Chapter 19 - The Marriage I Thought I Had
I sat across from Ryan for exactly twelve minutes.
That was all I could give him.
"Did you know about the trust before you proposed?"
He cried before he answered.
I hated that part of me still recognized the sound.
"Yes."
The word ended our marriage.
"Did you marry me for it?"
"No. Not at first. I loved you. I still love you."
"But you knew."
"Dad told me your father had protected the company and that you might inherit shares someday. I didn't know about the house until later."
"And when you learned?"
He looked down.
"Mom said it didn't matter because we were married."
"So my property became family property in your head."
"I thought we were building a life together."
"You forged my signature."
He winced.
"I was drowning."
"You watched your mother hit me and smiled."
His face crumpled.
"I was angry because you wouldn't sign the release."
I stared at him.
"You planned Christmas dinner around forcing me to sign?"
He nodded once.
There it was.
The slap had not been an explosion.
It had been pressure.
Humiliation.
A family tactic.
"Did you know Victor caused my father's crash?"
"No. I swear. Mom told me Dad and Victor had covered up some accounting thing. I knew your father died after fighting with them. I never knew about the guardrail."
I believed he was telling the truth.
It changed nothing.
"I'm filing for divorce today."
"Emily, please."
"No."
"I can fix this."
"You keep saying that after you break things."
He pressed both palms to the table.
"What happens to the house?"
"That's what you ask?"
He looked ashamed.
I stood.
"The house was never the thing you lost, Ryan."
Outside, Monica handed me the divorce petition.
Then Detective Lane approached with a new warrant.
Victor Sloan had been charged in connection with my father's death.
Diane faced conspiracy, fraud, assault, and theft charges.
Ryan faced fraud and embezzlement.
But Monica had one final document for me.
"Your father's trust has a termination option," she said.
"Meaning?"
"You can keep the Bennett estate. Or sell it and dissolve the last financial tie between you and this family."
May you like
I looked back at Ryan through the glass.
For the first time, the choice was mine.
