“There’s something you need to know.”
Mark immediately stepped forward.
“Don’t you dare.”
Claire ignored him.
“Remember that message about having something we needed?”
My heart started pounding.
I nodded.
She looked toward the living room.
“This house, that’s what he meant.”
I stared at her.
Claire swallowed.
“Mark told me your father had left you a valuable property. He said that once you married, he would convince you to put his name on the deed.”
I felt cold.
“He said that?”
She nodded.
“He told me he would sell the house eventually, and we could use the money to start over.”
Mark shouted, “SHE’S LYING!”
But Claire took out her phone.
She showed me a message from six months earlier.
It was from my husband.
Once her name is off the house, everything becomes easier. Just give me time.
My hands began trembling.
Suddenly, I remembered something.
Two months earlier, Mark had repeatedly encouraged me to refinance the house.
He had told me it would help us prepare financially for the baby.
And he had insisted that adding his name to the property would make us a stronger family.
I had refused because my father had always asked me to protect the house.
Now I understood.
My marriage hadn’t simply been falling apart.
Mark had been making plans behind my back almost from the beginning.
I looked at him.
“Did you marry me because you loved me, or because you wanted my house?”
For the first time that evening, he had nothing to say.
Claire walked out.
Then Rachel approached me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
“You’re not alone,” she whispered.
That’s when I finally started crying.
Not because Mark had betrayed me.
But because someone finally believed me.
That night, Mark packed a suitcase and left voluntarily.
Over the following weeks, he called constantly.
He apologized.
He sent flowers.
He promised that Claire meant nothing.
But every time I considered answering, I remembered that message.
Once her name is off the house, everything becomes easier.
Three months later, I received another surprise.
