?"
"Yes."
His face collapsed.
Emma felt grief.
Not temptation.
Grief for the man she thought he was and for the woman who had trusted him.
Then she left.
Outside, Adrian was not waiting.
No black sedan.
No rescue.
Emma had asked him not to come.
He had listened.
She walked three blocks in cold December air before calling him.
"Are you busy?"
"Yes."
Emma smiled faintly.
"That was rude."
"You asked a question."
"Can you become less busy for coffee?"
There was a pause.
"Yes."
They met at a small cafe far from the harbor.
Emma told him she had seen Cole.
Adrian did not ask what Cole said first.
He asked how she felt.
"Sad."
"I'm sorry."
"And relieved."
Adrian nodded.
Emma looked at him over her coffee.
"I need to ask you something too."
"Go ahead."
"When did you start caring about me?"
Adrian became very still.
"Emma."
"I'm not asking for a declaration."
"Good."
She almost laughed.
"I'm asking for a fact."
He looked out the window.
"About a year and a half ago."
Emma did the math.
Before Cole proposed.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Adrian looked back at her.
"Because you were happy with him."
"You thought I was."
"You told me you were."
Emma remembered a summer dinner at the Marston house.
Adrian had asked how she and Cole were doing.
She had smiled and said perfect.
"I did."
"That was enough."
Emma looked down at her cup.
"Cole thought your feelings meant you were trying to take me."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"People are not taken."
The sentence hit her deeply.
She looked up.
Adrian continued.
"They decide."
Emma held his gaze.
Then she nodded.
"Good answer."
"It was not an answer for you."
May you like
"I know."
That made it better.
