Chapter 7 · On Our Seventh Anniversary, I Heard What My Husband Told My Sister

Nora trembled all over as she listened, her knuckles whitening as she clenched her fists.

"How could they do this to you! Lily is your own sister! When she first arrived in Boston without a place to stay, you paid her rent out of your own private savings!"

"And Ethan... Back when he struggled to get his company off the ground, could he have achieved any of his success without your help?"

"How dare they scheme against you like this!"

"Anger solves nothing, Nora," I said, taking her hand.

"Crying or throwing a tantrum will only validate the 'trauma and PTSD' narrative they're planning to pin on me."

"Ethan is deeply rooted in Boston's business circles. If I make a scene without hard proof, everyone will simply sympathize with him for being married to a deaf, paranoid woman."

"I need to leave. But first, I have to secure my documents and figure out which accounts I can still access on my own. I can no longer let them manage everything for me."

I calmly walked Nora through the situation I was facing.

"Stay at my place," Nora said without a second thought, unhooking a key from her ring and slapping it onto the table. "I have a vacant apartment in Beacon Hill. Nobody knows about it except me. You can move in whenever you're ready."

"Thank you, Nora." I closed my fingers, clutching the key tight in my palm.

"A place to stay isn't enough."

Nora took a deep breath, grabbing her phone from the table.

"I'm taking you to see someone right now. My cousin Audrey—she's a top-tier Boston attorney specializing in high-net-worth divorces. Regular law firms don't stand a chance against a two-faced businessman like Ethan."

Twenty minutes later, in a discreet private legal office on a quiet back street, I met Audrey.

Dressed in a sharp, tailored suit, the woman wasted no time on pleasantries. After hearing my account and reviewing the privacy agreement I had just signed at the hospital, she took out a pen and swiftly jotted down a checklist on a notepad:

Marriage certificate and original identity documents.

Original certificates and deeds for your premarital trust funds, properties, and individual accounts.

Joint accounts, investment portfolios you have legal access to, and household financial records you previously managed or lawfully hold copies of.

Any evidence of his extramarital affair, related expenditures, and attempts to control or interfere with your personal decisions.

Audrey slid the checklist toward me.

"First, take the documents and materials you can access legitimately. We can deal with the rest later. Don't risk confronting them just to look for things."

"He's traveling to Chicago next Tuesday and will be away for three days," I said. "Packing will be easiest then."

"You can plan around that timeline. But if anything changes, leave immediately. Don't wait until you have every single piece of paper."

I nodded.

In truth, I could have packed my bags and left tonight.

The reason I hadn't was that too many unanswered questions still weighed on my mind.

Chapter 7

Nora trembled all over as she listened, her knuckles whitening as she clenched her fists.

"How could they do this to you! Lily is your own sister! When she first arrived in Boston without a place to stay, you paid her rent out of your own private savings!"

"And Ethan... Back when he struggled to get his company off the ground, could he have achieved any of his success without your help?"

"How dare they scheme against you like this!"

"Anger solves nothing, Nora," I said, taking her hand.

"Crying or throwing a tantrum will only validate the 'trauma and PTSD' narrative they're planning to pin on me."

"Ethan is deeply rooted in Boston's business circles. If I make a scene without hard proof, everyone will simply sympathize with him for being married to a deaf, paranoid woman."

"I need to leave. But first, I have to secure my documents and figure out which accounts I can still access on my own. I can no longer let them manage everything for me."

I calmly walked Nora through the situation I was facing.

"Thank you, Nora." I closed my fingers, clutching the key tight in my palm.

"A place to stay isn't enough."

Nora took a deep breath, grabbing her phone from the table.

Twenty minutes later, in a discreet private legal office on a quiet back street, I met Audrey.

Marriage certificate and original identity documents.

Original certificates and deeds for your premarital trust funds, properties, and individual accounts.

Joint accounts, investment portfolios you have legal access to, and household financial records you previously managed or lawfully hold copies of.

Any evidence of his extramarital affair, related expenditures, and attempts to control or interfere with your personal decisions.

Audrey slid the checklist toward me.

"First, take the documents and materials you can access legitimately. We can deal with the rest later. Don't risk confronting them just to look for things."

"He's traveling to Chicago next Tuesday and will be away for three days," I said. "Packing will be easiest then."

"You can plan around that timeline. But if anything changes, leave immediately. Don't wait until you have every single piece of paper."

I nodded.

In truth, I could have packed my bags and left tonight.

The reason I hadn't was that too many unanswered questions still weighed on my mind.