My Husband Asked For A Divorce On His Retirement Day—So I Revealed My 30-Year Secret Chapter 13
He opened his mouth, but no answer came.
“You bought a house,” I said.
“I provided the money. You signed the papers. That makes it a loan.”
Lauren panicked.
“Mom, our mortgage is already huge, and Leo has school. Where are we supposed to get four hundred thousand dollars to pay you back?”
I smiled.
“When you were trying to convince me to sell my house, you had all the numbers figured out. How is it that now, when it’s your turn to pay, all you can talk about is pressure?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Mom, you can’t take your anger at Dad out on us.”
“I’m not taking anything out on you.” I placed the advance repayment notice on the table. “You have thirty days. You can raise the money, refinance, or sell the house. The choice is yours.”
Griffin finally shot to his feet.
“That’s enough!” He pointed a trembling finger at me. “Donatella, you came here today to get revenge on every single one of us! You’ve planned this down to the last detail. Do you have any conscience at all?”
I raised my eyes to his. “When you brought Amanda to my home and tried to force me to sell my house, did you?”
His face went from red to white.
Amanda, however, had already edged half a step away from him. Griffin turned to her immediately. “Amanda, don’t listen to her.”
Amanda forced a smile. “Griffin, of course I trust you.” But she had already removed her hand from his arm.
Jessica placed the final investigative file on the table. “Then let’s talk about Ms. Amanda.”
Amanda’s face changed instantly. “You investigated me?”
Jessica’s tone was flat. “Hearthstone operates in the elder-services market. When someone is selling expensive memberships for luxury retirement travel, it’s standard practice for us to assess the risk.”
I opened the file. Inside were screenshots from Amanda’s Facebook page.