April Fools “Surprise” Husband Divorcing Me For His “Pure” Girl novel Chapter 24

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Day seven of lockdown.

I was on the balcony doing inventory.

Half a bag of rice. Maybe a quarter bottle of oil left. The fridge? If we rationed hard, two days. Three if we got lucky.

I pulled up my bank app.

Checked the joint account.

Checked again.

One more time, just to be sure I wasn’t losing my mind.

Balance: $4,207.63

Last month? There’d been nearly half a million in there.

I opened the transaction history.

Started scrolling.

–

–

January 15th Transfer to J.M. – $120,000

–

January 21st Transfer to J.M. – $85,000

February 2nd – Transfer to J.M. – $150,000

February 8th – Transfer to J.M. – $100,000

J.M.

Jade Monroe.

Four transfers.

Twenty-four days.

$455,000 gone.

The last one cleared two days before they locked down the city.

Three years. That’s how long it took me to save that much.

I’d left my research job because Ryan insisted he made plenty. Told me to stay home, take care of his mom, relax a little.

Meanwhile? The mortgage came straight out of my retirement account. $4,200 every single month.

Groceries, utilities, Diana’s endless supplements-all from the joint account. Ryan threw in $15K monthly. I’d been adding my own money too.

Now there was nothing.

11:49

April Fools’ “Surprise”-My Husband’s Divorcing Me for His “Pure” Girl

19.79%

Chapter 3

Forty-two hundred bucks.

Couldn’t even cover one mortgage payment.

134

I sat there on that flimsy plastic stool, sun burning into my shoulders, doing absolutely nothing for the ice in my chest.

My phone lit up.

Ryan: Hey babe, how’s everything over there? You and Mom hanging in?

I stared at babe until the letters didn’t make sense anymore.

Typed back: Where’d the money go?

Hit send.

Three minutes later: What money?

My teeth ground together so hard I thought they’d crack.

The $455K you sent to J.M.

Read 2:47 PM

Nothing.

I waited.

Ten minutes dragged by like hours.

Then he called.

I picked up on the third ring.

“Emma, okay, listen-I made an investment. Good returns. When I’m back we can sit down and I’ll walk you through-”

“J.M. is Jade.”

Dead air.

Actual silence.

“…She’s handling some overseas portfolio stuff for me. It’s technical. You wouldn’t really get-”

“Wouldn’t get it?”

A laugh ripped out of me. Ugly. Mean.

“Ryan, I have a PhD in epidemiology. I minored in statistics. You want me to tell you what else I found in your spending history

Click.

He hung up.

I didn’t bother calling back.

11:49

April Fools’ “Surprise”-My Husband’s Divorcing Me for His “Pure” Girl

19.396

Chapter 3

Just screenshotted everything. Tossed it in my folder.

Evidence.

A shuffle behind me.

Diana came out of the bathroom gripping her cane, face drained of color.

“Emma… something’s wrong. I’m so dizzy.”

I grabbed her arm. Sat her down.

Blood pressure cuff. Wrapped it around her arm.

168/94

Way too high.

She’d had hypertension for years. Took meds daily. But we were running out.

I ripped open the medicine cabinet.

One bottle. Three pills rattling around inside.

Called the community health line. Busy.

Dialed 911. Got put on hold.

Hung up.

Looked at Diana slumped on the couch, shaking, gray as concrete.

This woman-who’d spent the last week cooing into the phone with her son while he bled me dry and ran off with his mistr depending on me to keep her alive.

“Emma… I really don’t feel good…”

“I know.”

I cracked one of the three pills in half. Handed it over with water.

“Take this. I’ll figure out the rest.”

Because hating her? Easy.

Letting her die in my apartment?

That was a different kind of problem.

♡ (0)

(0)

11:49

April Fools’ “Surprise”-My Husband’s Divorcing Me for His “Pure” Girl

20.29%