I Stopped Fighting For My Husband and He Panicked novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Seven in the Morning

Cassia opens the savings account and finds her grandmother's $84,000 down to $22,000; Kat drives her to the bank while Cory begs in the lobby, and every transfer goes to a loft lease signed in April.

I slept in the guest room with the door locked, and at seven in the morning I opened the savings app.

My grandmother had left me eighty-four thousand dollars.

It had sat in the joint account for a year, waiting for the house Cory and I kept saying we would buy.

The balance on my screen said $22,114.

I read it three times.

Then I opened the history, and I kept reading.

There were eleven transfers, one every few weeks since April, and every one was thousands of dollars.

Each one went to the same place: Bluebird Lofts LLC.

The memo lines said things like 4C DEPOSIT and 4C RENT.

I did not scream.

I sat on the edge of the guest bed and took a screenshot of every page, and then I texted Kat.

Kat answered right away: "Bank opens at 8:30. I'm outside at 8. Bring your ID and your coffee."

When I opened the door, Cory was sitting on the hallway floor with his back against the wall.

He still wore the shirt with the tequila stain.

He jumped up so fast he hit his elbow.

"I made eggs," he said. "I didn't know if you'd want them. I made them anyway."

"I'm going out."

"Out where? Cas, let's just sit down. Let's talk about last night."

"I'm going to the bank."

His eyes moved to the phone in my hand.

I watched him work out what was on it.

"That money is for our house," he said quickly. "I can explain every dollar."

"Then explain it at the bank."

Kat's dented Corolla was at the curb, and she leaned across and pushed the passenger door open from the inside.

"Morning, sunshine," she said. "I brought a croissant and a baseball bat."

"Why a bat?"

"I thought we might need to be dramatic. But you're not doing that anymore, so it's decorative."

I laughed, and it hurt a little, because it was the first time in a month.

Cory drove behind us the whole way, one car length back, and parked across two spaces in front of the branch.

He came through the door as the manager was unlocking it.

I stood at the desk of a young banker with a name tag and asked for a printed statement of the joint savings account since March.

Cory came up beside me and put his hand on my back.

I stepped out of it.

"I'm sorry, she's under a lot of strain," he told the banker, in the voice he used on clients.

"She hasn't been herself for a while."

"I'm perfectly fine," I said. "I would like the statement."

The banker looked from him to me and printed it.

It came out of the machine warm, and I laid it on the desk and ran my finger down the column.

Cory's voice dropped.

"Cassia, please. Not in front of people."

"You said you'd explain every dollar."

"It was for us. It was an investment."

"In a loft?"

He went quiet.

The banker coughed and found something interesting on his monitor.

I asked about opening an account in my name alone, and he said I could do that in ten minutes and move my half of what was left across.

Cory's face changed.

"Don't do that," he said, and for the first time in a year he sounded afraid. "Please, Cassia. Not that. Let's go home, and I'll fix it."

"Which part?" I said.

He had no answer, so I filled in the forms.

While the banker typed, I went back to the first line of the statement.

The first transfer was for nine thousand dollars, with the memo 4C DEPOSIT.

It was dated April 3rd.

April 3rd was the Thursday I got the first photo from the unknown number.

It showed Cory's car outside a brick building, and I had not understood what I was looking at.

Now I did.

Somebody had known about that loft the very day he signed for it.

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