Chapter 7 - Someone Else Is Leaving
Ethan recovered enough to become angry again.
“This is ridiculous,” he said. “Tessa is my wife. You can’t walk in here and threaten me with paperwork.”
Marlene remained calm.
“I’m not threatening you. I’m correcting your misunderstanding.”
“You’ve always tried to turn her against me.”
“No,” Marlene said. “I stayed quiet because she loved you.”
Tessa looked up from the deed.
“Did you really try to refinance the apartment?”
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck.
“It could have helped us.”
“Helped us do what?”
“Start the company.”
“With Dean?”
Dean shifted uncomfortably.
Ethan’s voice rose.
“You never believed in me. Every time I had an idea, you found a problem.”
“I paid for three training courses you never finished.”
“I was finding the right direction.”
“I covered your bills for years.”
“We’re married. That’s what married people do.”
Tessa looked around at her belongings on the floor.
“And is this what married people do?”
Ethan said nothing.
Tessa turned to Dean.
“Pack your bags.”
Dean looked at Ethan.
“Seriously?”
“Yes,” Tessa replied. “You came here as a guest. You opened my financial records, took over my bedroom, and watched your brother throw my things into the hallway.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“My brother is not leaving.”
Marlene pointed toward the deed.
“You don’t have the authority to make that decision.”
Ethan stared at Tessa.
“You’re choosing her over your husband?”
Tessa’s voice was quiet.
“No. I’m choosing myself over the man who stopped treating me like his wife.”
Dean muttered that he had nowhere to go.
Tessa picked up her phone and booked him a hotel room for two nights.
“That gives you time to call family or arrange transportation.”
Ethan looked astonished.
“You’re paying for his hotel after all this?”
“I’m paying for the last thing I will ever provide for him.”
Dean began collecting his bags.
Ethan stood in the hallway, surrounded by Tessa’s clothes, watching his brother prepare to leave.
The controlled smile Marlene had given him disappeared.
May you like
What replaced it was not satisfaction.
It was certainty.
