Chapter 3

By the time I got home, the bank card wouldn't go through.

There was just one line from Wyatt on my phone.

【The household account is suspended until you've calmed down.】

I pulled open the wardrobe and started putting clothes into the suitcase.

I hadn't finished folding the third piece when Wyatt pushed the door open.

“Where do you think you're going now?”

“Back to my mother's.”

“Over one birthday dinner?”

He pressed a hand down on the suitcase lid.

“Irma, your mother took that money out. That was her choice. Madeline's checkup was booked in advance. I wasn't about to make her miss a specialist's slot just to stand around blowing out candles with you people.”

“So you just walked off with my mother's cake?”

“It's one cake. I'll buy her ten tomorrow.”

I reached up and knocked his hand off.

“It wasn't the cake she was waiting for.”

Wyatt stared at me, then pulled a fresh form out of his pocket.

“That eighty thousand from your mother went into your name. Under the rules for managing income during the marriage, half of it has to go into the household account.”

I thought I'd misheard him.

“That's what my father left me.”

“Once it's transferred to you, it's your personal property.”

He set the form down on the suitcase.

“Forty thousand into the household account. The other forty can be applied against what you've borrowed. Which means you still owe three thousand two hundred.”

I snatched up the form and tore it in half.

Wyatt's face finally darkened.

He caught my wrist and yanked me back half a step.

“Who said you could tear that up?”

“It's my money.”

“Two years of marriage. The place you live in, the food you eat, the water and power you use, none of that is free? I'm only trying to keep the accounts clear. I'm not stealing your money.”

“The down payment on this place came from selling the apartment I owned before we married.”

His expression didn't change.

“That one-point-two million of yours is your contribution to the family. It doesn't mean you get to ignore the rules.”

The doorbell rang.

My mother was standing outside with a food thermos.

The moment she stepped in and saw me and Wyatt squared off, the color drained from her face.

“Let go of her.”

Wyatt released my wrist.

“Mom, we're just discussing something.”

My mother came over and put herself in front of me.

“Does discussing something mean putting your hands on her? Can't you talk it out like people?”

“I wasn't trying to hurt her.”

Wyatt picked up the form I'd torn.

“Good thing you're here. Since Irma won't handle this by the household rules, you can take the eighty thousand back.”

“As for the forty-three thousand she owes me, that still gets calculated by the IOU, with interest.”

My mother was shaking with rage.

“She used her husband's card for surgery and that counts as debt? You're not managing money, you're backing her into a corner!”

She reached out to snatch the form from Wyatt's hand.

Wyatt twisted aside and caught her wrist instead.

The thermos in her other hand slipped free and hit the floor, soup spilling everywhere.

I shoved him off.

“Don't touch my mother.”

Wyatt staggered back half a step, his back knocking into the desk.

A drawer jolted open and a home-purchase agreement slid out.

I bent down and picked it up.

The buyer named on the agreement was Madeline.

The down payment was six hundred thousand, and the paying account came from an account in Wyatt's name.

I held the agreement up in front of him.

“Is this a household rule too?”

He was quiet for two seconds.

“She doesn't qualify to buy on her own. I lent it to her to tide her over for now.”

“Six hundred thousand with no application needed, but the twelve thousand for my surgery counts as a violation?”

“She wrote an IOU.”

“So did I.”

I stared at him.

“But mine has interest. Why doesn't hers?”

My mother read the agreement, and her face went ashen.

“Six hundred thousand for another woman and there's no account to settle, but my daughter spends twelve thousand on surgery and she has to pay interest?”

Wyatt reached out for the agreement.

I stepped back and closed it tight in my fist.