Chapter 17 - The Affidavit
Sabrina’s affidavit was twenty-seven pages.
I read it in the hospital.
Ryan was not allowed to see it.
She admitted the affair.
She admitted Northstar.
She admitted knowing about the Whitmore trust.
She admitted discussing life with Ryan after our baby’s birth.
Then she described the part I had not known.
Ryan had tried to convince her to wait.
Not because he was conflicted.
Because timing mattered.
According to Sabrina, Ryan originally intended to separate from me after my first pregnancy.
That pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
The plan stopped.
Then the second pregnancy ended too.
Sabrina wrote:
Ryan became increasingly obsessed with the trust provision after the second loss.
I had to put the papers down.
My mother began crying.
Margaret left the room.
When she returned, her eyes were swollen.
“There’s more.”
I nodded.
Sabrina stated that Ryan repeatedly complained about family pressure.
He believed Charles would never see him as a true successor without children.
He believed having a daughter would stabilize his future inside the company.
He believed staying married to me through the birth protected his image.
Did that mean he never loved me?
No.
That was the cruelest part.
Sabrina wrote that Ryan sometimes tried to end the affair.
Then returned.
He loved two lives.
One gave him legitimacy.
One gave him escape.
He believed he could preserve both until the moment he was financially free.
At the bottom, Sabrina attached messages.
Ryan wrote:
Claire is the best thing that ever happened to me.
Then, three hours later:
I still want you.
Contradictions.
Not strategy.
Character.
Ryan wanted devotion without sacrifice.
Marriage without fidelity.
Fatherhood without accountability.
Freedom without consequence.
I closed the affidavit.
That afternoon, Ryan came to the doorway.
“You look better.”
“I am.”
He smiled weakly.
“Good.”
I held up the affidavit.
His smile vanished.
“Sabrina filed?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
I looked at him for a long time.
Then I asked the question I had avoided since the hotel.
“Did you ever plan to leave me after our first baby was born?”
May you like
Ryan said nothing.
That was my answer.
