The Wife Who Knew Too Much(95)

I had my lawyer propose a deal where Nina’s fortune went to charity, except that Kara would get five million in exchange for dropping the lawsuit and making a public statement acknowledging Connor’s innocence. That seemed like a fair price to pay for my daughter to grow up knowing that her father had been a good man. Financially, we would be fine. We already were. Connor had three million dollars in life insurance from his executive position at Levitt Global, paid in full, so I knew that our future was secure.

“We have everything we could ever need. Let’s do this,” I said.

I signed the papers. Five million would be wired to Kara Baxter. Another five million was held aside as a settlement to Gloria for the pain and suffering she’d endured at the hands of Edward Levitt. The remainder was allocated to the Nina Levitt Foundation, dedicated to education and the arts.

Now, I had to go on with the difficult task of rebuilding my life, if only for my daughter’s sake. I’d bought a house in Lakeside, about ten minutes from the restaurant. The house was modest, but the neighborhood was excellent, with wonderful schools for when Meg was older. I had a new Toyota RAV4 hybrid that got good safety ratings. And I was in the process of buying the Baldwin Grill, which had been put up for sale by its owners and might otherwise have shut down. Liz would continue to manage the restaurant, and Matt would bartend. But the chef had left, and I’d hired Liz’s husband’s cousin to replace him—the guy in the truck who’d rescued me that awful day. Alex owned an organic farm and had been to culinary school. He had a vision of turning the place into a farm-to-table destination, and I was interested in being part of that.

By giving up any claim to Nina Levitt’s fortune, I’d put that strange, glittering, awful time behind me. I was making a life that felt right, except for one awful, yawning absence. Connor had died to protect me and our daughter. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get over him, or even that I wanted to. If I did, it wouldn’t happen for a long time. For now, I sometimes felt his presence around me, and saw him when I looked into my daughter’s eyes. He was a good man. Not a perfect man, but he loved me. And I loved him, dearly. Our daughter is the legacy of that.