Chapter 16 - BRENDA BEFORE SHE WAS A WEXLER
My father confirmed it.
Before she became Brenda Wexler, she had been Brenda Collins.
At twenty-three, she worked as a junior analyst for my grandmother.
She was brilliant.
Ambitious.
And eventually dismissed.
Nobody in my immediate family had ever told me why.
We found the answer in my grandmother’s notebook.
Brenda had manipulated expense records while working on a hotel acquisition.
She claimed she had been following a senior partner’s instructions.
My grandmother didn’t believe her.
Brenda was fired.
Six months later, she married into the Wexler family.
The hotel acquisition she had been working on became the foundation of Wexler Hospitality.
Suddenly, the old contract made sense.
My grandfather had financed the Wexlers partly because he believed Brenda had carried confidential information into their company.
The conversion clause had been protection.
Brenda had spent decades resenting the Bennett family while simultaneously depending on Bennett money.
Then her son met me.
The opportunity must have seemed perfect.
Marry the Bennett heir.
Control the inheritance.
Neutralize the old debt.
Erase the threat forever.
My marriage had been Brenda’s thirty-year revenge.
Except she had made one enormous mistake.
She thought I was easier to control than my grandmother.
The notebook contained one final surprise.
My grandmother had written about Brenda only once after firing her.
“Brenda mistakes humiliation for strength.”
“People who require another person to kneel are usually terrified of standing alone.”
I read the sentence three times.
Then I closed the notebook.
Derek was still sitting across from me.
“I didn’t know any of this.”
“Maybe not.”
“I swear.”
“You knew enough.”
His eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
It was the first honest answer he had given me.
“I knew the company needed your family.”
“Did you love me?”
He looked up.
“Yes.”
I believed him.
That was the tragedy.
A person could love you and still believe they had the right to control you.
Love did not erase character.
“I think you loved possessing me more.”
His eyes filled.
“Give me another chance.”
“No.”
“I’ll leave the company.”
“No.”
“I’ll cut my mother off.”
“No.”
“What do you want me to do?”
I stared at the man I had married.
“Accept that some things cannot be repaired because the person you hurt finally understood who you are.”
He covered his face.
For one moment, I saw grief.
Real grief.
Then his phone rang.
BRENDA.
He declined it.
It rang again.
He declined again.
Then a message appeared.
Derek read it.
His face went white.
“What?”
He handed me the phone.
May you like
Brenda had written only one sentence.
IF CHLOE WON’T SAVE THE COMPANY, I’LL MAKE SURE THERE’S NOTHING LEFT TO SAVE.
