Chapter 5

I stared at Jeremy and made sure every word sounded clear. "How is Emily different?"

Jeremy opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Emily gently tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Jeremy, let's go."

"Hold on." I stepped in front of them. "Jeremy, tell me, what makes Emily so different?"

"She is young." Jeremy stared at me; his eyes showed something I couldn't read. "She is energetic. She knows how to be sweet and cheer me up."

"So?"

"So I'm willing to spend money on her. And you? Besides keeping track of expenses, what else do you do?"

Jeremy's words caused a piercing pain in my chest. I stood there, unable to say anything.

Emily held Jeremy's hand and whispered, "Jeremy, don't argue with her anymore. Let's go."

Jeremy shot me a look, turned, and headed for the door.

"Jeremy," I called out to him.

He turned around.

"Emily is young?" I looked at him and suddenly laughed. "So when you get old, you should get dumped."

Jeremy's face turned livid right away. "You—"

I cut him off. "Besides, in three years, I handed your family $60,000, and you bought Emily a bag for $25,000."

I walked right up to him and stared into his eyes. "Jeremy, do you deserve that?" With that, I turned around and headed for the bedroom, locking the door.

Behind me, I heard the sound of a door slamming. It was loud. But I felt calm deep down.

After Jeremy and Emily left, I sat in the bedroom for a long while.

My phone buzzed several times, but I didn't bother to check.

At 3 PM, Laura called. "Sarah, are you okay?" She sounded worried. "You suddenly took a day off, and I thought something bad happened."

"I'm fine." My voice was a bit hoarse. "I'm only tired."

"You don't sound alright. Did you cry?"

"No."

"You can't fool me." Laura sighed. "What happened? Did you and Jeremy quarrel?"

I stayed quiet for a few seconds and then told her everything that happened at noon.

Laura was silent for a long pause after hearing it. "Sarah, listen to me." She sounded serious. "Call Frank, right now."

"We're still in the pre-divorce separation period."

"What the fuck." Laura raised her voice. "Jeremy is showing off his mistress to his parents, and you're still trying to stay calm? What do you think he is doing these thirty days? He is moving your money."

I was stunned. "Transferring assets?"

"Yes. Frank has seen this kind of thing too many times. When a guy suggests a pre-divorce separation period, it's almost always to buy time to move the money. Think about it. Since you got married, where's all your cash gone?"

I tried to remember. My salary always went to Jeremy. He said he'd take care of the finances and told me to focus on work.

Every month, he'd hand me $1,000 for spending money. The rest was all in his hands.

"Jeremy said he was managing the money," I whispered.

"Managing the money?" Laura sneered. "More like spending it on his mistress. Sarah, sober up. That homewrecker is carrying a $25,000 bag. Where do you think that money came from?"

My hands started trembling.

"You need to check your bank accounts right now. See if there have been any big withdrawals or transfers lately."

"But I don't know the password."

"You're Jeremy's wife. You have every right to check your marital assets. Go to the bank, get your account statements, and then call Frank. Don't waste any time."

*****

After hanging up, I grabbed my bag and rushed out the door. The nearest bank was at the entrance of our neighborhood.

I grabbed my driver's license and marriage certificate and then lined up at the counter.

Finally, it was my turn. "Hi, I need to check my husband's bank statements." I handed over my documents.

The teller glanced at my papers. "Which account would you like to check?"

"All of them."

The teller froze for a second and then nodded. "A moment, please."

Ten minutes later, she handed me a stack of papers. "There are three accounts in total. These are the statements from the last six months."