Chapter 1 - THE FIRST PAGE
I opened the folder slowly.
Daniel stared at my hands as if he already knew exactly what was inside.
The first page was a screenshot of his conversation with Chloe.
I turned it around and placed it where his mother could read it.
Her eyes moved across the page.
Then she stopped breathing for a second.
Daniel reached for it.
I put my hand over the paper.
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Jennifer, this is not the place.”
I almost laughed.
He had spent months deciding what places were appropriate for his lies.
Apparently our daughter’s baptism was appropriate for stealing from our savings.
A hotel ballroom was appropriate for pretending to be a devoted husband.
But exposing him in that same room was suddenly inappropriate.
His father lowered his glass.
“What is that?”
Daniel answered too quickly.
“Private messages taken out of context.”
I slid another page forward.
It showed the bank transfers.
$1,200.
$2,400.
$3,000.
Payment after payment to Chloe Matthews.
Daniel’s mother, Patricia, looked at him.
“You told us your bonus was smaller this year.”
He said nothing.
I placed the next statement on the table.
This one showed the transfer from our joint savings account.
The account labeled in our budgeting spreadsheet as LILY MEDICAL AND EMERGENCY FUND.
Patricia’s face changed.
“Daniel.”
He finally looked at me.
His expression was no longer angry.
It was calculating.
That frightened me more.
He leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“You’re humiliating yourself.”
“No.”
I looked around the ballroom.
“I’m correcting the version of our marriage you’ve been selling to everyone here.”
A few guests had begun pretending not to listen.
Others had stopped pretending.
Daniel’s coworkers stood near the bar.
His uncle watched from another table.
My mother had Lily against her shoulder.
She looked at me once.
I gave her the smallest nod.
That was our signal.
She stood and quietly carried Lily toward the lobby.
Daniel noticed.
“Where is she taking my daughter?”
I closed the folder.
“That depends on what you mean by your daughter.”
His face went completely still.
Patricia whispered my name.
I looked directly at Daniel.
“You spent months telling Chloe you had a plan for me.”
I slid one final screenshot across the table.
“So tonight, Daniel, you get to find out that I had one too.”
His eyes dropped to the highlighted sentence.
His own words stared back at him.
Once Jennifer has the baby, everything gets easier.
Patricia read it aloud.
Then she looked at her son.
“What exactly was supposed to get easier?”
May you like
Daniel didn’t answer.
Because the next page contained the answer.
