Because it was designed to hurt.
He did not want to become someone who used accuracy as a weapon.
“I should not have said that,” he said.
Samantha gave a short, broken laugh.
“It was true.”
“That does not make it useful.”
Silence stretched between them.
Finally, Samantha spoke.
“Can I tell you what happened without you interrupting?”
Ethan almost refused.
Then he remembered Owen’s advice.
He did not have to decide his whole life today.
Hearing her version did not require believing or forgiving it.
“Okay,” he said.
Samantha inhaled slowly.
“Dylan messaged me in April after his father died.”
Ethan sat down.
“He said he found an old photograph of us in a box his father kept.”
“He sent it to me.”
“I should have ignored it.”
“I did not.”
“We talked about his dad.”
“Then we talked about old friends.”
“Then we started talking almost every day.”
Ethan stared at the floor.
Samantha continued.
“He told me the studio he had been trying to open was falling apart.”
“He said his business partner had left.”
“He said he was going to lose the lease.”
“I told him I might know people who could help with branding.”
“Then he showed me the numbers.”
“I started thinking maybe I could invest.”
“Why?” Ethan asked.
“You said you would not interrupt.”
Ethan closed his mouth.
Samantha continued.
“I liked the idea that I could make a decision without running it through a committee.”
“I know how that sounds now.”
“I signed for ten percent.”
“I thought my December bonus would cover most of it.”
“Then he needed the first payment sooner.”
“I transferred money from savings.”
“I told myself I would replace it.”
“I told myself you would never even know.”
Ethan felt pain at that sentence more than anger.
Not because she expected to get away with it.
Because she had become comfortable building plans around his ignorance.
Samantha continued.
“When the lease fell through, Dylan panicked.”
“He told me he had older debt that could destroy his credit before he found another location.”
“I gave him more.”
“Then I realized I could not cover the rest of the twenty-five thousand.”
“That is when I looked at the home equity line.”
“I never completed it.”
“I never signed your name.”
“I never borrowed against the house.”
“I stopped before that.”
Ethan looked at the window.
Samantha’s voice became smaller.
“By then, Dylan and I were talking about more than business.”
“He kept telling me I seemed unhappy.”
“I told him things about us that were real, but I made them sound worse.”
