Chapter 4

Because he had always believed Isabel truly loved him, that she'd never leave him over money.

Reality had just slapped that belief right off his face.

Seeing that I said nothing, Isabel assumed I thought the price was too high.

"Let me spell it out for you plainly. If you don't give me the money, I'll keep clinging to Rolf and I'll make sure your family never knows a moment's peace."

Rolf lost it, his face flushing red. "Isabel, have you no shame at all?"

"You actually have the nerve to ask me for eight million? These six years we've been together, which of it wasn't mine? The car, the apartment, all of it bought by me. This job of yours, I'm the one who found it for you. Back when your brother couldn't have cared less whether your parents lived or died, I'm the one who covered their medical bills. I even hired an aide to look after them after their surgery. Otherwise, you think you'd be living this well right now?"

Isabel slammed her phone down on the table. "Spare me the noble act, Rolf. Have some shame yourself! Six years, I put out for you countless times, free of charge. Did I ever ask you for a single cent? Never. That money, you gave it to me because you wanted to. And now you want to settle accounts with me?"

Rolf froze. Then he suddenly turned and met my cold stare.

That was when it hit him that he'd said too much.

"Madison, let me explain—"

I let out a scoff. "No need to explain. How much more is there? Say it all in one go."

All of it was marital property. And he had handed it over to Isabel, every bit of it, without my consent.

I would take it all back, piece by piece. I wasn't going to let them get away with it.

Rolf was famously tight with money.

Eight million all at once. There was no way he'd agree to that.

But if he wouldn't pay it, I would.

I smiled as I spoke. "Isabel, I'll pay the eight million. But it'll be transferred to your card in three installments when the time comes. For now, go home and wait to hear from me."

Seeing me give in, Isabel dropped the act. "Fine. But if you don't come through with the money, I'll cling to Rolf for the rest of my life. I'll make sure it eats at you, that you never feel at ease again."

After she left, Rolf slumped to the floor like a deflated ball.

He'd had his heart broken.

A man who had always been certain the other person loved him truly, jolted awake in that moment to the fact that the woman had only gotten close to him for the money. How laughable.

Back home, Rolf even put on an apron and went into the kitchen to cook.

Everything laid out on the table was something I liked to eat.

Our daughter, out of nowhere, had drawn a picture of the three of us as a family.

She'd stuck it on the fridge.

I didn't know what they meant by all of it.

But I didn't eat dinner.

I hid in the bedroom and called my best friend, the lawyer.

I told her the whole thing from start to finish, not leaving out a single word.

"God, that is so disgusting! Rolf is still in contact with that Isabel woman to this day? If it hadn't been for the two of them back then, you wouldn't have suffered like that, wouldn't have had your uterus removed. And he still has the appetite to go chasing after other women!"

I stayed calm, as though none of it had anything to do with me.

"That's right. It's only now that I've found out he's been cheating on me the whole six years, and maliciously moving our joint marital assets on top of it. When the time comes, I'll need you to help me. I'm going to make sure he walks away with nothing."

Curious, she asked, "What about your daughter, then? Can you really give her up?"

"Gladly. An ungrateful little thing like that, I never should have raised her in the first place."

Life went on, quiet as ever.

On Isabel's end, I'd promised to send the money in two months.

In the meantime, she agreed she wouldn't see Rolf again.

But by now Rolf had gone cold on her completely.

Today, same as always, he took our daughter to school and went off to work himself.

So first thing in the morning, with my marriage certificate and ID in hand, I applied for an investigation order with my best friend's help.

I pulled the complete records of every bank card, savings card, and credit card Rolf had held over a full six years.

And every transfer he'd made to Isabel, every large cash withdrawal, every remittance, I screenshotted, printed, stamped, and filed.

Among them was a fixed transfer of ten thousand every month, the living allowance he gave Isabel.

There was also that transfer from six years ago covering her parents' surgery, and the large-payment receipts for the car and the apartment.

That evening, back home, I got hold of his old phone too.

He'd always lied to me that the phone was dead and useless.

When in fact he'd hidden it away in a compartment inside the closet.

Inside were the original chat logs and transaction records with Isabel that he hadn't gotten around to deleting.

While he was in the shower, I exported those six years of digital payment statements in full.

They contained countless flirty transfers, large holiday gift transfers, and everyday shopping payments.

I recorded it all on video and had it notarized for safekeeping.

Three in the morning.

I got up in the dark.

I saved another six years of their flirty chat logs, their conversations while living together, their intimate photos together, the videos from holidays they'd gone on side by side.

I saw that Rolf had pinned Isabel to the top of his contacts.

The label read: Baby, my wife.

The label he'd given me was my full name.

Nearly every day, Rolf had endless sweet nothings for her.

"Don't worry, Isabel, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life. This car and this apartment are the security I'm giving you to live on, and they're my gift to you."

"Your parents are my parents. Their medical bills are mine to cover."

"You haven't found a job yet, so the ten thousand a month is a little something from my heart. Take good care of yourself, or it'll break my heart."

And the most important thing of all was that Isabel had once had an abortion for him.

On the hospital's consent form for the procedure, in the space for the father, the name filled in was Rolf's. And there was documentation to prove it.

I took that too, along with everything else.

Once I'd saved every last record, I chose the day of Rolf's birthday.

I wrapped the divorce agreement inside a gift box and handed it to him in front of all the relatives and friends.

He opened it, smiling.

Then, in the next second, the smile froze on his face, and on our daughter's too.

With trembling hands, he held the divorce agreement out in front of me.

"Madison, what is this supposed to mean? You already know Isabel was only with me for the money, don't you? You won. Why are you still doing this? You know I can't live without you."

I smiled, and smashed the cake into his face.

Then I bent our daughter's favorite Barbie in two and threw it in the trash.

"Didn't you say my personality was too domineering, that you didn't want to live with me?"

"Fine. I'll grant you your wish."