Chapter 6 - What I Had Allowed
I called Hannah before touching another page.
“Tell me exactly what you’re seeing,” she said.
The twins’ savings account had held two hundred thousand dollars.
Now it held one hundred and fourteen thousand.
Victoria and I both had access. We had agreed the money was for their future.
I had never checked after setting up the account.
That sentence became a drumbeat in my head.
I had never checked.
Not Emily’s wages.
Not the hospital donation.
Not the way Victoria spoke when she thought I couldn’t hear.
I had mistaken paying for things for taking care of people.
“Send me the statements you can access through your own login,” Hannah said. “Don’t confront her about the money.”
“I already confronted her about everything else.”
“Then stop giving her a preview.”
A financial investigator would eventually trace the transfers. For now, I could see that withdrawals from the children’s account had gone into the same account that received Noah’s money.
Victoria’s household account.
I sat at the kitchen island, remembering the designer bags delivered last month.
The weekend she said she was visiting an old friend.
The card payment she called a billing mistake.
Grace entered carrying Owen.
“He finally burped.”
A tiny, ridiculous announcement.
I almost cried.
She sat beside me.
“You need to eat.”
“I gave her control of everything.”
“You trusted your wife.”
“I also ignored things.”
Grace waited.
“Emily stopped eating with us. Victoria said she preferred privacy.”
“Did you ask Emily?”
“No.”
“Then remember that. But don’t use guilt as an excuse to fall apart. Those kids need you functional.”
Owen waved one fist in his sleep.
I touched his fingers.
That afternoon, Hannah helped me begin divorce proceedings and request an emergency custody hearing. The police continued investigating the assault.
Emily gave a second statement with an advocate beside her.
For the first time since I had known her, she didn’t apologize before answering a question.
At seven that evening, the doorbell rang.
Victoria stood outside with an officer assigned to keep the peace while she collected necessities.
She had been released with conditions.
She looked past me into the house.
“Where are my children?”
“With Grace.”
“You can’t turn everyone against me.”
I said nothing.
May you like
As she passed, she leaned close enough that only I could hear.
“Check your email before you decide what kind of father you are.”
