“I didn’t trust Arthur,” Caleb said. “There was just something about the way he talked, Mom. He’s always evasive. And the way Rowan started isolating — it reminded me of how things ended with you two.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, still confused.

“There’s something you have to know about him. I found out he isn’t who he says he is.”

Putting two and two together, “You think he’s conning her?” I asked.

“I know he is.”

“You think he’s conning her?”

He showed me documents — legal ones. They weren’t screenshots from gossip sites, but court records and investigative summaries.

Arthur had filed for private bankruptcy two years before meeting me — and he never disclosed it. There were records of defaulted business loans, credit cards in collections, and unpaid back taxes. A lawsuit from his ex-wife outlined years of hidden finances and missed alimony.

“He’s a serial manipulator,” Caleb said, voice thick with disgust. “He targets women with money. Rowan has your name and your connections. He’s using her, Mom.”

A lawsuit from his ex-wife

outlined years of hidden finances

and missed alimony.

I was stunned into silence as I thought back to my short-lived life with Arthur.