Chapter 4 - THE PAPER SHE THOUGHT MATTERED
Brenda let the torn certificate fall dramatically onto the concrete.
She expected me to panic.
I looked at the pieces.
Then I looked at her.
“That was your copy.”
Her smile faltered.
“The county filing copy went with the officiant yesterday.”
I watched the realization reach her face.
Destroying a decorative certificate changed nothing.
Brenda recovered quickly.
“You’re behaving like a child.”
“I’m leaving a house where I was locked in a room.”
“You’re a wife now.”
“That sentence doesn’t give your son ownership of me.”
She folded her arms.
“You have no idea what marriage requires.”
“I’m beginning to understand what marriage to Derek requires.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Behind her, relatives had begun gathering.
Nobody laughed now.
Derek pounded against the corridor door somewhere behind them.
“Unlock this damn door!”
I glanced at my phone.
“Interesting.”
Brenda lowered her voice.
“If you humiliate my son, you will regret it.”
“Is that what you told Lauren?”
Everything changed.
Her expression went completely blank.
Several relatives looked confused.
Aunt Patricia lowered her eyes.
Brenda stepped toward me.
“Who mentioned that name?”
“So she existed.”
“Lauren was unstable.”
“That was fast.”
“What?”
“You didn’t even ask which Lauren.”
Brenda realized her mistake.
I opened the car door wider.
She moved in front of it.
“You’re not taking forty-five thousand dollars of Derek’s money.”
Another mistake.
I had told nobody about the cashier’s check.
Not Derek.
Not Brenda.
Nobody.
My parents had handed it to me privately the morning before the wedding.
I slowly removed the envelope from my backpack.
“How do you know I have forty-five thousand dollars?”
Brenda’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
The relatives behind her became very quiet.
I looked toward Derek’s cousin Mark.
“Did one of you search my suitcase?”
Nobody answered.
Then Patricia spoke.
“Brenda did.”
Brenda spun around.
“Patricia.”
“I saw you.”
Patricia’s voice shook.
“You and Derek went upstairs while Chloe was taking wedding photographs.”
A wave of murmuring moved through the hallway.
Brenda’s face turned red.
“She was bringing assets into this family.”
Patricia stared at her.
“She was bringing a suitcase.”
Brenda raised her hand.
“Enough.”
I lifted my phone.
“No.”
Everyone looked at me.
“I agree with Patricia.”
“Enough.”
I got into my car.
Brenda grabbed the top of the door.
Then my phone rang.
Maya.
I answered on speaker.
“Chloe.”
“I’m here.”
“We found something else.”
Brenda froze.
Maya continued.
“The loan isn’t the only document bearing your signature.”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“What else?”
“A postnuptial property agreement.”
I stared at Derek’s mother.
Maya’s next words echoed through the garage.
“It transfers any inheritance received during the marriage into a Wexler-controlled trust.”
Nobody moved.
May you like
Then from behind the locked door came Derek’s voice.
“Mom, don’t let her leave!”
