Chapter 5

After that day, Joan didn't go back to that house.

A week later, Dominic was in a meeting at the office when the front desk called up to say someone was there for him.

He went down and saw Joan sitting on the lobby couch beside a man in a suit. She had on light makeup and a neat business outfit—clothes from before the marriage, a little worn, but on her they made her look sharp and capable, none of the meek, cringing woman she'd been at home.

"What are you doing here? And who's this—some man off the street?" Dominic walked over, frowning, and dropped his voice to a hiss. "Have you got no shame? Come home with me, now."

The man in the suit stood and handed him a business card. "Mr. Fox, good to meet you. I'm Ms. Swanson's attorney. My name is Chavez."

"An attorney?" Dominic blinked, then turned to Joan. "What is this? You want a divorce?"

"Yes. A divorce." Joan looked him straight in the eyes, not a ripple in her expression. "The agreement's already drawn up. You sign it, and we part on good terms."

Dominic went off like a cat with its tail stepped on. In front of everyone, his voice shot up. "Divorce? In your dreams. Joan, let me tell you—you want a divorce, fine, but you cough up every cent you skimmed off me first. And that money from your little side jobs? That's marital property too. All of it, hand it over."

Nearby colleagues and passersby turned to look, whispering and pointing.

Seeing that, Dominic got louder still—as if the louder he was, the more the truth was on his side. He blocked Joan's way and shouted her down, past all reason. "You be the judge, everybody! I turn over my whole fifty-thousand paycheck, and this woman won't work, won't cook, and secretly stashes away her own private savings to send back to her family. Now that I've caught her, she wants a divorce and half the assets. A viper like this—who'd want her?"

The filth poured out of him like dirty water flung at her.

The angrier he got, the worse it came, until he reached out to grab her bag. "Hand over your card! That's my money!"

Faced with his tantrum, Joan finally stopped staying quiet. She didn't shrink back the way she used to, and she didn't scream back at him either. She just took one step back, out of reach of his hand, then turned her head and gave a small nod to Lawyer Chavez beside her.

"Go ahead."

Lawyer Chavez drew a document from his briefcase and, with no wasted words, held it straight out to Dominic.

"Mr. Fox, I'd suggest reading this before you say anything more."

Dominic snorted and snatched it away. "What garbage is this? Who're you trying to scare?"

He flipped carelessly to the first page, still muttering curses. But when his eyes landed on the few lines of text, and on the long string of bank statements and property search results attached behind them, his pupils blew wide and the cursing cut off dead.

His hands began to shake, his face draining from flushed red to bloodless white. His head snapped up toward Joan, his lips trembling, and not a single word came out.