Chapter 5
The soft lighting in Susan's apartment gave the place a warm, cozy feel.
It had become a temporary safe haven for Julia and Chloe.
After her bath, Chloe changed into the new pajamas Susan had bought for her, then curled up on the big, soft bed and drifted off almost instantly.
Perhaps being finally back with someone familiar, her brows softened significantly.
In the living room, Susan handed Julia a cup of warm milk.
"Julia, have some. It'll warm you up."
"Thank you, Sue."
Julia held the cup, but the warmth in her hands did nothing to thaw the cold inside her.
"Come on, you don't have to be formal with me."
Susan sat down next to her, teeth gritted with anger.
"Mark is such a bastard! I swear, I could rip him to shreds! I had a bad feeling about him from the start, back when you married him. That man's eyes have nothing but selfishness and calculation."
"It's too late for that now."
Julia shook her head, her face expressionless. "I always believed that if you treated someone with kindness, they'd return it.
"I was so good to Ryan, and I thought Mark would see that and be good to Chloe.
"But I was wrong. To him, Chloe and I were never anything but outsiders.
"To him, I was just a free nanny for his son, and Chloe was nothing but baggage he could toss aside whenever he wanted."
As she spoke, a cold, steely look flashed in Julia's eyes.
"He thinks Chloe is just baggage?
"I'll let him know what kind of price he'll pay for trying to ditch this 'baggage'."
Susan noted a ruthless edge she had never seen before in her friend's gaze. She realized her heart was broken beyond repair, and she had finally come to her senses.
"That's right! That's exactly what you should do! We can't let those two bastards walk away unpunished!"
Susan patted her chest and assured her, "Don't worry. Mr. Carter will handle the lawsuit, and I've got your back in everyday life.
"Your number one job now is to gather evidence and absolutely destroy him."
Julia nodded.
Under the remote guidance of John, she began collecting evidence methodically.
First, assets.
After Julia and Mark got married, they bought a house together, and both their names were on the deed.
The car was titled in Mark's name, but they'd bought it after the wedding.
There were also some savings, which Mark had always managed.
Julia tried to log into her mobile banking app, only to find her password had already been changed.
Mark certainly moved fast.
But Julia wasn't rattled in the slightest.
She gathered all records of large expenditures from throughout their marriage and snapped photos of them with her phone.
She'd bought Ryan limited-edition sneakers that cost over five thousand dollars.
She'd signed him up for all kinds of pricey extracurricular classes, costing thousands of dollars a year.
Meanwhile, most of the clothes she bought for Chloe were just sale items.
And the only extracurricular Julia ever signed Chloe up for was just a dance class.
The contrast made the injustice obvious.
These spending records were all the evidence that showed Julia had never acted out of self-interest in this family, and Mark's so-called "financial pressure" was nothing but ridiculous nonsense.
Next up, witnesses.
She reached out to Chloe's preschool teacher.
The teacher was incensed when she heard what Chloe had gone through.
"Mrs. Evans, don't worry. I'll definitely testify for you!
"Every time there's a parent-teacher meeting, you're the one who shows up. Whenever Chloe needs anything at school, you're always the first one here for her.
"As for Mr. Evans... honestly, besides dropping off and picking up his son, he barely even talks to Chloe.
"He's even scolded Chloe several times right in front of us, telling her she's being difficult and causing him trouble."
The teacher's words gave Julia another solid piece of evidence.
After finishing all that, Julia suddenly remembered something else.
She opened up their family's cloud photo album.
It was a shared album for the four of them, where Julia often uploaded pictures of the kids.
As she scrolled through the photos, her heart grew colder and colder.
Most of the photos in the album were of Ryan, playing ball, playing the piano, and going on trips.
In every single one, Mark always had that affectionate, proud smile on his face.
But there were barely any photos of Chloe.
Even when Chloe did show up in a photo, she was just a blurry extra in the background.
Suddenly, Julia's finger paused on the screen.
It was a candid shot taken casually in Mark's study. She captured it when Ryan was using the computer.
She zoomed in on the photo.
On the computer screen was a real estate rental website.
There was a rental listing for a compact apartment.
An electronic draft of the tenancy agreement was open on the screen.
The name listed as the tenant was Mark.
The start date for the lease was the day after Julia got back from her business trip.
Julia understood in an instant.
Mark had already planned it all.
He was going to send Chloe away while Julia was out of town, then as soon as she returned, he'd hit her with the divorce and throw both of them out of the house.
He'd already lined up a place for himself to live after the divorce.
A perfect backstabbing move.
Julia was shaking with rage. She took a screenshot of the photo and sent it straight to John.
Almost at the same moment, John's phone call came through.
"Mrs. Evans, Mark has officially filed for divorce."
John's voice was calm and steady.
"He's filing for divorce, seeking a division of marital property, and demanding 30,000 dollars from you as compensation for emotional distress.
"He also asks for full custody of his son, Ryan."
Shameless.
Absolutely shameless.
Julia took a deep breath, holding back the rage that threatened to spill over, her voice icy cold.
"Mr. Carter, did you get the photo I just sent?"
"I did."
There was a hint of a smile in his voice.
"Mrs. Evans, this evidence you just sent over is extremely timely.
"This isn't just about abandonment or transferring assets anymore.
"This is premeditated, malicious fraud and abuse.
"Rest assured. We've got this case in the bag."