Chapter 10 - Twenty-Nine Thousand Dollars
For three years, Derek had told me he handled the finances because he was better at numbers.
It turned out he was not better at numbers.
He was better at hiding what they meant.
The first financial disclosure arrived from Martin two days after we discovered Alyssa's name on D.W. Consulting LLC.
It was incomplete.
Evelyn knew it within five minutes.
"Where are the statements for the destination account?"
"Not included."
"Where are the LLC records?"
"Not included."
"Where is the lease?"
"Not included."
Rachel leaned over the dining table.
"So what did he include?"
Evelyn flipped through the packet.
"Pay stubs."
"Mortgage statement."
"Retirement balance."
"Joint checking statements we already have."
"And a declaration that the transfers were for legitimate business and marital planning purposes."
I stared at her.
"Marital planning?"
"His phrase."
"Does buying an apartment with Alyssa count as marital planning?"
"We don't know that he bought anything."
"Leased."
"We know an LLC associated with him leased an apartment."
Evelyn gave me a look.
"Precision matters."
I hated precision when I was angry.
That was probably why it mattered most.
Evelyn filed a motion to compel fuller disclosure.
Then she hired a forensic accountant named Leonard Pike.
Leonard looked nothing like the dramatic financial investigators in movies.
He wore a wrinkled cardigan and carried a calculator he trusted more than any phone.
He spread four months of bank statements across Rachel's dining table and began drawing arrows.
"Money is lazy," he said.
Rachel blinked.
"Money is lazy?"
"People work hard to hide it."
He tapped one transfer.
"Money itself tends to leave footprints."
The first five thousand dollars moved from our joint account to a business checking account.
Then three thousand went to a brokerage account.
Two thousand returned to checking eleven days later and appeared to be a reimbursement.
Derek had used the return transfer to make the original withdrawal look temporary.
The rest stayed gone.
Another seven thousand moved through a credit-card overpayment.
Then the card issued a refund to a different linked account.
I had never known such a thing was possible.
Leonard did.
"Common enough when someone wants a transfer to look like ordinary household activity."
"Can we prove where it ended?"
"With statements."
"Which he didn't provide."
Leonard smiled without humor.
"Then the court can become interested in why."
Over the next week, Derek's careful image began developing cracks.
The judge ordered him to produce the LLC account records.
He did.
The twenty-nine thousand dollars had not been spent on business.
Fourteen thousand remained in the account.
Six thousand had paid the furnished apartment lease and deposit.
Three thousand had purchased furniture.
Two thousand had gone to a jewelry store.
The rest had paid legal retainers and miscellaneous expenses.
I stared at the jewelry-store charge.
"The box."
Rachel nodded.
"Probably."
Evelyn interrupted.
"Probably is not evidence."
I looked at her.
"Do you practice saying that in the mirror?"
"Every morning."
Even I laughed.
Then Leonard found something worse.
The LLC account had received money from another source.
Not from our joint account.
From Derek's company expense reimbursements.
Large ones.
Four thousand.
Six thousand two hundred.
Eight thousand one hundred.
The descriptions referenced client development.
"Is that normal?" I asked.
Leonard frowned.
"Not enough information."
"Could he be reimbursing himself for business expenses?"
"Yes."
"Into an LLC he owns with his boss's daughter?"
Leonard looked at me.
"That is the part I would ask his employer about if this becomes relevant and lawful to do so."
Evelyn immediately warned us not to contact Derek's company as retaliation.
"We are dealing with family court."
"What if he stole from them?" Rachel asked.
"Then that is their issue until we have a proper reason to involve it."
I understood.
But a new question had entered the room.
Was Derek hiding only marital money?
Or something bigger?
The next morning, my temporary five thousand dollars finally appeared in the joint account.
Within an hour, Derek sent a message through the parenting app.
The court forced me to give you money you didn't earn, so I expect receipts for everything spent on Emily.
I stared at it.
Then I looked at Emily sleeping in a secondhand bassinet Rachel found online for forty dollars.
The cashmere blanket Derek bought for a forty-five-minute visit had cost more than the bassinet.
I typed:
I will comply with court orders regarding financial documentation.
He responded:
That's not an answer.
I did not reply.
Then:
You always hide behind other people when you know you're wrong.
I did not reply.
Then:
Rachel will get tired of paying for you.
That one landed.
Derek knew exactly where to aim.
He had spent years building the belief that everyone eventually got tired of me.
I put the phone down.
Rachel was washing bottles at the sink.
"He says you'll get tired of paying for me."
She did not turn around.
"He's right."
I stared at her.
Then she looked over her shoulder.
"Which is why you're getting your job back and paying for yourself when you're ready."
I laughed despite myself.
"You're horrible."
"I'm efficient."
"Derek says that too."
She threw a dish towel at me.
Later that afternoon, Dana Brooks sent formal confirmation that my resignation had been rescinded.
My position would remain available after twelve weeks of maternity leave.
The role would be remote four days a week.
I would have health insurance available through my own employment upon return.
I printed the email.
Then I cried over it.
Not because I loved my job that much.
Because the word own had begun to feel revolutionary.
My own income.
My own insurance.
My own account.
My own phone.
My own choices.
Derek had spent years making independence sound like selfishness.
Now every small piece of it felt like oxygen entering a room where the windows had been painted shut.
The second review hearing was scheduled for three weeks later.
Until then, the supervised visits continued.
Derek became more polished each time.
He stopped asking Claire whether I cried.
He stopped saying Emily would be home soon.
He learned to change diapers without instruction.
He brought age-appropriate toys.
He asked about feeding schedules.
On paper, he improved.
Part of me resented it.
That scared me.
I told Evelyn.
"What kind of mother resents her baby's father for behaving better?"
"A human one."
"That's not helpful."
"It is if you listen."
She folded her hands.
"You are angry because he is performing in three weeks what you begged him to do for months."
I looked away.
"Yes."
"But Emily benefits if he actually learns."
"Even if he's doing it for court?"
"Sometimes people begin for the wrong reason and continue for the right one."
I thought about Derek holding Emily in the visitation photo.
"Do you think he loves her?"
Evelyn paused.
"I think love and control can coexist in a person."
"That sounds dangerous."
"It can be."
"Then what am I supposed to hope for?"
"That he learns the difference."
I did not know whether that was possible.
A week later, Nora's attorney contacted Evelyn.
Nora was willing to sign an affidavit.
She would confirm the editing instructions.
She would confirm the backup request.
She would confirm Derek's statement that his personal situation was about to change before I ever left.
She would not provide unrelated company files without proper legal process.
That was enough.
Martin received the affidavit on a Tuesday morning.
At 12:11 p.m., Derek called Nora into his office.
At 12:38 p.m., security walked her out of the building.
She had been fired.
When I heard, I felt physically sick.
"This is because of me."
Evelyn corrected me.
"It is because Derek chose to fire her."
"She has kids."
"Her lawyer is handling it."
"Can I help her?"
"Not financially right now."
"Why?"
"Because Derek will argue you bought testimony."
I hated how every decent impulse became dangerous inside litigation.
That evening, an unfamiliar number called my new phone.
I almost did not answer.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice said, "Megan?"
I knew the voice.
I had heard it laugh in the restaurant video.
Alyssa Grant.
My entire body went still.
"How did you get this number?"
"From Nora."
That surprised me enough to keep listening.
"Why are you calling?"
Alyssa took a breath.
"Because Derek lied to me too."
May you like
I said nothing.
"And because if you think the apartment and the money are the worst things he was hiding, you're wrong."
