Chapter 3 - BEFORE DEREK CAME BACK
Two years earlier, Daniel had fired Derek Walsh from Carter Construction.
Derek had been the company’s financial controller and one of Daniel’s closest friends.
They met in college.
Daniel trusted him with payroll, vendor payments, and access to several corporate accounts.
That trust ended when an external audit uncovered more than $90,000 in unexplained expenses.
Derek claimed the charges were bookkeeping mistakes.
Daniel allowed him to resign rather than report him, partly because Lauren begged for mercy.
“His life will be destroyed,” she said.
“He stole from us.”
“He paid most of it back.”
“He paid it back because he was caught.”
Daniel never knew Lauren and Derek had dated briefly before she met him.
Lauren described Derek as an old family friend.
She left out the rest.
After Derek’s resignation, Daniel banned him from the house.
For several months, Lauren obeyed.
Then Daniel’s work required more travel.
Derek began visiting when he was away.
At first, he parked several streets over.
Later, he stopped hiding his car because he believed the neighbors paid no attention.
Emily noticed.
Derek brought gifts and asked her not to mention him during Daniel’s calls.
“Your dad is still angry over an old misunderstanding,” Lauren explained.
Emily disliked Derek.
He entered Daniel’s office without permission.
He borrowed Daniel’s clothes.
He spoke to Lauren in whispers that stopped whenever Emily approached.
Once, Emily saw him kiss her mother beside the garage.
Lauren told her she had misunderstood.
“Adults hug differently.”
Emily knew what she saw.
But she loved both parents.
She wanted to believe there was another explanation.
Derek gradually became bolder.
He ate dinner at Daniel’s place.
Slept in the guest room.
Then in Lauren’s room.
Whenever Emily questioned him, Lauren accused her of being disrespectful.
“You’re too young to understand marriage,” she said.
What Emily did not know was that Derek’s return was connected to a legal document stored inside Daniel’s office.
A trust created for Emily by her grandmother.
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It was worth $2.4 million.
👉 Derek did not return only for Lauren—he returned because Emily’s future had become the answer to both of their debts.
