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“Mmmmm, this is delicious,” I said.
I looked up and saw Nick with his hand on the folder, one eyebrow quirked up at me questioningly. I shrugged. “I hoped you would be able to help me, so I wanted to be ready. I brought the papers I found in his desk and everything else I was able to get from my bank. The information for the investor is in there.”
“Well, that definitely saves some time,” he said. “I’ll look over all of this and let you know what I find out.”
I stood and set the coffee mug down on the desk, extending my hand to him. “Thank you. I really appreciate you doing this. I put one of my cards in the folder so you can call me.”
“I don’t want to bother you at work. What are your hours?”
“I work from home,” I told him. “Web coding. You can get me anytime. I’m always available.”
Nick pulled the folder toward himself and opened it.
I stood there for a few seconds, waiting for him to make a comment about the papers, or just tell me when he might be getting in touch with me. He stayed buried in the folder, and after a few moments, I slipped out of the office.
My shoulders felt like a huge weight had been lifted off them when I headed back out to my car. I was still stressed and angry, but things were looking up. Nick was clearly the right guy. He had taken me seriously and was already digging through the information I gave him. It felt like if there was anybody who was going to be able to help me, it would be him.
I couldn’t wait to thank Trish.
Getting into my car, I took a few seconds to just breathe and try to calm down. All the emotions of what was going on and the meeting I just had suddenly crashed in on me.
Tears stung in my eyes, and my chest felt heavy. It was overwhelming and scary, but I also couldn’t stop going over the last conversation with Justin in my mind. He was so cold, so unfeeling. As soon as I called him out on his nonsense and pointed out I knew what he was doing, all the charm was gone. He stopped pretending to have any feelings for me or to want the future we’d been talking about.
He’d said I was stupid, and in so many ways, that’s how I felt. Not because I didn’t handle the money the way he thought I should have. As soon as I inherited it, I went over my options and thought about what I wanted to do. At the time, leaving it right where Mom put it, secure in the bank, was the best plan. There was no risk if it just sat there, and I was the only one with access to the account, so it was protected. At least, that was what I thought.
And that was the problem. I felt stupid because of how much trust and care I poured into Justin. The entire time we were together, I fawned on him. I worked hard and provided for myself, and when he realized that, he jumped right on the bandwagon. He fed me a line about wanting to follow his dreams and be an entrepreneur. He lured me into believing in the vision he built of our future. He’d get successful, and we’d have a beautiful, carefree life together.
I clung to that. Even as he moved into my house and didn’t contribute to the mortgage. Even as I covered the vast majority of the expenses while he limped along with filler jobs he promised were propping up his business. Even when he said he needed to take some time away from work so he could put laser focus on making his business happen. Through all of it, I believed in him. I supported and trusted him.
And he hung me out to dry.
That thought took away the sadness and replaced it with another surge of searing anger. I much preferred that. Anger was far better than sadness, and I could use that anger to push me through whatever needed to be done.
But now all there was to do was wait.4NickI read through the papers in the folder, trying to get an idea of what exactly had happened. The story Bryn gave seemed fairly straightforward, but I wanted the details. It wasn’t as simple as just clearing out an account and handing over all the money to someone, then it disappeared. That seemed to be the perception a lot of people had of investments. I blamed old TV shows and movies that depicted cluttered, paper-strewn trading floors, screaming investors, and those bleak calls when people found out every cent they had was gone.
That wasn’t how it actually played out. Her ex had certainly stolen the money from her but losing it in bad investments was trickier. This could go in several different directions, and if I was really going to help her, I needed to figure out what happened.
