Chapter 13 - Ryan’s Version of Love
Ryan finally admitted to himself that envy sat at the heart of everything. He had loved James as a brother once, but he had also measured himself against him for years. James seemed steadier, more trusted, more complete. Emily eventually became not only an object of desire but a symbol of what Ryan could take from the man who always seemed to stand one moral step ahead.
Meeting with his lawyer, Denise Mallory, forced him to confront both the affair and the vendor fraud in less romantic language. Denise quickly saw through his euphemisms. Flexible structure became improper entity use. Protected myself became recorded private conversations. Complicated love became evidence of leverage.
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Ryan also remembered Charleston—the nearly catastrophic moment when Emily almost ended the affair after a close call. Even there, what frightened him most had not been guilt so much as the prospect of losing control over the secret kingdom the affair created.
By the end of the meeting, Ryan understood what James’s side would eventually see: he had not simply made mistakes under emotional pressure. He had curated contingency plans. That realization did not make him repentant enough. It made him afraid enough to start thinking like a defendant rather than a lover or friend.
