All Chapters of After the Divorce, I Took Everything: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

I didn't storm into the study to confront them. I stood outside the door, silent, listening."The divorce agreement needs to be signed by the end of the month."It was David's voice. The lawyer who'd worked with Louis's family for over ten years—the same one who'd handled the family assets when Louis's father Richard was hospitalized two years ago.A brief silence, then Richard asked, "Will she agree?"David let out a laugh. "If Louis plays it the way we discussed, she won't have a choice."My nails dug into my palm. The way we discussed?Suddenly I remembered the past two months—how Louis kept telling me the company was having cash flow problems, that he needed to tap into my premarital personal assets. Even the lakeside villa we'd lived in for years, he told me, couldn't be sold for now.I believed him. Eight years, and I'd almost never doubted him. After all, before my family went bankrupt, we'd helped Louis. My father had given him everything—not just his trust, but the funding to

Chapter 2

The next morning, Louis left for work like any other day."Don't wait up tonight. There's another dinner on my father's side.""Okay."He bent down and kissed my forehead, grabbed his car keys, and walked out.The moment the door closed, the smile vanished from my face.I had no interest in asking whether he was seeing Joyce again tonight. What I'd heard outside that study yesterday was enough to tell me that the real problem between us was never some other woman.I opened my laptop and logged into our joint account.For eight years, out of trust, I'd almost never checked these things. Louis handled the company, I handled the home. We each had our roles, and we built a life together that felt full. At least that's how it looked to me. After all, before we married, Louis and his family had spared no effort to win me over. But now, I started going through every single transaction.March 2019.A transfer of $270,000.Memo: Business investment.I remembered that one. That day, Louis told m

Chapter 3

For the next three days, I went to work like normal, but at night I stopped waiting for Louis to come home. I started pulling together every financial record that could work in my favor. Before I married Louis, I was a financial analyst, a licensed CPA. Reading numbers was instinct for me.I used to manage our household finances because I trusted Louis. Now, going through those accounts again felt like auditing a stranger's company.The deeper I dug, the more shaken I became.There was a transfer of $38,000 from our joint account into a company I'd never heard of.I followed the account trail and found the company was registered under the name of one of Louis's college friends. I printed the transaction records and kept going.Over the next year, that same company received several more payments from our account. $12,000. $25,000. $40,000.None of the amounts were large enough to raise flags, but each one landed just below the number that would've made me ask questions.I stared at thos

Chapter 4

I checked everything in chronological order, and it wasn't until two in the morning that Rachel suddenly sent me a document she'd just pulled.It was an amendment to the family trust.Dated 2023. I read on, and my finger slowly stopped.The document was clear. If Louis's marriage ended before a specified date, a portion of his assets would be redistributed under the new trust arrangement.Less than two months from now. I stared at that date for a long time.So that was it. They'd planned this all along. And all those years I spent paying down the mortgage, holding the household together, covering Louis's living expenses, I'd just been finishing the last step for them.Rachel sent another message. "One more thing you might need to know."Right after, a property file. The lakeside villa I'd always assumed belonged to Louis's father was indeed owned by Nelson Holdings.But earlier this year, the company's equity had changed hands. On the new beneficiary list, one name appeared.Joyce Benn

Chapter 5

What really took up my time was figuring out just how many holes I'd filled for the Nelson family over these eight years, holes nobody else wanted to touch.All weekend, I spread every document I could get my hands on across the dining table. Our credit cards, mortgage records, investment accounts, homeowner's insurance, plus Nelson Holdings' public filings and the financial authorizations I'd signed. For someone who used to work in finance, the answers usually hide in the numbers.The second month of our marriage, I started transferring money into the household account every month. Back then, Louis said he'd handle the company and investments, I'd handle daily expenses, and keeping the money in one account was simplest.I believed him completely, no questions asked.March to December 2018, I transferred in $42,000.2019, $61,500.2020, $68,400.2021, $74,200.2022, $81,600.2023, $88,000.2024, $93,700.2025, $97,500.The first eight months of 2026, another $66,800.Total: $673,700.I

