Chapter 5
Mark was released on bail two days later.
He called me immediately.
I didn't answer.
He called again. And again. And again.
Finally, he texted.
*We need to talk. About the kids. About us. This doesn't have to be ugly.*
I showed the text to my lawyer.
"Don't respond," she said. "Let me handle all communication with him. You don't need to talk to him directly. Not now. Not ever if you don't want to."
I nodded.
I blocked his number.
But that didn't stop him.
He showed up at the house.
I was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard the knock.
I looked out the window.
It was Mark.
He looked different. Tired. Disheveled. His suit was gone, replaced by jeans and a sweatshirt.
I called the police.
Then I opened the door.
"You need to leave," I said.
"Let me in," he said. "I want to see my kids. I want to talk to you."
"You're not coming in," I said. "And you're not seeing the kids right now. Not without a court order."
His face twisted with anger.
"You can't keep my kids from me!" he shouted. "I'm their father!"
"You lost that right when you threw boiling soup at their mother," I said calmly. "The police are on their way. If you're not gone when they get here, you'll be arrested again. For violating your bail conditions."
Mark stared at me.
He looked at the bandages on my arms.
And for a moment, I thought I saw something like regret in his eyes.
But it was gone quickly.
"You're going to regret this," he said. "You think you can take everything from me? My job? My family? My reputation? You're going to pay for this."
He turned and walked to his car.
He drove away just as the police arrived.
I gave them his license plate number. I told them what had happened.
They filed a report.
Another piece of evidence against him.
That night, Lisa came over.
She could tell I was upset.
"He came here, didn't he?" she said.
I nodded.
She put her arm around me.
"He's not going to win," she said. "We have too much evidence. Too many witnesses. He's going down. And you're going to come out of this stronger than ever."
I leaned against her.
For the first time in days, I let myself cry.
All the pain. All the betrayal. All the fear.
It all came pouring out.
Lisa held me while I cried.
She didn't say anything.
She just held me.
And for the first time since this nightmare began, I didn't feel alone.
The next few weeks were a blur of activity.
Meetings with lawyers.
Gathering documents.
Talking to the police about the assault and the fraud.
Filing for divorce.
Filing for full custody.
Filing a restraining order against Mark.
Lisa was there every step of the way.
She helped me organize the evidence. She came with me to meetings. She took care of the kids when I had to be somewhere else.
My friends were there too. They brought food. They watched the kids. They listened when I needed to talk.
Mark's family was there as well. His mother called every day. His sister came over to help. His father offered to pay for anything I needed.
They were horrified by what Mark had done.
They were ashamed.
And they were firmly on my side.
"You're still our daughter," his mother told me. "You always will be. And those are our grandchildren. We're not going anywhere."
It meant more than I could say.
One day, about a month after the restaurant incident, Lisa and I were going through some old financial documents when we found something.
Something big.
Mark had a secret bank account.
An account I didn't know about.
And there was over three hundred thousand dollars in it.
Money he had been siphoning from our joint accounts for years.
Money he had hidden from me.
Money that was supposed to be for our children's college funds. For our retirement. For our future.
And there was more.
Evidence that Mark had been embezzling from his company.
Small amounts at first, then larger ones.
Over five years, he had stolen nearly a million dollars.
That was why his boss had been so quick to fire him. That was why he had been so willing to help.
He must have suspected.
And now we had proof.
Mark wasn't just a cheating husband and a domestic abuser.
He was an embezzler. A fraudster. A criminal.
And we had the evidence to prove it.
Lisa and I looked at each other.
This was bigger than we thought.
May you like
And Mark was going down harder than either of us could have imagined.
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