Silence.
Then anger rushed back into his voice.
“You can’t just destroy everything because you’re upset.”
I almost laughed.
“You married another woman three days ago.”
“You don’t understand the situation.”
“I understand the photographs.”
“Tiffany is pregnant.
My mother—”
“Your mother called me unreal because I didn’t give you a child.
Then she celebrated in a house I paid for.
Be careful which part of this story you ask me to sympathize with.”
His voice changed.
He stopped sounding like a furious homeowner and started sounding like a man doing arithmetic.
“Where are the cars?”
There it was.
Not where are you?
Not can we talk?
The cars.
“Access has been removed from the vehicles registered to me.
Mr.
Vance can explain the rest to your attorney.”
“And the cards?”
“Also mine.”
Behind him, I could hear his mother shouting that I was vindictive.
Then Tiffany said something I couldn’t make out.
Robert covered the phone and snapped at her.
When he returned, his voice was lower.
“Audrey, don’t do this.
We can work something out.”
“You already worked something out.
There are wedding photographs.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
That was the closest he came to the truth.
“No,” I said.
“Your mother wasn’t supposed to post it before you got what you wanted from me.”
He stopped breathing for a second.
I knew then that Mr.
Vance’s file was right.
“Who told you that?”
I didn’t answer.
Robert’s fear deepened.
“What exactly do you have?”
“Enough.”
I ended the call.
The following morning, Mr.
Vance met with Robert’s attorney.
Robert arrived too.
He had always dressed beautifully for meetings.
That morning was no exception.
Navy suit.
White shirt.
Expensive watch.
But the performance had changed.
For years, those clothes had helped him look like the person funding our life.
Now everyone in the room had bank statements.
