Chapter 3 - Cracks in the Foundation
Mark stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen. For a second, I saw the calculating look in his eyes—the look he used when he was trying to negotiate his way out of a bad deal.
"Nora, let me explain," he began, taking a step toward me with his hands out in a soothing gesture. "It’s not what it looks like."
"Don't give me corporate speak, Mark!" I slammed my hand onto the marble island. "Six kids were sleeping on our floor! Our family photos are in a box somewhere because you were hiding our identity from paying clients! You lied to our daughter!"
"I did it for us!" Mark snapped, his composure suddenly cracking into anger. "Do you have any idea what kind of financial trouble we are in?"
"Financial trouble?" I frowned. "We both make six figures! We have a healthy savings account!"
Mark let out a bitter, hollow laugh. He walked over to the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of water, and took a deep drink before looking me in the eye. "We had a healthy savings account, Nora. It’s gone."
The air left my lungs. "What do you mean, gone?"
"Eight months ago, I made an investment," he confessed, refusing to look at me. "A tech startup through a friend. I used our savings as collateral. The company went under in January. The bank took the savings. I’ve been juggling credit cards and personal loans ever since just to pay our mortgage."
I felt the room tilt. The savings account—over $180,000 meant for June’s college fund and our retirement—was completely wiped out.
"You gambled our life savings?" I whispered, tears of shock finally stinging my eyes. "Without telling me?"
"I was trying to double it!" he shouted defensively. "I panicked! When Kristen lost her job and suggested the daycare idea, I saw an out. She managed the parents; I provided the space. We split the cash fifty-fifty. I used my share to pay off the interest on the secret loans I took out!"
"And what about the Cease and Desist notice from the county?" I lifted the document from the ledger. "Did you think you could just ignore the law?"
Mark waved his hand dismissively. "It’s just bureaucratic red tape. They don't enforce those things quickly. We just needed another month or two to get back on our feet."
"Another month?" I walked up to him, staring into the face of the man I had been married to for fifteen years. I barely recognized him. "You put our home at risk. You put June at risk! If a child got hurt here, we would lose everything! We could go to prison!"
"Nothing was going to happen!" Mark insisted. "Kristen has basic CPR certification!"
"Kristen is a reckless grifter!" I yelled. "And you let her turn our home into her cash cow! It stops today, Mark. Right now. You're calling every single parent and telling them the daycare is permanently closed."
Mark’s face turned dark, a look of desperate malice slipping over his features. "I can't do that, Nora. If I stop now, the loan sharks I borrowed from to cover the last mortgage payment will come after this house. You don't get a say in this. We need this money."
Before I could reply, my phone buzzed on the counter. It was a text message from an unknown number.
May you like
I picked it up and read the screen:Tell your husband that if the $5,000 weekly payment isn't in the account by Friday, we stop talking to him and start talking to the county prosecutor. And we might stop by June's school, too.
My stomach dropped into a cold abyss. Mark wasn't just in debt to a bank. He was in deep with someone far more dangerous.
