Chapter 3 - The Account Nobody Knew AboutDavid didn't come home that night.
Instead, he sent his lawyer.
The lawyer arrived at nine the following morning carrying a folder.
“Mrs. Hayes, David wants to discuss the household arrangements.”
I almost laughed.
“Household arrangements?”
“He believes the current situation is temporary.”
I opened the folder.
Inside was a document stating that Teresa and Harold had the right to remain in the house for four years.
I read it twice.
Then I looked up.
“This signature isn't mine.”
His lawyer stiffened.
“It appears to be.”
“No.”
I pointed to the bottom.
“My signature has always included a distinctive loop here.”
I showed him my driver's license.
“This is forged.”
His expression changed.
“I'm going to need to investigate that.”
“You should.”
He gathered the papers.
“David will be contacting you.”
“I look forward to it.”
After he left, I called my attorney.
He arrived within an hour.
We reviewed the documents together.
“Eleanor,” he said, “this isn't just fraud against you.”
“What is it?”
“Your husband may have been preparing to transfer ownership of the house.”
My blood ran cold.
“To Sophia?”
He nodded.
I stared at him.
“How?”
“Through a shell company.”
He opened another file.
There it was.
A corporation created eighteen months earlier.
Its registered address belonged to an office building in Manhattan.
Its manager was Sophia Grant.
I leaned back.
“So the affair wasn't just an affair.”
“No.”
My attorney looked at me.
“Your husband may have been building another life.”
That afternoon, I drove downtown.
I didn't go to see David.
I went to see Sophia.
She was sitting alone in a coffee shop.
When she saw me, her face went white.
“You know.”
I sat across from her.
“I know about the jewelry.”
She looked down.
“I can explain.”
“I don't want an explanation.”
I placed a printed bank statement on the table.
“I want the truth.”
Sophia stared at it.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“David told me you knew.”
“I didn't.”
“He said your marriage was already over.”
I said nothing.
“He promised me a future.”
“He promised me the same thing.”
She looked shocked.
“What?”
“He promised me forever.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
I continued.
“How much money has he transferred to you?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
She looked at the statement.
“About two million.”
I felt my stomach turn.
“Where is it?”
She looked terrified.
“Some of it is in the company.”
“Which company?”
She whispered the name.
It matched the shell company.
Then she said something that changed everything.
“David wasn't just moving money to me.”
“What else?”
“He was moving money from several clients.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
She shook her head.
“I thought he was investing it.”
“For whom?”
She looked at me.
“Foreign accounts.”
Japan.
Singapore.
Cayman Islands.
The list continued.
I stood.
“Thank you.”
“Eleanor?”
I stopped.
“I'm sorry.”
I looked back at her.
“You should be.”
Then I left.
Outside, my attorney called.
“Eleanor, we found something.”
“What?”
“David's Tokyo transfer isn't a promotion.”
I stopped walking.
“What is it?”
“He wasn't transferred.”
“He requested the transfer.”
“Why?”
My attorney paused.
“Because the company is under investigation.”
I stared at the traffic moving around me.
David wasn't going to Tokyo to build our future.
May you like
He was running.
And he expected me to stay behind and take care of the people he left behind.
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