Chapter 3 - The House With Too Many Locks
Julian expected Audrey to come home.
He sent the driver at ten the next morning, along with a new car seat, a pediatrician’s private number, and instructions for the household staff.
Audrey sent the driver back.
Beth’s house stood on a narrow residential street in Evanston. It had drafty windows, a dishwasher that sounded like a cement mixer, and a guest room barely large enough for a bed and a borrowed bassinet.
Audrey had never loved a room more.
Her sister helped her climb the stairs slowly.
“You can stay as long as you need.”
“I know you’re saying that because I’m carrying your nephew.”
“I’m saying it because you’re my sister. He just has better manners.”
Audrey laughed, then winced.
Her body hurt in ways she had not understood were possible. Sitting required planning. Standing required determination. Crying required tissues she could never find when she needed them.
Leaving a marriage, she discovered, did not pause the ordinary demands of a newborn.
Ethan still needed feeding.
Diapers still leaked.
At three in the morning, she could hate Julian and desperately wish someone else would bring her a glass of water.
Both things could be true.
Daniel met her by video two days later.
Before discussing strategy, he asked whether she had independent access to money.
“A checking account in my name. Savings from before the marriage. Not much.”
“Do you have account records?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We document what exists. We don’t move assets out of anger.”
“I’m not trying to punish him.”
Daniel nodded.
“Then we keep making decisions you can explain calmly later.”
She liked him for that.
He did not promise victory.
He explained that divorce, financial misconduct, and parenting would involve different questions, different evidence, and possibly different attorneys.
He introduced her to a lawyer experienced in representing witnesses in financial investigations.
Audrey repeated the story of Luis Ortega.
This time, someone wrote down every date.
That evening, Julian arrived at Beth’s house.
He knocked once.
Beth answered with the chain attached.
“She’s resting.”
“I’m not a delivery.”
“No,” Beth said. “Deliveries usually call first.”
Audrey appeared behind her, wrapped in a cardigan with Ethan asleep against her shoulder.
“Let him in.”
Julian stepped into the small living room and looked around.
His gaze paused on the portable bassinet, the stack of burp cloths, the unpaid utility bill on Beth’s kitchen counter.
“I have an entire nursery waiting.”
“I know.”
“You hired a night nurse.”
“For the penthouse.”
“She can come here.”
“You can offer,” Audrey said. “You don’t get to arrange my life without asking.”
He removed his gloves carefully.
“Are we discussing Camille or the hospital?”
“The fact that you think those are separate problems tells me we’re not discussing the same marriage.”
He glanced at Beth.
Audrey shook her head.
“She stays.”
Julian’s composure thinned.
“I made a mistake.”
“For two years?”
He looked at her.
There it was.
The truth had entered the room, and he could not make it leave.
“It was over before California.”
“Then why was she there?”
“Business.”
“What kind?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Audrey felt a strange calm.
That sentence had shaped seven years of her life.
Nothing you need to worry about.
As though ignorance were a gift he gave her.
“Luis Ortega came to see me.”
Julian went still.
Beth noticed.
Audrey noticed Beth noticing.
“He was confused,” Julian said.
“He had documents.”
“Documents without context.”
“Then provide the context.”
“I’m not discussing company matters in your sister’s living room.”
“You discussed my future here five minutes ago.”
His phone vibrated.
He ignored it.
For the first time, Audrey wondered how often he had practiced that.
“Come home,” he said.
She looked at the man she had loved through unpaid bills, difficult winters, and two devastating losses.
“No.”
“I’ll end whatever you think is happening with Camille.”
“You don’t understand. I’m not negotiating for you to become faithful.”
“What are you doing?”
She adjusted Ethan against her shoulder.
“Leaving.”
Julian’s face emptied.
“You’re upset.”
“Yes.”
“You just had a baby.”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t the time to make permanent decisions.”
Audrey looked directly at him.
“You made permanent decisions while I was having him. I’m allowed to respond.”
He stood in the middle of the room, enormous and suddenly out of place.
Then his voice lowered.
“Be careful who you tell our private business.”
Beth reached for her phone.
Audrey did not move.
“Was that a warning?”
Julian looked at Ethan.
Something flickered across his face.
“No.”
“Good,” Audrey said. “Then don’t say it again.”
After he left, she sat down because her knees had begun shaking.
Beth closed the curtains.
May you like
Audrey called Daniel.
This time, when he asked whether she felt safe, she answered without defending her husband first.
