I opened my laptop instead.
My hands did not shake as I logged into our joint bank account.
For months, I had noticed withdrawals that Kevin explained away—supplier payments, fuel contracts, business dinners. I had accepted his explanations because that’s what I was supposed to do. Trust the person you married. Don’t ask the questions that might make you seem controlling. Don’t examine the details too closely or you become the problem instead of the solution.
Now I examined every detail.The transfers to an unfamiliar account jumped out immediately.
Amounts of five hundred dollars. Seven hundred. Nine hundred. Consistent. Calculated. Small enough not to trigger alerts. Large enough to matter significantly over time.
I traced the unfamiliar account number to a clinic with the same name as the facility where Sierra had had her appointments.
Fertility clinic.My chest tightened.
Then I found the credit card charges.
Hotel rooms near Lakeside Medical Center.
Restaurant bills on nights Kevin said he was traveling for work.
