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Chapter 42 — What You Would Be Costing
publish date:
2026-06-17 17:03:49
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The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 170 — The Man Behind the Letter Anita
Odette called on a Tuesday, three weeks after the formal response had gone out, her voice carrying something I hadn't heard from her before."Voss wants to meet," she said. "Directly. Not through lawyers, not at a mediation table. He asked specifically for a conversation with you, informal, before this goes any further.""Is that normal.""It's unusual. Not unheard of, but unusual." Odette's tone had gone careful. "I'd normally advise against it entirely. But I've done some digging on this man beyond the court filings, and I don't think he's the villain his lawyers have made him sound like in these documents. I think he might genuinely just want to understand what happened to his money.""What do you think I should do.""I think, cautiously, with me present, it might actually help your case more than hurt it. Judges and mediators respond well to good faith. If you're willing to meet him directly, openly, it tells a different story than a woman hiding behind lawyers and paperwork."I t
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 169 — Not Quite Enough
AnitaOdette called at nine the next morning, before I'd even finished my coffee, her voice carrying a caution that hadn't been there the previous evening."I've read everything you sent," she said. "The invoices, the margin notes, all of it. It's strong. Genuinely strong. But I need to walk you through something before you get your hopes up too far."I set the coffee down."What's wrong.""Nothing's wrong, exactly. It's a real complication, though." Odette's voice had gone careful. "Voss's lawyers filed an amended claim overnight. They saw this coming, apparently, or they're simply thorough. They're not arguing you consented to the arrangement anymore. They've shifted the whole theory.""To what.""Unjust enrichment. Even if you never knew about the funding, even if you never consented, the argument now is that you benefited from money that was never legally Donald's to give away. That the benefit itself, regardless of your knowledge, created an obligation." Odette paused. "It's a cl
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 168 — The First Year Anita
The old records lived in three cardboard boxes at the back of Helen’s storage unit, water-stained at the corners, labeled in handwriting that felt strange to look at now, mine but from a much younger version of me.“I haven’t opened these since we moved offices the first time,” Helen said, prying the lid off the top box. “I honestly forgot we still had them.”We spread the contents across a folding table Ruth had lent us, invoices and supplier contracts and receipts gone soft with age, and started sorting by date, working backward from Sorrel’s official launch toward the messy, uncertain months before it.“Here,” Helen said, an hour in, holding up a single sheet. “Ashworth Textiles. First order, dated the month before we officially opened.”I took it from her, reading the terms.“Payment terms look normal. Net thirty, standard rates.”“Keep looking. There’s more than one invoice from them.”There were four, spread across Sorrel’s first six months, each one larger than the last, and by
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 167 — What the Lawyer Said Anita
Kelvin made it home in fifteen minutes rather than twenty, still in half his costume, a jacket that clearly belonged to someone else’s wardrobe department thrown over his own shirt, his hair still styled for a scene he’d abandoned mid-setup.He crossed the workshop floor without stopping to catch his breath.“Where’s the letter.”I handed it to him, and watched him read it standing in the middle of the workshop floor, his jaw tightening with each line, one hand flat against the cutting table as though he needed something solid to press against while he took it in.“Six figures.”“Six figures.”“For a claim that makes no sense. Sorrel existed before you married him.”“I know.”Helen’s lawyer arrived within the hour, a woman named Odette Marchetti who shook all our hands briskly and set a laptop on the cutting table without waiting to be offered a proper seat.“Helen filled me in on the phone,” she said. “I’ve had a chance to run a few searches already. I want to walk you through what I
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 166 — A Letter Anita
The envelope sat on the front counter when I came in, unremarkable, thick cream paper, my full legal name typed across it instead of handwritten."That came by courier an hour ago," Helen said, not looking up from the swatches she was sorting. "Wouldn't say who it was from. Made me sign for it though."I turned it over. A law firm's return address, embossed, three words I didn't recognize.I opened it at the cutting table, the letter opener still sitting where I'd left it from the morning's fabric orders.Two pages. Dense text, a case number in the header, my name and Sorrel's name both listed under a heading that read *NOTICE OF CLAIM.*I read the first paragraph twice.*The undersigned represents Mr. Aldric Voss in connection with a financial interest arising from investment capital contributed to Hargrove Ventures LLC in the period preceding the events subject to public record. Said capital was subsequently redirected, without the knowledge or consent of Mr. Voss, into the founding
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 165 — The First Delivery Anita
The first order in the new building arrived by courier on a Tuesday, an ordinary brown box that Helen intercepted before I’d even noticed the doorbell.“This is the wedding coat,” she said, setting it carefully on my new cutting table. “Finished. Ready to ship. I wanted you to see it laid out here, in this room, before it leaves.”I unwrapped it slowly, the fabric I’d chosen months ago finally realized in full, every seam exactly where I’d planned it, the coat’s silhouette catching the light pouring through the tall windows behind me.“It’s good,” I said quietly.“It’s better than good. It’s some of the best work you’ve ever done.” Helen ran a hand along the collar, admiring the construction. “The bride’s going to cry when she sees this.”I thought about the woman who’d commissioned it, her mother’s old coat, the strange, layered meaning of building something new out of a connection to work I’d made in an entirely different life.“I hope it makes her happy.”“It will.”Manny wandered
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 5-Still
One message.A number I did not recognise.No words.Just a photograph.I sat on the edge of the bed in the dark and looked at it.Donald. Lying back against a woman I had never seen before. His head on her chest. Her hand resting in his hair like it belonged there. His face completely open in a wa
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 4-Professional distance
His footsteps stopped just inside the kitchen doorway.I had turned the phone over by then. Both hands on the counter. Face arranged into something that had no name for what was behind it.I did not turn around.I stood there and listened. Donald’s silences were never empty. They were always full o
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 3-The routine
The coffee machine made its noise at six forty-seven.I didn’t move to pour until it finished. I stood at the counter with my hands wrapped around nothing and listened to it run. That sound. The only sound in the whole house. The specific quiet that exists when you are the only one awake and have n
The wife I swore I’d never be Chapter 2-The silence after
Donald did not say a word on the way home. Not one. Not when I fell into step beside him as the evening wound down. Not when we collected our coats and walked out into the cool Velmoor night. Not when he opened the car door for me with the quiet efficiency of a man performing a task he stopped t
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