Chapter 6 - What Garrett Lost in the ER
Garrett remained hospitalized for five days.
He asked to see me repeatedly.
I refused until my attorney and a hospital social worker were present.
He looked smaller in the hospital bed.
Not because of his injuries.
Because there was nowhere left for his charm to hide.
He began with apologies.
Then explanations.
He said the affair began when grief created distance between us.
He said Brooke understood parts of him I no longer saw.
He said the financial documents were contingency plans.
I placed the forged studio transfer on the blanket.
“Whose signature is that?”
He looked at it too long.
“I don’t know.”
“It came from your truck.”
“My attorney prepared drafts.”
“Your attorney forged my name?”
He stopped speaking.
I showed him the holding company.
The proposed loan.
The beneficiary changes.
The message about waiting until I was overwhelmed after childbirth.
His face tightened.
“You went through private documents.”
“They were inside a truck registered to both of us.”
“That doesn’t give you the right—”
I laughed once.
The sound surprised both of us.
Garrett had maintained two pregnancies, two promises, and two versions of himself.
Yet he still believed privacy was the greatest violation in the room.
My attorney notified him that Tide & Glow had placed fraud alerts on all business accounts and property records.
The bank froze the holding-company application.
His estate attorney withdrew representation after learning my signature had not been authorized.
Brooke had already provided copies of their messages.
Garrett looked toward her.
She did not look back.
The accident placed us in the same hospital.
His documents ensured we would leave it on the same side.
May you like
Not as friends.
As witnesses.
