Chapter 2
For the next three days, I kept my mouth shut.
I cooked, did the laundry, and picked up my daughter from school like nothing was wrong.
When Michael left for work, I smiled and told him to drive safely.
When he came home, I served dinner at the table.
He didn't notice anything was off.
Because I made sure he wouldn't suspect a thing.
The next morning, I took the day off and went to the bank.
I printed out the transaction records for our joint account over the past four years.
It was 136 pages long.
I sat at the bank counter for two hours, flipping through each page one by one.
Every time I spotted a transfer to Tina, I marked it with a red pen.
By the time I finished flipping through the 136 pages, I had marked forty-eight lines in red, 5000 dollars every month.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
The real kicker was three other massive payments.
The first one was in September 2022 for 127 thousand dollars, labeled "house payment".
The second was in June 2023 for 32 thousand dollars, labeled "renovation".
The third was in February 2024 for 14 thousand dollars, labeled "car".
127 thousand dollars, 32 thousand dollars, 14 thousand dollars, plus 5000 dollars a month for forty-eight months.
It was 413 thousand dollars in total.
I sat in the bank lobby for a long time.
I remembered that last winter, I saw a down jacket I liked. It was on sale for 400 dollars.
I stood in front of the mirror for ten minutes, but in the end, I put it back.
Because Michael always said, "We've got a lot of expenses at home. We should save wherever we can."
I saved 400 dollars.
But he spent 413 thousand dollars on her.
I put the bank statements into a file folder and placed them in the trunk of my car.
Then I took the next step.
*****
I headed to the real estate office.
I looked up the two properties registered to us.
The first one was the house we bought for our wedding, back in 2016.
The second was the house we bought in 2020 in a good school district.
When I got the results, I just froze.
Neither property was in my name nor Michael's.
Both properties were in his mom's name.
The transfer date was November 2024.
That was four months ago.
Four months ago, he'd transferred both houses into his mom's name.
That month, he told me, "There are some new real estate policies. If we put the houses in my mom's name, we can avoid some taxes."
I didn't think twice and signed the papers.
I remembered that day. He even praised me, saying, "You're the easiest-going wife I've ever known."
I was too easygoing, too gullible, and way too easy to push around.
Yes. I used to be easy to push around.
I put the property records into the file folder.
*****
While I was driving, a name popped into my head.
Rachel Grant.
We were college classmates.
She's a lawyer now.
She handles divorce and family cases.
I dialed her number.
"Rachel, I need your advice on something," I said.
"Go ahead," she replied.
I told her everything.
Rachel was silent for a full ten seconds on the other end.
Then she finally spoke, "This isn't just cheating. It's bigamy. He actually married someone else while you were still his wife."
I froze for a second. "Bigamy?"
"Yeah. You two are still married, and he went and got legally married to someone else. That's a criminal offense.
"How much evidence do you have?" Rachel asked.
"I've got GPS screenshots, photos outside the city hall, bank statements, and property transfer records," I replied.
She continued, "That's enough. But don't tip him off. Give me two weeks.
"I'll do two things for you. First, I'll freeze your marital assets. Second, I'll gather a complete chain of evidence for his bigamy.
"Don't say a word for the next two weeks.
"The safer he feels, the bolder his moves will be.
"The bolder he gets, the more evidence we'll have."
"Okay," I said.
I hung up.
Before hanging up, Rachel finally said, "Susan, don't go soft on him."
I didn't go soft on him.
My days of going soft were over.
*****
When I got home, I did one thing.
I dug out the pregnancy checkup booklet from four years ago.
Tucked inside was an abortion consent form.
The date was June 18, 2022.
I signed it all by myself that day.
Michael told me he was tied up with a project.
When I called him, he said, "Just take a cab to the hospital yourself."
So I ended up taking a cab alone.
I signed the papers alone.
I walked into the operating room alone.
I lay on the hospital bed for three hours, all by myself. No one came.
I was bleeding a lot.
The nurse asked, "Why isn't your husband here?"
"He's on a business trip," I said.
The nurse didn't say anything else.
Now I knew why.
He wasn't tied up with a project.
I opened the bank statements and flipped to the page for June 18, 2022.
One payment caught my eye.
230 dollars.
The receiver was Central Maternity Hospital.
The note said: [Prenatal checkup.]
But that wasn't the hospital I went to.
I went to the Central General Hospital.
On June 18, 2022, I was getting an abortion at Central General Hospital all alone.
Meanwhile, he was at Central Maternity Hospital with Tina for her prenatal checkup.
On the same day, I lost my baby.
He was with Tina, watching their baby's ultrasound.
My phone screen blurred before my eyes.
It was not because I was crying.
It was because my hands were shaking.
I snapped a photo of that page.
Then I dropped it into my "Evidence" album.
Then I flipped to the next page.
On June 20th, the day after my abortion, there was another transfer.
1900 dollars.
The note said: [Tina's supplements.]
The day after I lost my baby, he was out buying supplements for Tina.
I searched my memory.
That day, Michael came home, glanced at me, and said, "Just drink more water."
Then he shut himself in the study, closed the door, and spent an hour talking on the phone.
I thought he was busy with work calls.
But he was actually on the phone with Tina, making sure she'd gotten the supplements.
I turned off my phone.
The cake was still in the fridge.
The letters on top were starting to blur.
It read: [Happy 38th Birthday, Honey.]
Happy.
Sure, he was happy.
He had one wife at home, waiting to celebrate his birthday.
And he also had a mistress out there, waiting for him to go home.
Both sides were happy.
Only I was unhappy.
But these days were almost over.
Rachel said she needed two weeks.
I could wait.
I'd already waited four years.
Two more weeks wouldn't kill me.
I printed out a separate copy of the bank statement from the day of my abortion.
230 dollars for Tina's prenatal checkup.
1900 dollars for her supplements.
Plus the cost of my surgery, hospital stay, and cab fare that day.
Next to the surgery fee, I wrote: [On June 18, 2022, I lost my baby. He was at Tina's prenatal checkup.]
Then I slipped the paper into the file folder, right on top.
That way, it'd be the first thing he saw when he opened it.