Chapter 2
Lilibeth leaned forward.
“Maria, don't start acting arrogant because of some paperwork.”
I looked at her.
“Some paperwork?”
I smiled again.
“Interesting. A few minutes ago, you were discussing my divorce as though it were already settled. Now that you've discovered you might lose your free accommodation, suddenly legal documents don't matter?”
Ernesto cleared his throat.
“Let's all calm down.”
I turned toward him.
“Why? Everyone seemed perfectly calm when they were telling me to leave.”
He looked away.
Then the mistress spoke.
Her name was Vanessa.
She was twenty-four, with long dark hair and a diamond bracelet Adrian had apparently found enough money to buy.
“Maria, I didn't know the house was yours.”
I looked at her.
“Would that have changed your decision to sleep with my husband?”
Her cheeks burned.
“That's not fair.”
“Neither was coming into my home, sitting on my sofa, and asking me to give you my marriage.”
She lowered her eyes.
For the first time that afternoon, nobody had anything to say.
But I wasn't finished.
Not even close.
Adrian eventually pushed the folder away.
“Fine. The house is legally yours. But we're still married. You can't just throw me out.”
“I don't intend to do anything outside the law,” I answered. “I've already spoken to a lawyer. Any separation will be handled properly.”
His eyes narrowed.
“A lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“You've already consulted a lawyer?”
“Did you think I spent the last week crying into a pillow and waiting for you to decide what would happen to my life?”
He looked stunned.
The truth was, I had cried.
I had cried in the bathroom at work.
I had cried while washing the plates he'd left in the sink.
I had cried into my mother's shoulder when I finally told her what had happened.
But while Adrian was busy planning his new life, I was gathering documents, reviewing our finances, and learning exactly where I stood.
And what I'd discovered was worse than the affair.
Much worse.
I closed the folder.
“Since we're discussing honesty, Adrian, perhaps you'd like to explain the money.”
His expression changed.
“What money?”
“The money from our joint savings account.”
Lilibeth looked confused.
“What money?”
I opened my phone.
“Over the last eight months, Adrian transferred nearly nine hundred thousand pesos from our joint savings into another account.”
Camille gasped.
“That's impossible.”
I turned the phone toward her.
“Would you like to see the statements?”