At year’s end, my husband claimed every flight was sold out and forced us onto a fifty-hour train home.

thousand dollars.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Martin opened Daniel’s cloud backups.

Not illegally.

The devices were company assets from my old firm, still registered under an executive-security agreement Daniel had signed.

The messages were devastating.

Vanessa: Make her miserable on the trip.

Daniel: She’s too soft to leave.

Vanessa: Once the baby comes, she’ll never fight you.

Then another message.

Daniel: Dad says after the birth I should convince her to add me to the Mercer trust.

Vanessa: Finally. You’ve played husband long enough.

I read that line