All Chapters of The Milk She Called Wasteful: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

By then, Lauren seemed to realize how ugly the whole thing looked.Her face went red."That's not what I meant. Mom, Dad, please don't misunderstand."My father lifted a hand."You two are adults. Work it out yourselves. Just stop turning every disagreement into a family meeting with both sets of parents in it."Patricia nodded quickly."Exactly. Everyone should calm down and talk."Lauren pursed her lips. I said nothing.Before my parents left, Dad gave my shoulder a quiet pat and said nothing at all.I understood him. Lauren had come home. There was no point dragging it out.The second everyone else was gone, though, she turned on me."Wow, Daniel. You called your parents over so all three of you could put me on trial?"I looked at her."You're no better. You walked through that door and started tearing into me."She stopped short.I don't think it had ever occurred to her that I might answer back.She glared at me, then gave me the silent treatment.In the past, I'd

Our house was worth a little over $650,000, and it sat in a popular district everybody wanted.Lauren had the nerve to borrow against it behind my back.My hands shook so badly I had to sit down. For a second I thought I might pass out.She wanted the reputation. The generous sister who took care of everything.I worked myself into the ground, came home after midnight, and couldn't drink a bottle of milk without hearing about it.And she was ready to gamble our home so she could throw her brother a spectacular wedding.That was the moment something in me shut off.This marriage was finished.I steadied myself and told the bank I was the titled owner, that I had never authorized the loan, and that the signature wasn't mine. Then I reported it.After reviewing the file, the bank confirmed the signature was forged and rejected the application.The moment the house was safe, I went to an attorney.I walked out with a proposed divorce and custody agreement.When I got home, Laur

On her way out she passed a couple of neighbors, and I watched them turn and start talking behind their hands.My heart was pounding. I pulled out and followed her.A luxury sedan picked her up and drove straight to a hotel.I sat there for a moment with my eyes closed. So this was where we'd ended up.I didn't confront her. I didn't say a word.I waited almost a month.Kyle's wedding was getting close when Lauren finally ran out of patience and laid it all out for me.The terms were the ones we'd already discussed. Forty-five thousand. Ethan stayed with me. I wouldn't pursue support from her.Looking at her face while she made her demands, I almost smiled. I signed, and we filed.On her way out she left me one last line."Daniel, you are the worst man I've ever known.""Sure. I'm the worst, and you're the capable one. I hope your future is everything you want it to be. Ideally you'll spend the rest of your life living for your brother, because nobody has ever been a better

I called the police and had them removed, then sent Lauren a warning: bother me again and the affair evidence goes public.She stopped coming.Not long after, I saw her on the news.Lauren had been arrested in connection with a fraud case. Julian Reeve was nobody's fool. He'd poured a few hundred thousand dollars in and around her, and he'd also put stack after stack of paperwork in front of her to sign.She was too dazzled by the life to read any of it. She found out later that his family was in the lending business, and every one of those documents was a loan contract.Every dollar she'd spent, and there was over three hundred thousand of it, was money she owed. She couldn't repay a cent of it, so he sued her. With principal and interest, the claim came to nearly six hundred thousand dollars.Of course she panicked. And with nowhere else to turn, she thought of me.I'm not rich the way Julian is, but I clear about a quarter of a million a year. A few years of my life would hav