For eleven years, Samantha had never needed permission to approach him.
Now a few feet of kitchen tile felt like a legal boundary.
Ethan picked up the attorney letter.
“The lawyer is not the most important thing I did last night.”
Samantha stared at him.
“What else did you do?”
Ethan did not answer immediately.
He walked into the living room.
Samantha followed.
On the coffee table sat a cardboard file box.
It contained copies of their mortgage statements, investment records, insurance policies, vehicle titles, tax returns, and business documents.
Ethan had spent the hours between three and six gathering them.
He had also printed transaction histories from their joint accounts.
Samantha looked into the box.
Her face went still.
Ethan noticed the exact page that caught her attention.
It was a six-month statement from their shared savings account.
Three withdrawals had been highlighted.
Two thousand four hundred dollars in May.
Three thousand dollars in July.
One thousand eight hundred dollars in September.
All three had been transferred to a payment service account Ethan did not recognize.
He had noticed the transfers while organizing the records.
He had asked Laura Mendel about them during their early morning consultation.
She had advised him not to accuse Samantha without more information.
She had also advised him to preserve the records immediately.
Samantha reached into the box.
Ethan placed his hand over the statement.
“What are those transfers?” he asked.
Samantha looked up.
“That has nothing to do with Dylan.”
“I did not ask whether it did.”
“It was personal spending.”
“On what?”
Samantha pulled her hand away.
“Do we really need to audit every purchase now?”
“You moved seventy-two hundred dollars from our savings in five months.”
“I put money into that account too.”
“You did.”
“So I am allowed to spend money.”
“You are.”
“Then stop interrogating me.”
Ethan lifted the statement.
“I am asking one question.”
Samantha’s eyes moved toward the front door.
Ethan saw it.
“Do you need to leave?” he asked.
“I need air.”
“You just came home.”
“I cannot have this conversation while you are acting like a prosecutor.”
“You do not have to.”
Samantha looked surprised.
Ethan opened the file box and removed another envelope.
“This is a temporary living arrangement proposal my lawyer drafted.”
Samantha did not take it.
“You cannot throw me out of my own house.”
“I am not throwing you out.”
“I am staying here.”
“You can stay.”
Samantha blinked.
Ethan continued.
“I am leaving this afternoon.”
That answer seemed to disturb her more.
“You are leaving?”
