Chapter 4

Wyatt had both families over in no time.

He said he wanted to settle the accounts once and for all, so I'd stop misunderstanding.

My mother-in-law walked in and slapped my forty-three-thousand-dollar IOU on the table.

"Irma, dear, the worst thing between a husband and wife is muddy accounts. Wyatt isn't even asking for the principal back, only normal interest. That's already generous of him."

My mom cradled her sprained wrist, her eyes red with anger.

"My daughter had surgery. Using her own husband's card counts as borrowing money?"

"Whoever gets sick pays for it. Isn't that only right?"

Louisa Delgado looked at me.

"Besides, she didn't follow the process. Break the rules, and you deal with the consequences."

Madeline sat beside Wyatt and set the private hospital's annual membership card on the table.

"Irma, if it bothers you this much, I can return the card."

"But the hospital already activated it, so I can only get thirty percent back. The rest, I'll pay Mr. Delgado back over time."

Wyatt frowned.

"No need to return it. Your health can't wait."

Then he pushed a property acknowledgment agreement across to me.

"Sign it, and I'll have Madeline pay back the six hundred thousand by year's end."

I opened to the first page.

It said the one hundred twenty thousand from the sale of my premarital property had been voluntarily gifted to the couple's shared life.

The forty-three thousand borrowed under my name was valid and real.

In the event of divorce, the loan and interest would be deducted from the property division.

I looked up at him.

"And if I don't sign?"

"Then the six hundred thousand is treated as an ordinary loan. You have no standing to claim it and no right to chase it."

"That's marital property."

"The money came out of my personal account."

Wyatt shoved the pen into my hand.

"Irma, I've already met you halfway. Don't burn through my patience."

I didn't take it.

My mother-in-law suddenly seized my hand.

"Sign it. What good ever comes to a woman who kicks up a fuss about divorce? You've got no job, you can't manage money. Divorce him and who's going to support you?"

I pulled my hand back.

"That one hundred twenty thousand is from selling my premarital house. It's mine!"

"Once you marry into the Delgado family, you and your money both belong to this household. What's this yours-and-mine nonsense?"

She reached for me again.

My mom stepped in between us.

"My daughter doesn't want to sign, and nobody's going to force her!"

I gripped the agreement, meaning to tear it up, and my mother-in-law's face changed as she lunged to grab it:

"Don't you dare tear it. You're signing today, no matter what!"

Several people crowded around the table, and her elbow knocked over a glass.

It hit the floor and shattered, shards flying everywhere.

My mom, shielding me, was shoved back two steps by my mother-in-law, stepped on a grease stain no one had wiped up, and went down hard.

The back of her head struck the corner of the cabinet, and blood quickly soaked her collar.

"Mom!"

I dropped to my knees to help her.

Wyatt took out his phone. I thought he was calling an ambulance, but he turned first to Madeline, whose hand had been cut by the glass.

"How's your hand?"

Madeline blinked, looking down at the drops of blood welling up on her fingertip.

"It stings a little."

Wyatt immediately pulled out a tissue and pressed it to the cut.

I held my mother, her head covered in blood, and looked up at him.

"Call an ambulance."

"It's just a scratch. Don't blow this out of proportion again."

"My mom is bleeding."

"Madeline's hurt too."

His voice was calm, almost cold.

"Irma, this is exactly when you need to keep your priorities straight. Don't lose your judgment just because she's your mother."

I took out my phone and dialed emergency services.

The moment I hung up, an itemized hospital bill popped up in my inbox.

The activation date on the private hospital's annual card was the day I had my appendix surgery, a year ago.

That day I'd passed out from the pain in the ER, and a nurse called him seven times from my phone.

He said he was out of town.

But on the bill, at 6:47 p.m., the signature of the person accompanying the patient was Wyatt Delgado.

By then I'd just been wheeled into the operating room.

He was on the top floor of that same hospital, with Madeline for her full checkup.

I held the phone up in front of him.

"You weren't away on business that day."

Wyatt's pupils shrank.

"Irma, let me explain."

I didn't listen anymore.

Soon the ambulance arrived.

Before I got in with my mom, I put the property acknowledgment agreement back on the table.

Wyatt chased me to the door.

"Calm down first. Come back tomorrow and sign it."

I looked at him, and the last bit of hope in me was gone.

My phone buzzed in my palm.

【Your divorce filing has been reviewed and approved.】

At the same moment, a court clerk was dialing Wyatt's number.