Chapter 6: What He Found in the Bedroom
I should have moved the notebook.
I had been careful about everything else.
The lottery ticket was locked in Patricia's office safe.
My personal accounts had been separated and frozen to new ones before noon.
Abigail's documents were scanned and filed.
I had done everything right.
But the notebook — the one where I had written those three questions on the night everything changed — I had left it on the nightstand.
I realised it when I heard the shower stop.
I was in the kitchen when Douglas appeared in the doorway.
He was dressed.
His hair was damp.
And he was holding the notebook open.
"How long has he been deceiving me," he read aloud.
His voice was very quiet.
"How much money has he taken from me because of those lies." He looked up.
"And what will he do if he finds out I've won one hundred million dollars."
The room went absolutely still.
"Won what?" he said.
I didn't answer.
He walked to the table and set the notebook down between us.
His hands were flat on the cover.
His eyes hadn't left my face.
"Gwen.
What lottery?"
"It's not something I'm discussing right now."
"One hundred million—" He stopped.
He pulled out the chair and sat down heavily.
His face had gone through three different expressions in four seconds and was now settling into something I recognised as dangerous.
"When?"
"Douglas—"
"When did you win?"
"Yesterday morning."
The silence that followed was the longest of my life.
Then he laughed.
It was nothing like the laugh I had heard through the hospital door.
This one was short and sharp and had no warmth in it at all.
"Yesterday morning," he repeated.
"And you didn't tell me."
"No."
"I'm your husband."
"Yes," I said.
"You are."
Something in my tone reached him.
He studied my face.
"What's going on?" he said.
"What have you done?"
"I've spoken to a lawyer.
I've secured my finances.
And I've had a very interesting conversation with a woman named Abigail."
His hands came off the notebook.
"What did you just say?"
"She told me about Caleb," I said.
"She told me about the apartment on Dellwood Avenue.
She told me about the transfers from the business account going back four years." I kept my voice level.
"She also told me about the custody threats.
The landlord.
The bills that kept appearing whenever she got close to stable."
Douglas stood up.
"Whatever she told you—"
"She brought documents," I said.
"Bank statements.
Printed text messages.
My lawyer has copies of all of it."
"She's lying." His voice had gone hard and fast.
"She's been trying to extort me for two years.
She is unstable, Gwen, and she will say absolutely anything—"
"Douglas." I didn't raise my voice.
"I heard you through the hospital door."
He stopped.
"I was standing in the hallway outside Room 214 when you told her that my entire life revolves around you.
That you keep me helpless on purpose." I folded my hands on the table.
"I had the lottery ticket in my purse when I heard that.
I had been walking toward your room to surprise you."
His mouth opened.
Closed.
"So I have the recording of the bank transfers," I continued.
"I have Abigail's testimony.
I have the property records.
And I have the conversation I overheard." I paused.
"What I don't have is any reason to sign those papers you brought home."
He moved toward me then — not violently, but with the particular forward energy of a man who has always solved problems by closing the distance.
"You're making a mistake," he said.
"You don't understand the full picture—"
"Then explain it to my lawyer."
"Gwen—"
"Her number is on the counter." I stood up.
"I'm going to stay with my sister tonight.
When you're ready to speak through legal representation, Patricia Hale will be available."
I picked up my bag.
"If you touch anything in this house that belongs to me," I said, "Patricia will know within the hour."
I walked to the front door.
"You won't do this," he said behind me.
His voice had changed again — lower, almost disbelieving.
"After everything I've given you—"
I opened the door.
May you like
"Goodbye, Douglas."
I didn't look back.
