Chapter 1 - THE HOUSE HE GAVE AWAYFor nine years, I had learned how to recognize Grant’s moods by the sound of his footsteps.
Fast footsteps meant anger.
Slow footsteps meant he was calculating something.
And silence usually meant I had done something he intended to punish me for later.
That evening, I heard none of those things.
Instead, I heard laughter.
Tessa's laughter.
It floated from the dining room while I stood upstairs with one hand resting beneath my eight-month-pregnant belly.
I knew something was wrong before I reached the bottom step.
Grant was standing beside the dining table.
Tessa was holding his hand.
His mother, Eleanor, sat at the table with an expression of satisfaction.
His younger brother, Ryan, was watching me carefully.
And my children were eating dinner as if nothing unusual had happened.
Grant smiled.
Not an apologetic smile.
A victorious one.
“Tessa is moving in,” he announced.
I looked at him.
Then at her.
Then at my children.
Six-year-old Owen had stopped eating.
Four-year-old Lily was clutching her teddy bear.
I slowly returned to my chair.
“That's an interesting decision.”
Grant blinked.
Tessa's smile disappeared.
“What?”
I picked up Lily's napkin.
“Nothing.”
Grant's jaw tightened.
“That's it?”
“For now.”
I helped Lily wipe sauce from her cheek.
Grant stepped closer.
“We're all adults here. You need to start acting like one.”
I looked at him.
“You brought your mistress into our home and announced that she was moving in while our children were sitting at the table.”
Tessa's face reddened.
Grant's mother immediately interrupted.
“Don't use that word.”
“What word?”
“Those ugly accusations.”
I almost laughed.
“Accusations?”
Grant squeezed Tessa's hand.
“We're done pretending.”
I looked at the woman standing beside him.
Tessa was younger than me.
Beautiful.
Confident.
Wearing a diamond bracelet I had never seen before.
Then I noticed something else.
She was wearing my favorite pearl earrings.
The ones Grant had given me on our seventh anniversary.
My stomach tightened.
“Take them off.”
Tessa touched one ear.
“What?”
“The earrings.”
Grant stepped forward.
“They were a gift.”
“To me.”
Tessa looked at Grant.
He shrugged.
“I gave them to her.”
I stared at him.
Something inside me went completely still.
That was the moment I stopped wondering whether my marriage could be saved.
It couldn't.
I stood.
“Owen. Lily. Upstairs.”
“But Mom—”
“Now.”
They obeyed.
Grant moved in front of me.
“You're not taking the children anywhere.”
I looked at him.
“I'm their mother.”
“And I'm their father.”
“Then act like one.”
His face hardened.
“You have no idea what you're doing.”
I smiled.
“Actually, Grant.”
I looked toward the hallway.
“I've known exactly what I was doing for three weeks.”
He followed my gaze.
Then he saw the suitcases.
His expression changed.
There were three of them.
Packed.
Ready.
He laughed.
“You're eight months pregnant.”
“I know.”
“You don't have a job.”
“I know.”
“You have no money.”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“That is where you're wrong.”
He froze.
I walked toward the door.
He followed.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere you can't reach.”
He grabbed the railing.
“You think you can walk away with my children?”
I stopped.
Then turned.
“Call your attorney.”
His face went pale.
Because Grant knew me well enough to understand one thing.
I had never told him to call a lawyer before.
Forty minutes later, I sat inside Natalie Brooks's office.
She took the recorder from my hand.
She listened.
Grant's threats played through the room.
I'll cancel your cards.
You'll have no car.
I'll cut off the insurance.
Your phone is mine.
Natalie removed her glasses.
“Perfect.”
I stared at her.
“Perfect?”
“Not the threats.”
She tapped the recorder.
“The evidence.”
Then her assistant rushed into the room.
“There's a problem.”
Natalie looked up.
“What?”
“Grant's accounts are being frozen.”
I frowned.
“By whom?”
The assistant hesitated.
“Federal investigators.”
My heart stopped.
Natalie looked at me.
“Penelope…”
“What?”
May you like
She lowered her voice.
“I think your husband has been hiding much more than an affair.”
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