“I’m at the office,” he said. “Cole’s in a glass conference room. HR’s here. Darren too.”
My stomach dropped. “What did Cole do?”
Mark paused briefly. “The company card. It got flagged.”
I gripped the edge of the counter. “Flagged for what? I didn’t even know he had access to it.”
“Hotel charges. Expensive gifts. All connected to the trainer from the office gym. Alyssa. She’s technically a vendor through the wellness program, and compliance has been auditing Cole’s expenses for weeks. They didn’t know it was an affair until last night. They just knew he was draining money.”
My stomach twisted.
“The company phone plan caught it first,” Mark continued. “Then the charges lined up with the same dates. They don’t need rumors about romance. They’ve got receipts.”
I closed my eyes. “Why are you telling me this?”
Mark exhaled slowly. “Because Cole thinks he can spin it. He called you ‘emotional.’ Said he could always come back home because he knows how to ‘handle you.’”
I looked at the breakfast table, at my kids wandering around deciding what to do with their day.
“I have six children, Mark. Leah is twelve. I can’t hide something like this from her.”