Chapter 7: What He Had Been Building Without Her
Patricia's office was on the fourth floor of a building downtown, quiet and carpeted, the kind of place where serious things were handled without raised voices.
She had a folder open on the desk when I sat down.
"Your husband has a second account," she said.
"Personal.
Not joint.
He opened it twenty-two months ago."
Twenty-two months.
Before the pregnancy.
"How much?" I asked.
"As of last week, just over sixty thousand dollars."
I kept my hands flat on my knees.
"He's been moving money in small amounts," Patricia continued.
"Irregular enough not to trigger automatic flags.
Consistent enough that the pattern is clear once you look for it." She turned the folder toward me.
"This is called dissipation of marital assets.
It's illegal.
And it gives us significant leverage."
I looked at the numbers on the page.
Column after column of small transfers, each one unremarkable on its own.
"He was planning to leave," I said.
"It looks that way.
Or planning to have resources you couldn't access if you left him." She paused.
"Either way, he was building an exit you weren't supposed to know about."
I thought about the triplets upstairs in their crib.
About the night I had gone into early labor and Richard had driven ninety miles an hour to the hospital and held my hand in the corridor and looked genuinely terrified.
And then I thought about him, the next morning, transferring four hundred dollars into an account with my name nowhere on it.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"Now I file.
Once I file, he'll be served.
He'll know you know." She looked at me steadily.
"Are you ready for that?"
"Yes."
"He may try to negotiate before it goes further.
He may come to you directly, before his own lawyer advises him not to.
If he does, you say nothing.
You refer him to me."
"What if he gets angry?"
"Do you have somewhere safe you can go with the children if needed?"
"My sister."
"Good.
Keep that option open." She closed the folder.
"One more thing.
The financial misconduct, combined with documented evidence of the affair during the marriage, changes the asset division picture considerably.
The hidden account alone is a serious problem for him." She paused.
"He made a mistake, building that quietly while everything was in your name too.
He thought he had more time."
I stood up and shook her hand.
Outside on the street, the afternoon was bright and ordinary.
People walked past with coffee cups and grocery bags.
I stood on the pavement for a moment and felt the sun on my face.
My phone rang.
Richard.
I let it ring out.
He called again immediately.
I picked up.
"Hey," he said.
"Where are you?
I came home early."
"I had an errand," I said.
"I'll be back in an hour."
"Everything okay?
You sound strange."
"I'm fine," I said.
"Just tired."
A beat of silence.
"Okay," he said.
"I'll start dinner."
"That would be great," I said.
"Thank you."
I hung up and stood on the pavement a moment longer.
He was home making dinner.
May you like
He had no idea.
He thought he still had time.
