Chapter 3

After I filed the divorce papers, I stayed at my parents' house and waited.

While the court processed the paperwork, Derek's family had already taken that $300,000 and opened Ryan's shop.

They posted the grand opening photos in the family group chat.

Red lanterns. Flower arrangements. Bunting across the door.

Ryan stood outside the storefront, grinning from ear to ear. Margaret had her arm around his shoulders, glowing with pride.

As if they wanted to make sure I saw it, Aunt Patricia even forwarded the photos directly to me.

With a message:

Nina, your in-laws are just upset right now. Your mother told me — go back and apologize to Derek. Once things calm down and he saves up again, you'll get another place. You're husband and wife. You have a baby on the way. There's no reason to take things this far…

I knew. This was Margaret's doing — using Aunt Patricia to get the message to me. Hoping I'd swallow my pride, go crawling back, give them a graceful way out.

Maybe win Derek back in the process.

I almost laughed.

"Aunt Patricia," I said, "the baby is gone."

Silence on the other end.

"…what did you say?"

"I terminated the pregnancy. Had the procedure yesterday."

"I've already sent the divorce papers. He should have received them by now."

"I've also engaged a lawyer to pursue division of marital assets. The renovation costs and my share of the mortgage and down payment payments — my attorney says I can recover what's mine."

Aunt Patricia took a long time to say anything.

I went on.

"Please pass along a message to Margaret for me."

"The shop is theirs to keep. The photos, the celebrations — I have no interest in any of it."

"But that $480,000 had my money in it. Blood and sweat."

"Whatever the court decides is mine, I'll take. What's left, they can spend as they please."

I hung up. Blocked her number.

I went back to my room and started packing.

Mom stood in the doorway watching.

"You're really going through with this?"

"Yes."

"You have everything?"

"Pretty much."

Dad came in from outside, a bag of oranges in his hand.

"For the road."

I took them. My eyes stung.

"Mom. Dad. I'm going now."

Mom's eyes reddened.

"Call me when you get there."

"I will."

Dad didn't say anything. He just put his hand on my shoulder.

I picked up my suitcase and walked out.

Downstairs, the rideshare was already waiting.

I loaded my bag, got in.

The car pulled away from the curb and moved slowly out of the neighborhood.

I looked back once.

Mom was standing in the building entrance. Dad was beside her. Both of them watching me go.

I turned forward. Leaned back against the seat.

Outside the window, the city I'd lived in for thirty years slid quietly past.

The car rolled forward. My heart slowly stilled.

Then my phone rang — sharp, sudden, cutting through the silence.

I glanced at the screen.

Derek.

I answered.

Before I could say a word, his voice detonated.

"Nina! Did you freeze my family's account?"

High-pitched, frantic, barely controlled.

"Are you insane? That's the money Ryan needs for his business. You have no right to freeze it. Do you know what happens when that money can't move? His suppliers are at the door demanding payment. You're going to destroy everything."

I said nothing.

He sucked in a breath and went louder.

"Are you trying to ruin him? He finally gets a chance to start over and you want to drive him into the ground? You weren't like this. When did you get so cruel?"

Cruel.

I leaned back and watched the street disappear behind me.

"Derek."

"Don't say my name. I'm telling you — call your lawyer right now and have that account unfrozen. That is my family's money. It has nothing to do with you."

"Nothing to do with me?"

I said it quietly.

"That's right. The house was in my name. The down payment was my family's money. The sale proceeds have nothing to do with you. Whatever you spent on renovations — I'll pay you back. You didn't need to drag this to court. My mother's blood pressure spiked over this, you know that?"

I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Derek, I have a question."

"Stop deflecting. Unfreeze it."

"You just said you'll pay back what I spent on renovations. Do you remember what that number was?"

He paused.

"$85,000."

"And the down payment? Borrowed money from your family — paid back together, after the wedding."

"The mortgage? Also paid together."

"The house is in your name, yes. But the down payment and the loan payments — we each paid half. The renovation was entirely mine. Derek, you call me cruel — but did you consult me before selling? When you wired the money to Ryan, did you stop for one second to think about where our child would live?"

A brief silence.

Just one.

"It's not the same. Ryan's life was at stake. These people would have broken his hands. You want to sit here and do math with me? You have no human decency."

Human decency.

I felt a sudden urge to laugh.

"Derek, Ryan's life matters. And the life inside me? Did that matter? I was pregnant with cramps and you wouldn't let me go to the doctor. You told me to work through it and make the mortgage payments. Was that human decency? When you sold the house and told me to rent somewhere? Was that it?"

"That's — that's completely different. Ryan was—"

"Ryan was gambling."

I cut him off.

"He wasn't sick. He didn't have an accident. He gambled. You sold our home to fill a bottomless hole. Derek — can you tell the difference between saving someone's life and enabling them?"

He went quiet.

I could hear him breathing — hard, ragged, like something cornered.

"Nina. Last chance. Are you unfreezing that account or not?"

"No."

"Fine."

His voice dropped. Cold. Almost unrecognizable.

"Then don't regret this."