Chapter 20 - What Remorse Costs
Andre began individual therapy.
Nia learned because he told her, not because she asked.
He also closed the Riverstone office.
Paid the final month’s rent from his personal account.
Suspended Wells Family Ventures.
Withdrew from the Charlotte group completely.
And signed an agreement through counsel preventing use of joint funds for new investments while the divorce was pending.
Rachel forwarded the signed document.
Nia stared at it.
Three weeks earlier, Andre had refused nearly identical terms.
Now he agreed without negotiation.
People could change.
That truth complicated everything.
Nia met Andre for coffee in a public park.
No lawyers.
No documents.
Just conversation.
“You closed the office.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t walk into it anymore.”
“Because of me?”
“Because I finally saw what it represented.”
Nia waited.
Andre continued.
“I told myself that office meant I was building something. But mostly it was a place where I could make decisions without anybody challenging me.”
“That sounds lonely.”
“It felt powerful.”
He looked ashamed.
“Until it didn’t.”
Nia studied him.
“Why therapy?”
“My mother gave me the number.”
“That almost makes me nervous.”
Andre smiled weakly.
“She’s going too.”
Nia raised her eyebrows.
“For what?”
“Apparently helping your adult son hide money creates family issues.”
Despite herself, Nia laughed.
Andre laughed too.
The shared humor felt dangerous.
Familiarity could masquerade as repair.
They grew quiet.
Andre looked at her bare hand.
“Do you hate me?”
“No.”
“Would it be easier if you did?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry about the shoes.”
Nia looked away.
Of all the money, the business entities, the altered agreement, the father, the lies—he had chosen the shoes.
Andre continued.
“I keep seeing Maya at that store.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I know.”
“Then what do you see?”
“You telling me afterward that she understood.”
Nia remembered.
She had called Andre from the parking lot.
Maya was disappointed but “being mature.”
Andre had said they were raising a responsible child.
Nia’s eyes filled.
“She shouldn’t have needed to be mature because you wanted investment capital.”
“I know.”
“That eighty-four dollars meant nothing compared with what you were moving.”
“I know.”
Nia looked at him.
“You made scarcity a family rule that didn’t apply to you.”
Andre nodded.
“Yes.”
He did not defend himself.
That helped.
Not enough.
But it helped.
“What happens with AKM?” she asked.
“Keisha wants out.”
“She should.”
“I’m going to dissolve it after the earnest-money dispute is resolved.”
“Are you angry at her?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“I was.”
“Why?”
“Because she gave you the messages.”
Nia waited.
“And now?”
“Now I know I was angry because she broke the system.”
“What system?”
Andre looked directly at her.
“The one where nobody compared what I told them.”
Nia felt chills.
There it was.
Complete awareness.
“What did therapy call that?”
“My therapist didn’t give me a fancy word.”
“Good.”
“She asked what I believed would happen if everybody had the same information.”
“And?”
Andre smiled sadly.
“I said they’d stop me.”
Nia’s throat tightened.
“That’s why you kept information separate.”
“Yes.”
“Because you knew we wouldn’t agree.”
“Yes.”
Nia nodded.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Telling the truth without making it sound noble.”
Andre looked down.
“I don’t feel noble.”
They sat in silence.
Eventually he asked, “Are you going through with the divorce?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt them both.
Andre’s eyes reddened.
“Even now?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your remorse doesn’t restore the marriage automatically.”
“I know.”
“I need legal and financial separation.”
He nodded.
“Could there ever be an us again?”
Nia looked at the trees.
“I don’t know.”
Andre accepted that.
For the first time, he accepted uncertainty without trying to control it.
As they stood to leave, he handed her an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“The Bellmont receipt.”
Nia stared.
He had kept it.
The total remained visible.
$487.63.
“Why?”
“I found it in my jacket.”
Nia took it.
Andre said quietly, “I thought maybe you should have it.”
“For evidence?”
“If you want.”
Nia folded it once.
“No.”
“Then why keep it?”
She looked at him.
“To remember how small the first lie looked compared with what it opened.”
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Andre nodded.
Neither realized that the receipt would appear one more time before their story ended.
