On Our Fourth Anniversary, My Husband Posed for Maternity Photos with Another Woman novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: What Was in the Account

Rupert begs at midnight while Leah packs and records him, and she finds her mother's $48,000 gone.

I got home to the house in Wauwatosa at nine and went straight to the closet.

I had two suitcases, one for work clothes and one for everything else.

I put my mother's jewelry box on top of the sweaters and my passport in my coat pocket.

Then I went downstairs and opened the refrigerator door.

The injection carton sat on the top shelf, where it had sat every night for three years.

Five sealed vials were left from the last round, each one labeled in Rupert's neat block capitals with the date.

The clinic refunded unopened vials, and six hundred dollars mattered a great deal that night.

I put the carton in a grocery bag and carried it out to my trunk.

I was zipping the second suitcase when the garage door started to rise.

I took out my phone and pressed record.

Then I put it in the pocket of my cardigan, with the microphone pointed up at the doorway.

Rupert came in at five to one.

He still wore the gray suit from the photos, and his tie was pulled down.

He looked at the suitcases, and then at me.

"Mom called me," he said. His voice was soft, the voice he used on clients when a shipment was late. "Leah, please. Let me explain."

"Explain," I said.

"Brooke doesn't mean anything."

"She's seven months pregnant, Rupert."

He flinched, and then he smiled, a small tired smile.

"It just happened," he said. "I never meant for you to find out like this."

"Whose idea was the photo shoot?"

"Mine. No. Mom's, really." He rubbed his forehead. "The company needs the announcement. It's for the family, Leah."

"For the family."

"I'm not leaving you." He took a step toward me, and I took a step back. "I need you to be patient, that's all. Until after the baby comes. Then we'll figure out how everyone fits."

I let that sit in the room.

My hand was shaking inside my pocket, so I held the phone tighter.

"Say that again," I said. "The part about patient."

"I need you to stay, Leah. I'm asking you to stay. I'm not asking for anything else."

He had never been a good liar.

That was what had made me trust him for four years, and it was why I knew he meant every word.

I took out my laptop and opened the banking app on the kitchen island, because I needed to do something with my hands.

My mother's savings account came up first.

She died when I was fourteen, and the life insurance had paid forty-eight thousand dollars, which my aunt Fran had put in an account in my name and never touched.

I had never touched it either.

I had planned to put it toward a nursery.

The balance read $0.00.

I scrolled to the history and found one withdrawal, fourteen months old.

It said: Transfer to KESSLING FLOORING LLC. Memo: building loan.

"Rupert."

"Leah, that's a loan."

"It's my mother's money."

"It's a loan to the company, and it's all documented. You signed the form."

I remembered the form. He had slid it under my coffee cup one morning and said it was for the insurance.

"You told me it was for the insurance," I said.

"It was insurance. For the company."

I stared at him.

The refrigerator hummed. The clock above the stove said one in the morning, and I could hear my own breathing.

I noticed then that he hadn't asked where I was going.

He hadn't asked whether I was angry or sad or sick.

He was looking past me at the open fridge door, at the empty spot where the carton had been.

"Did you take the shots?" he said.

"They're in my trunk."

"Why?"

"The clinic gives refunds."

"Oh," he said, and breathed out, and I thought it was relief that I wasn't taking anything he cared about. "Right. Okay."

I picked up my purse, my laptop and the first suitcase.

He stepped between me and the door.

He did it gently. Rupert did everything gently, which was the worst of him.

"My mother's lawyer has papers for you," he said. "They're generous, Leah. You'll want to sign them on Monday. Please don't make this ugly."

I looked at his hand on my suitcase handle.

Then I took out my phone, stopped the recording, and held it up so he could see the red light go out.

"Move," I said.

He moved.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend