Chapter 2 - The Morning He Thought Would Be Ordinary
At 6:47, David walked into the kitchen wearing sweatpants and the expression of a man expecting coffee.
He stopped when he saw Natalie seated at the counter.
Then he saw the suitcase beside her chair.
Then the folder.
Then the printed photographs.
His face emptied.
“Natalie.”
She did not look up from her tea.
“Good morning.”
David’s voice dropped.
“What are you doing home?”
Natalie gave a quiet laugh.
“That is your question?”
He stared at the photographs.
Chloe had left before dawn through the service elevator. Natalie heard the door close at 5:52. She did not stop her.
Chloe was not Natalie’s responsibility.
David was.
“I can explain,” he said.
“Please do.”
David sat across from her.
“It was a mistake.”
“A five-month mistake?”
He looked down.
“It was not serious.”
Natalie slid the bank statements toward him.
“Neither were these transfers?”
His eyes moved over the pages.
His skin went pale.
“You looked through my accounts?”
“They are our accounts.”
“I needed the money for work.”
“Chloe’s apartment is work?”
David said nothing.
Natalie’s chest tightened, but her voice remained calm.
“You let me finance your affair.”
“It was not like that.”
“You used our shared money to pay rent for the woman you brought into the bed I paid for.”
David rubbed a hand over his face.
“I did not mean for you to find out.”
That was the moment Natalie finally looked directly at him.
“You did not mean to stop.”
He flinched.
She slid another document across the counter.
A notice of account restrictions.
A request for a forensic financial review.
And a petition for divorce.
David stared at the final page.
“You filed already?”
“At 5:30 this morning.”
“You cannot make decisions like this overnight.”
Natalie stood.
“No. I made this decision over six months. I just stopped giving you chances to lie your way out of it.”
David rose too.
“Natalie, please. We can fix this.”
She picked up her suitcase.
“You can fix your finances. You can explain Chloe. You can explain the company transfers.”
His eyes widened.
“The company?”
“Yes, David.”
Natalie stepped closer.
“I read the municipal contracts. I know which vendors received special approvals. I know why Chloe’s consulting company was paid without delivering a single report. And I know the state auditor will be very interested.”
His confidence broke.
“You would destroy my career?”
Natalie looked at him with exhausted sadness.
May you like
“No. I am going to stop protecting it.”
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