Chapter 7 - THE PLAN TO LEAVE ME WITH NOTHING
Jennifer had thought the folder represented preparation.
Now she understood it represented only the beginning.
She looked at Daniel.
“When were you planning to divorce me?”
He stared at the table.
“Jennifer.”
“When?”
His father answered for him.
“After the baptism?”
Daniel snapped.
“No.”
Jennifer looked at him.
“Then when?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I wasn’t sure.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“You told me May.”
Jennifer turned.
Chloe continued.
“You said once Lily was old enough and Jennifer went back to work, you would file.”
Jennifer’s stomach twisted.
Her maternity leave ended in May.
Daniel had asked repeatedly when she would return.
She had believed he was worried about money.
Now she understood.
Jennifer whispered.
“You were waiting until I had income again.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You wanted to establish that I could support myself.”
“That’s not why.”
“And you wanted Lily old enough that you could argue I didn’t need to stay home.”
“Jennifer.”
She reached into the folder.
Her attorney had highlighted a transfer she had never understood.
Twelve thousand dollars to Harcourt Legal Strategies.
Jennifer placed it in front of him.
“Was this your divorce attorney?”
Daniel stared.
That was answer enough.
His mother looked horrified.
“You already hired one?”
Daniel said nothing.
Jennifer continued.
“My attorney couldn’t determine why you paid them.”
“But I think Chloe just did.”
Chloe’s expression changed.
“You told me Jennifer was the one who hired an attorney first.”
Jennifer looked at Daniel.
He avoided both women.
Jennifer almost admired the architecture of the lie.
He had told Chloe that Jennifer knew about the relationship.
He had told Jennifer nothing.
He had apparently told his attorney that separation was inevitable.
He had built different realities for everyone.
All of them designed to place Daniel at the center.
His father picked up the Harcourt statement.
“Were you trying to move assets before filing?”
Daniel’s head snapped up.
“No.”
Jennifer saw the reaction.
“Move what assets?”
Daniel looked away.
Jennifer’s attorney had warned her about unusual transactions.
She had already frozen certain joint accounts.
But Daniel had acted earlier than she realized.
His father stared at him.
“The lake property.”
Daniel froze.
Jennifer turned.
“What lake property?”
Daniel’s father went silent.
Daniel looked at him with pure warning.
That reaction told Jennifer she needed to hear the answer.
His father exhaled.
“My mother left Daniel a twenty-five-percent interest in property near Lake Geneva.”
Jennifer stared at Daniel.
“You told me your grandmother’s estate had been liquidated.”
“It was mostly liquidated.”
“You own property?”
“A partial interest.”
His father continued.
“It’s worth approximately six hundred thousand dollars in total.”
Jennifer looked at Daniel.
“Your share is worth one hundred fifty thousand?”
“On paper.”
“And you never disclosed it when we refinanced our house.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“That property is separate inheritance.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Jennifer’s mind moved faster.
He had borrowed against their shared house while quietly preserving his own inherited property.
He had drained their savings while protecting assets in his name.
She looked toward Chloe.
“Did he promise you the lake house too?”
Chloe slowly shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked relieved.
Then Chloe added.
“He told me he sold it.”
Jennifer looked back at Daniel.
His father frowned.
“You did what?”
Daniel stared at Chloe.
She continued.
“He said the sale was how he would pay off the townhouse.”
Daniel’s father immediately pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling my attorney.”
Daniel stood.
“Dad.”
His father looked at him with a coldness Jennifer had never seen.
“If you forged my signature on that property transfer, you have much bigger problems than a divorce.”
Daniel stopped moving.
May you like
That silence answered another question.
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