Chapter 6

The office was so quiet you could only hear the sound of pages turning.Then Rachel smiled. The kind of smile a lawyer gets when she's found a fatal flaw the other side left behind."If these documents can prove the source of the funds, and the timeline lines up, then what you're facing isn't just a standard divorce asset division.""What else?""Asset disclosure." She paused. "And the question of why these assets were moved into different corporate structures right before you were preparing to divorce."So Louis thought he was hiding money. Really, he was just leaving me evidence.By the time I walked out of the law firm, it was almost evening.The sunlight was still bright, the palm trees along the street swaying gently in the wind.That's when my phone buzzed.A message from Louis."Almost home. Let's have dinner together.♥♥"I stared at that for a few seconds.Over the past eight years, he'd asked me things like this countless times. What do you want to eat? Should I bring somethin

Chapter 7

The next few days, I kept everything normal.When Louis left in the morning, I still reminded him to take his coffee. When he came home at night, I still hung his jacket by the door.He didn't notice anything. Because in this house, I'd long since grown used to being quiet.A person who's been silent for eight years can stop talking, and nobody thinks it's strange.What actually changed was what I had in my hands.Rachel had the divorce papers ready, and the asset list had been reorganized. For now, I wouldn't make a move on Louis directly, and especially wouldn't let the Nelson family know I'd already gotten my hands on those fund transfer records.But there was one more thing I needed to do. I needed to take back a seat.A seat the Nelson family had always assumed didn't belong to me.The Louis family had a private foundation, the Nelson Family Foundation. For years, all their major decisions about family assets, charitable donations, and some investment projects were confirmed throu

Chapter 8

Sure enough, a week after I moved out of that house, whether it was because he finally couldn't hold it in anymore, the doorbell rang at three in the afternoon on a weekend.I opened the door and saw Louis's mother Susan standing outside, Richard holding a bottle of wine, and Claire carrying a basket full of food.I looked at Louis, who'd come with them to confront me. "You didn't tell me they were coming.""I knew you wouldn't want to see them." He said it quietly. "So I had them come straight here."I almost laughed. Most people value personal space, but in the Nelson family, that rule seemed to apply only to outsiders. Not to me.Claire walked in like nothing had happened and set the basket down in the kitchen. "We're not here to fight." Richard sat down in the living room, looking completely at ease, as if this were his house. "We just want to settle this."I didn't respond. Susan looked at me, her tone gentle to the point of affection. "Has Richard already reached out to you?""He

Chapter 9

Rachel told me the Nelson Holdings board had called an emergency meeting.Because several outside directors had discovered that the actual funding sources for some company assets over the past few years didn't match internal disclosures.Richard started demanding Claire freeze all asset changes. Susan suddenly pulled out of a charity committee event she'd been planning to attend.When Louis went to the office, he was told he couldn't handle company assets on his own until the investigation wrapped up.Hearing this, I had a feeling these people would start turning on each other, pointing fingers.Rachel let out a laugh. "More precisely, they're trying to save themselves."I thought that would be enough.Until the next morning, when the first email from the Nelson Family Foundation landed in my inbox. The foundation wanted me to confirm donations and related financial records from the past three years.At the same time, they notified me: "Due to recent findings of potential disclosure is

Chapter 10

A year later, I happened to hear about Louis from Rachel.She said he wanted to start a new business.But the first question investors asked wasn't about his business plan. It was: "Have your past asset disclosure issues been resolved?"He wanted to apply for new financing. The other side demanded complete financial records.He wanted to break into a new investment circle. They politely told him, "It's not convenient to work together right now."He once thought that as long as he had money, he could start over. Later he found out money can be earned again, a company can be opened again.But a person's credibility, once you destroy it with your own hands, isn't so easy to rebuild.And what he lost wasn't just trust from the outside. It was trust from his own family.The Nelson family started guarding against each other.Claire no longer wanted to take on any risk for him. Susan no longer spoke up for him the way she used to.They finally began to understand. A man who could deceive his

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