He Locked Me Out Now He’s Begging Me Back Chapter 29
“I don’t agree. My name is on the deed. You have no right to sell!”
Tessa had stopped crying. Daniel’s mother had closed her mouth. They both looked like they were waiting for me to cave.
I glanced at the scraps on the floor.
“That’s why I need a judge.”
The fury on Daniel’s face stiffened.
“You think a few sheets of paper can threaten me?”
“This isn’t a threat.”
I took out my phone and pulled up the electronic copy from my lawyer.
“The one you tore up was just a copy. The real filing will be served by the court.”
His face went hard. “I said I’m not selling!”
“Then we have another option.”
He stared at me. “What option?”
I met his eyes.
“We get divorced.”
At those three words, even Noah’s sobbing stopped.
Daniel’s lips moved, as if he hadn’t understood what he’d just heard.
“You’re divorcing me over a house?”
“Not over the house.”
I looked at the man I had lived beside for seven years.
“It’s because you keep making decisions for me and then telling me to accept them.”
“You agreed to let Tessa move in long-term, but you told me it was only for six weeks. You made a co-owner into a guest while giving permanent access to someone who had contributed nothing. You used our address to enroll Noah for a full school year and then tried to take out a loan against our house to turn the backyard into my permanent living space.”
“Every single time, I told you no.”
Daniel cut in quickly. “I can change it! I can restore your lock access right now, and we won’t do the loan. I’ll tell Tessa—”
“Now is too late.”
When I first objected to Tessa staying long-term, he said I was overreacting.
When I refused to sign for the HELOC, he said I didn’t care about family.
When I moved out, stopped paying the bills, even had a lawyer send a letter, he still decided I was just being emotional and would eventually come back to clean up the mess.
Only now that the house itself might be sold was he finally saying he could change.
“Daniel, you’re not failing to understand me,” I said.
I bent and placed half of the torn petition back on the entry table.
“You just never thought what I said mattered.”
He reached for me. I stepped back.
“Claire, we can go home and talk.”
“This stopped being my home a long time ago.”
I pulled the door open and looked back at him.
“This time, I’m not warning you.”
“I’m telling you it’s over.”