The final argument occurred on November 16, 2020.
Laura stood in the dining room holding a folder.
Richard was preparing to leave for an evening meeting.
She asked him to sit down.
He refused.
"Not tonight, Laura."
"Richard, please."
"I've had enough of this."
She stared.
"Enough of what?"
"The accusations. The secrecy. This Daniel Carter business."
Laura's face went pale.
For a moment, she simply looked at him.
Then she asked, "Do you really believe I'm having an affair?"
Richard hesitated.
He could have said no.
Could have admitted his fear.
Could have asked her to show him the documents.
Instead, he said something he would regret for the rest of his life.
"I don't know what to believe anymore."
Laura closed her eyes.
When she opened them, tears were standing in her eyes.
"Then perhaps you should start by believing the woman who has loved you for fourteen years."
Richard looked away.
She continued.
"I'm trying to protect what we built."
He said nothing.
Laura lowered the folder.
"And I'm trying to protect our children."
That finally made him turn.
"What does that mean?"
But she had grown tired of fighting.
She shook her head.
"I'll show you tomorrow."
Richard stared.
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes."
She wiped her eyes.
"I have one more meeting with Daniel."
Richard's expression hardened again.
Laura saw it.
Then quietly said, "Not for the reason you're thinking."
He did not answer.
She walked past him.
At the doorway, she stopped.
"Richard?"
He looked up.
Her voice trembled.
"Whatever happens, please remember that I love you."
He frowned.
"Laura—"
But she had already gone upstairs.
That night, she wrote the letter.
The letter Ethan would discover six years later.
The letter Nicole would steal.
And the letter that would eventually force Richard to confront the truth about the people he trusted most.
Back in the present, Richard stood beside the dining table with Laura's letter trembling in his hands.
Nicole watched him.
For the first time since marrying him, she seemed genuinely uncertain how to control the conversation.
"Richard," she said carefully, "you need to understand the circumstances."
He did not look up.
He kept reading.
Laura's words moved across the page.
I know you are angry with me.
I know someone has made you believe Daniel Carter is part of a personal betrayal.
He isn't.
I hired him because money is disappearing from the housing projects, and the people controlling those accounts are not being honest with us.
Richard swallowed.
He turned the page.
I have copies of the transfers and the approvals. I have also found evidence that someone used my authorization without permission.
I am meeting Daniel tomorrow evening to deliver the original documents and arrange legal advice.