Chapter 6 - The Things I Had to Own Too
I slept in the guest room that night.
Not because I hated Tasha.
Because I didn’t trust myself to make permanent decisions while every emotion in me was screaming.
At six in the morning, I went to my father’s house.
He opened the door wearing slippers and an old Atlanta Falcons sweatshirt.
“You look terrible.”
“Good morning to you too.”
He handed me coffee.
We sat on his back porch.
For several minutes, I told him everything.
Not the fraud details.
The marriage.
The club.
Adrian.
The kiss.
The messages.
The ultimatum.
Dad listened quietly.
When I finished, he asked one question.
“You really told her to go upstairs or pack her bags?”
I frowned.
“That’s what you got from all of that?”
“No.”
He sipped his coffee.
“But it’s the part you control.”
I stared at him.
“She was disrespecting me.”
“Sounds like it.”
“So?”
“So being disrespected doesn’t automatically make your response wise.”
I leaned back.
Dad continued.
“You asked if she was informing you or asking permission.”
“We’re married.”
“Yes.”
“She should consider me.”
“Yes.”
“So what’s wrong with what I said?”
“The word permission.”
I frowned.
Dad smiled.
“You don’t own her, son.”
“I know that.”
“Then don’t talk like you do.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Intent isn’t magic.”
That annoyed me because it sounded true.
He leaned forward.
“Should she have talked to you before disappearing to a club after promising your son movie night?”
“Yes.”
“Should she have mocked you over losing work?”
“No.”
“Should she have crossed lines with another man?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Then hold her accountable for those things.”
I looked at him.
“But don’t confuse accountability with authority.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Dad had worked forty years.
My mother stayed home when we were young, then worked later.
I had never once heard him talk about being “the man of the house.”
He had simply been Dad.
Steady.
Responsible.
Respectful.
“What if I can’t forgive her?”
“Then don’t lie.”
“What if the marriage is finished?”
“Then finish it honestly.”
He shrugged.
“But don’t turn pain into a throne and sit on it.”
I laughed despite myself.
“That sounded rehearsed.”
“Your mother said it to me in 1998.”
I smiled.
Then my phone buzzed.
Tasha.
I almost ignored it.
Dad raised an eyebrow.
“That your wife?”
“Yes.”
“You planning to punish her with silence?”
I glared at him.
He drank his coffee.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Tasha sounded exhausted.
“Jayden needs you.”
I stood.
“What happened?”
“Someone sent him something.”
I was home fifteen minutes later.
Jayden sat on the sofa crying.
Tasha held his phone.
“What?”
She showed me.
A boy from school had sent Jayden a screenshot from a local gossip page.
The post showed a cropped photograph of Tasha leaving a restaurant with Adrian months earlier.
The caption read:
HARRINGTON EMPLOYEE UNDER FRAUD INVESTIGATION—AFFAIR WITH EXECUTIVE?
My stomach turned.
Jayden whispered, “They’re saying Mom steals money.”
Tasha covered her mouth.
“Baby…”
“Did you?”
“No.”
She knelt.
“I made mistakes.”
Jayden cried harder.
“But I did not steal.”
He looked at me.
“Dad?”
I crouched beside him.
“Your mom is telling you the truth.”
“Did she cheat?”
The question nearly broke us both.
Tasha looked at me.
I looked at her.
Then she answered.
“I crossed a line with someone.”
Jayden’s face twisted.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I behaved in a way that hurt your dad.”
He started crying again.
“I hate this.”
“So do I,” I said.
He stood.
“Why can’t you guys just be normal?”
Then he ran upstairs.
His door slammed.
Tasha folded onto the sofa.
“This is my fault.”
“Part of it.”
She looked at me.
I refused to soften reality.
“But Adrian posted that, or somebody helping him did.”
“You think so?”
“Who else benefits?”
Nina agreed.
She contacted investigators.
By noon, the post disappeared.
Screenshots didn’t.
At two, Monica called.
“I know who gave them the picture.”
“Who?”
“Adrian.”
No surprise.
Then she added, “I’m ready to talk.”
Tasha sat straighter.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Monica had been afraid of losing her job.
That fear ended when Adrian started blaming her too.
She admitted helping arrange several “emergency” vendor requests.
She had emails showing Adrian instructed employees to bypass normal controls.
More importantly, she had seen him using Tasha’s workstation one night after everyone left.
“When?”
“The night of Jayden’s school concert.”
Tasha looked at me.
Our alibi.
Monica continued.
“I asked what he was doing.”
“What did he say?”
“He said you forgot to finish an approval.”
Tasha’s eyes filled.
“Will you tell investigators that?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, the case started feeling solid.
Then Monica said something else.
“And Tasha?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry about that message Friday.”
The message.
AND YES, HE CAME.
Tasha closed her eyes.
“I knew you two had something going on emotionally.”
“I know.”
“I thought you wanted him there.”
Tasha looked at me.
Maybe once she had.
That mattered.
But Monica continued.
“I didn’t know he was using you.”
Neither did I.
That evening, after Jayden finally slept, Tasha found me at the dining table.
“I need to say something.”
I waited.
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you when you lost your job.”
I looked down.
“It wasn’t about money.”
“What was it?”
“Fear.”
She sat opposite me.
“When you got laid off, I panicked.”
“Why didn’t you say that?”
“Because I wanted you to fix it.”
My jaw tightened.
She continued.
“And when you didn’t fix it fast enough, I turned fear into contempt.”
I looked at her.
“That word fits.”
“I know.”
She cried.
“You didn’t deserve it.”
“No.”
“And I didn’t deserve what you said about packing my bags either.”
I nodded.
“You’re right.”
She looked surprised.
“I was angry.”
I took a breath.
“But I framed marriage like I had the authority to approve your movements.”
Her eyes stayed on mine.
“That wasn’t right.”
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
Silence.
It was not reconciliation.
It was something more basic.
Truth.
Then my phone rang.
Nina.
“Damon, put me on speaker.”
I did.
“Federal investigators executed a search warrant on Adrian’s home and office.”
Tasha squeezed her hands together.
“What did they find?”
“Records connecting him to Northline transfers.”
Tasha began crying.
Nina continued.
“And IT completed the authentication review.”
My heart pounded.
“The second device registered under Tasha’s credentials belonged to Adrian.”
Relief hit me.
May you like
Then Nina added one final thing.
“He was arrested this afternoon.”
