Chapter 8 - I Filed for Divorce
I stopped wearing my wedding ring.
Then I instructed my attorney to begin the process of ending the marriage.
Preston came to my townhouse after receiving notice.
I didn’t let him inside.
We spoke through the closed storm door while Sophie stayed with my sister.
“Claire, please.”
“You hit my daughter.”
“I lost control.”
“Yes.”
“My mother told me Sophie took the bracelet.”
“And that was enough?”
He looked down.
“No.”
“Then what are we discussing?”
“I love you.”
I almost laughed.
“You loved the version of me that came without boundaries.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Neither was hitting an eight-year-old.”
He put both hands against the doorframe.
Then he finally admitted something important.
Margaret had been pressuring him to convince me to sell the townhouse after the wedding.
The plan was to use part of the proceeds as the down payment on a jointly owned house.
That would free some of Preston’s income to address his debts.
I had repeatedly refused.
So Margaret began portraying Sophie as spoiled, dishonest, and overly attached to the townhouse because it had been her home with her biological father.
“If Sophie became the problem,” I said, “I’d be more willing to move.”
Preston didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
“Did you know about the bracelet?”
“Not before the reception.”
“Did you know your mother was trying to make Sophie look unstable?”
His eyes shifted.
“Preston.”
“I knew she thought Sophie needed more discipline.”
I closed the main door.
He called my name from outside.
I didn’t reopen it.
Twenty minutes later, he sent a message.
There’s something about the prenup you need to know.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
The wedding had lasted less than a day.
But whatever Preston was hiding had begun long before it.
