Chapter 8 - The Account
The account belonged to Northline Advisory LLC.
Natalie learned that before midnight.
Ethan refused to explain at first.
He said she was too emotional.
Natalie responded by opening her laptop.
Ten minutes of public-record searching revealed that Northline Advisory had been formed in Delaware eighteen months earlier.
Its registered agent revealed nothing.
But the Illinois foreign registration listed an Evanston mailing address.
Not their home.
A post-office box.
Its manager was Ethan Mercer.
Natalie turned the screen toward him.
“Try again.”
They sat across from each other at the dining table.
Caleb had finally fallen asleep.
Sophie was staying with Ava’s family.
Ethan looked at the company filing.
“Northline was created for consulting revenue.”
“What consulting?”
“Separate projects outside the firm.”
“Why separate?”
“Liability.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because it was dormant initially.”
“Was Vanessa involved?”
“Yes.”
The answer came quicker now.
Maybe Ethan understood that lying had become useless.
“What does Northline own?”
“Nothing.”
“Cash?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Some.”
“How much?”
“About ninety thousand.”
Natalie stared.
“Where did it come from?”
“Consulting fees.”
“From Hawthorne?”
“Partly.”
“And the HELOC?”
“No.”
She watched him.
“Show me.”
“I don’t have online access on this computer.”
“Use mine.”
“Natalie.”
“Show me.”
Ethan looked toward the staircase.
Then pulled out his phone.
He opened a banking app.
Entered a password.
Turned the screen around.
Northline Advisory.
Balance: $94,672.
Natalie opened transaction history.
Deposits.
Hawthorne Ridge.
Vanessa’s consulting company, Cole Strategic.
Mercer Architecture.
Natalie scrolled.
Then stopped.
A withdrawal of $52,000 five months earlier.
“What is this?”
Ethan looked.
“Investment.”
“In what?”
“A condo reservation.”
The air changed.
Natalie stared at him.
“What condo?”
He did not answer.
Her hands began shaking again.
“Where?”
“Lake Geneva.”
“Whose condo?”
“It was an investment unit.”
“Whose name?”
“Northline.”
“Why?”
“The development includes residential units.”
“Did you plan to live there with Vanessa?”
“No.”
“Did she have a key?”
Silence.
Natalie pushed the phone across the table.
“Get out.”
“Natalie.”
“Get out of this house.”
“This is my house too.”
“Then I’ll leave.”
She stood.
Ethan caught her wrist.
Not violently.
Instinctively.
Natalie looked down at his hand.
He released her immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
She stepped back.
“You put fifty-two thousand dollars into a condo with the woman you’re sleeping with.”
“I did not buy it with her.”
“You formed a company with her.”
“She is not an owner.”
“Then why is her company funding it?”
“Because she owed Northline consulting revenue.”
Natalie laughed.
“You can hear how insane that sounds, right?”
“It is legitimate.”
“Did you sleep with her at the condo?”
“No.”
“Cedar House?”
He looked away.
That was answer enough.
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“How many times?”
He sat down.
“Twice.”
The room became very quiet.
“So tonight wasn’t the first time.”
“No.”
“Lake Geneva hotel?”
He nodded.
“Cedar House?”
“Yes.”
Natalie’s chest hurt.
“How long?”
“The physical relationship started in May.”
Their anniversary month.
She almost admired the cruelty of the timing.
“Was May ninth the first time?”
“Yes.”
Two days before their seventeenth anniversary.
Ethan had brought her peonies on May 11.
They had dinner with the children.
He gave her a bracelet.
They made love that night.
Natalie stood so abruptly the chair scraped backward.
“I’m going to be sick.”
She walked to the sink.
Ethan moved.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Natalie breathed slowly.
When she could speak again, she asked, “Why?”
He looked miserable.
“That question doesn’t have a good answer.”
“I didn’t ask for a good one.”
Ethan stared at his hands.
“When Vanessa came back, I remembered who I was before everything became responsibility.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
Mortgage.
Children.
Business.
Parents.
Marriage.
Everything.
“You mean before me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She remembered a version of me I’d forgotten.”
Natalie turned toward him.
“And what version did I get?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“The one who paid bills? Raised your children? Helped build your firm? Signed whatever you put in front of her because she trusted you?”
“Natalie.”
“She remembered you before responsibility. I carried the responsibility so you could afford nostalgia.”
That hit him.
He looked down.
Natalie picked up the phone again.
“What else is in Northline?”
“Nothing.”
She scrolled farther.
Another transaction appeared.
A transfer in.
$38,500.
Source:
Mercer Family Education Plan.
Natalie stopped.
Her blood went cold.
They had two 529 college-savings accounts.
One for Sophie.
One for Caleb.
Ethan was account owner.
“What is this?”
Ethan stood quickly.
“I replaced most of that.”
Natalie stared at the screen.
“You took money from our children?”
“It was temporary.”
“From whose account?”
“Natalie—”
“Whose?”
He whispered:
“Sophie’s.”
Upstairs, a floorboard creaked.
Neither of them looked up.
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Then Caleb’s voice came from the darkness.
“You took Sophie’s college money?”
