Chapter 11 - The Twenty-Eight Thousand Dollar Betrayal
The weekend passed in a state of hostile, icy silence. Eric slept in the guest room. Gloria and Brittany whispered aggressively in the kitchen whenever I walked by. I spent my time in my office, reviewing the final drafts of the divorce petition Denise had sent over.
On Monday morning, while I was at my desk at the branding firm, my phone vibrated with an urgent fraud alert from my bank.
Action Required: An outgoing wire transfer of $28,000 has been flagged for manual review.
I immediately called the fraud department. The representative confirmed that Eric had initiated the wire transfer from our joint account at 9:00 AM.
The destination? A newly opened escrow account in West Virginia.
I felt physically sick. I told the bank to cancel the transfer immediately and freeze the joint account.
When Eric got home that night, I was waiting in the living room. I tossed the printed wire transfer receipt onto the coffee table.
Eric froze when he saw the paper.
“What is this?” I demanded.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to play it cool. “Mom found a small house back home. A fixer-upper. I was going to help her with the down payment.”
“You were going to steal twenty-eight thousand dollars of my money without telling me?”
“It’s a loan, Claire! And it’s our money!”
“No, Eric. I moved my direct deposits on Friday. The only money left in that joint account was my savings for the property tax. You tried to drain it.”
His face hardened into a mask of pure resentment. “She’s my mother. I have to take care of her. You wouldn’t understand because you’re a selfish, cold-hearted corporate robot.”
“I’m filing for divorce, Eric.”
The words hung in the air. He blinked, stunned. He clearly hadn’t expected me to actually pull the trigger.
“You’re crazy,” he scoffed nervously. “You’re not divorcing me.”
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“The paperwork is ready. And after what you just tried to pull, you’re lucky I’m not calling the police for grand larceny.”
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