“Claire,” he said smoothly, “you finally came to your senses.”
I looked at him and remembered everything I had carried for him: the cash shortages, the hidden debts, the emergency transfers, the quiet rescues he called “temporary pressure.” He had let me believe marriage meant sacrifice, when what he truly meant was that I would fund his life while he took credit for surviving it.
“You should have signed months ago,” he continued. “But it’s over now.”
I said nothing.
Sometimes silence is not surrender. Sometimes it is a locked door.
He smiled wider, thinking he had won.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Even though you won’t receive any assets, I’ll give you twenty-five thousand dollars. A goodwill gesture. To help you start over.”
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
For a second, I thought I had heard wrong. Five years of marriage. Five years of acting as his private bank, silent investor, and invisible safety net. And he offered me charity because he had no idea what I owned.
A quiet laugh escaped me.