“Can you blame me?” I smirked.
“Good news, I think I’ll be able to help you with your sex addiction therapy.”
My smile grew as her meaning sank in.
This whole therapy thing might not be so bad after all.
18-Melanie
“I’ve sent you everything I could find on his laptop and in the files here. Griffin is working on getting all of the footage from the security camera’s and he will send those to you as well.”
“Excellent, I went ahead and hired the private investigator I use to start following your husband after we ended our call this morning.” Penelope filled me in on what she had accomplished today and let me know what else she needed from me before I could leave this house. “You don’t want him to be able to claim you abandoned the property, so I want you to send him an email in the morning right before you board the plane letting him know that you are returning to North Dakota to finalize the estate and grieve with your family.”
“That makes sense.”
“There is a chance that his lawyer will also hire a private investigator in the hopes that they can prove you’ve both voided the prenup… I need you to be very careful with your actions until your divorce is finalized. I will be serving him the papers tomorrow after you send that email, but in the court’s opinion, the divorce papers just mark the beginning ofyour separation, and we want you to be above reproach.” She carefully coached me.
“There’s nothing to worry about there,” I grumbled, but couldn’t help but glance at Griffin, who was busy typing away on his computer.
“Is there anything I should know?”
I grimaced and took a deep breath.
Time to come clean.
“Actually yes,” I cleared my throat and thought about how I wanted to word my announcement. “I’m pregnant. I found out right after I caught him. He doesn’t know yet and I don’t want to tell him until the divorce is finalized.”
Griffin looked up from his laptop and watched me silently.
“I see.” Penelope was very quiet; even the sound of her nails tapping away on a keyboard had stopped. “If he were to request a paternity test, would the result be a surprise?”
“No, Ben is the only man I’ve ever been with.” I tried not to be offended by the implication that I was just as unfaithful as my husband had been.
“Okay, that‘s good. I agree that it’s best to keep this hidden, but as long as I don’t get blindsided in court with anything that levels the playing field then I can spin this if I have to.” The tapping had resumed, and she sounded relaxed again. “Congratulations, unfortunate situation aside a child is a blessing.”
“Thank you.” I felt my lips lift into a little smile.
“If you really want to leave tomorrow morning, I need you to take a detailed inventory, with pictures, of everything worth money in the house and then get anything that is absolutely irreplaceable out of the house before you go. Don’t take anything large enough where it looks like you moved out but don’t leave anything that he might damage to get back at you. Don’t rent a storage unit in your own name. A friend’s house would be best if possible. If not, I will rent a unit in my name this afternoon.”
“My friend Lily should be able to store a few things for me.” I assured her.
“Perfect. Call me tomorrow when you leave for the airport and I will get my girl in position to serve him. I’m going to try and catch him as he arrives at the house but after the email has been sent.”
“He said he was going to try and come here before work tomorrow.”
“I have it on good authority that he is not returning to work this week.” Penelope revealed another one of his lies. “When I called to see if I could get a copy of the official sexual harassment report, Amy Jaimes was perfectly happy to inform me that Peter had insisted that Benjamin take a little time to get his head on straight. Unfortunately, the report will require a subpoena, but she promised to make sure that there was a hard copy of it hidden somewhere so it couldn’t be tampered with.”
“That’s good…” I mumbled.
How many times had the man looked me in the eye and lied to me without me having any idea? He doesn’t have any tells.
“Are you alright?” Griffin asked in a low tone. I looked up at him and felt my eyes prickle.
“No.” I mouthed and then turned my attention back to Penelope. “I’m going to get started on taking inventory and packing up my nostalgic valuables.”
“Excellent.” Penelope ended the call, and I set the phone down slowly and let my head drop into my hands.
Had my entire marriage been a lie?
