Chapter 1 - Four Bowls of Ramen
The first thing Julian destroyed that night wasn’t our marriage.
It was dinner.
His palms slammed against the custom walnut dining table hard enough to send four porcelain bowls jumping.
Hot ramen splashed across the polished wood.
One bowl tipped against my gray sweatshirt, soaking the fabric stretched over my eight-month pregnant belly.
I instinctively stepped backward and covered my stomach.
Julian didn’t apologize.
Instead, he pointed at me.
“My entire paycheck goes to my mother!”
Across the table, Eleanor Hayes sat surrounded by shopping bags from luxury boutiques, looking almost pleased.
Julian earned approximately twenty-five thousand dollars a month as a senior development executive.
For the past fourteen months, almost none of it had entered our household account.
Mortgage.
Utilities.
Groceries.
Insurance.
Medical bills.
Everything had supposedly become my responsibility.
Whenever I questioned him, the answer was always the same.
“Mom is investing my money.”
That night, I finally asked where.
Julian exploded.
“Do you understand how ridiculous you sound?”
“I’m asking where three hundred thousand dollars went.”
Eleanor laughed.
“A useful wife would be helping her husband earn more instead of counting his money.”
“I've paid for everything in this home.”
Julian grabbed my ramen bowl.
For one second, I thought he was going to put it down.
Instead, he flung it across the table.
Broth splashed my clothes.
Eleanor actually applauded.
Then Julian screamed the sentence I would remember for the rest of my life.
“I CAN HAVE A HUNDRED WIVES, BUT ONLY ONE MOTHER!”
The room went silent.
He pointed toward the penthouse entrance.
“If you don’t like how things work under my roof, get out.”
Under my roof.
I looked around the five-million-dollar Manhattan penthouse.
Then at Eleanor.
Then at Julian.
Something inside me became perfectly calm.
I walked to the sideboard.
Opened a drawer.
Removed three bank statements.
And slammed them onto the table.
“Before I leave your house, Julian, you might want to ask your mother why she has been sending your salary to Ohio.”
His face changed.
Eleanor stopped smiling.
I continued.
May you like
“Because she hasn’t invested your money.”
“She’s been building your brother a mansion.”
