CHAP 10 — MY BEST FRIEND’S PRICE
Jenna did not own a consulting company.
She had registered one after Derek’s first payment.
That fact almost made the betrayal worse.
Her explanation came after she received a subpoena.
Derek had hired her to do marketing work for his business.
At first, that was true.
Jenna was a freelance graphic designer.
She created presentations.
Branding.
Social media materials.
Then Derek began asking questions.
How was Megan feeling?
Did she complain about marriage?
Had she talked about leaving?
Did Rachel influence her?
At first Jenna thought he was worried.
Then he began paying extra.
Five hundred here.
A thousand there.
Soon the work stopped.
The payments did not.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I asked.
We were sitting across from each other in Nina’s conference room.
Jenna looked like she had not slept.
“I thought you’d think I was spying.”
“You were.”
“I didn’t see it that way.”
“What did you see?”
She cried.
“A friend trying to keep a marriage from falling apart.”
I laughed.
“What marriage?”
“Megan—”
“You gave him private things I told you.”
“I never thought he’d use them in court.”
“But when he did, you signed.”
Her silence answered.
“Why?”
“He said the money would stop.”
There it was.
Derek did not have friends.
He had arrangements.
Jenna had grown dependent on the payments.
Her business struggled.
She had credit-card debt.
He knew.
When he asked for an affidavit, she feared losing the income.
So she signed.
Not because she believed every word.
Because she had been bought gradually enough that she stopped noticing the price.
“Did I ever tell you I planned to take Emily away from Derek?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“Then why did you swear I did?”
Jenna covered her face.
“I’m sorry.”
I sat back.
“That’s not useful anymore.”
She looked up.
“I’ll correct it.”
“You’re doing that for the court.”
“Yes.”
“Not for me.”
Her corrected affidavit damaged Derek badly.
But the bigger revelation came from her old messages.
One conversation with Derek occurred three months before labor.
Derek asked:
Has Megan said anything about inheritance?
Jenna replied:
What inheritance?
Derek:
Her grandfather’s money. Anything about more coming later?
My breath stopped when Nina showed me.
I knew about no additional inheritance.
Rachel didn’t either.
My grandfather died four years earlier.
He left me $73,000.
I used sixty thousand toward the house.
What else could there be?
Nina contacted the attorney who handled Grandpa Samuel’s estate.
His name was Edward Pike.
He sounded confused when I called.
“Megan, you never received Samuel’s trust letter?”
“What trust letter?”
Silence.
Then:
“Oh.”
One syllable changed everything.
My grandfather had created a small family trust.
Not billions.
Not some ridiculous secret fortune.
$410,000 invested conservatively.
The beneficiary was me.
But distribution was delayed.
Half when I turned thirty-five.
Half upon the birth or adoption of my first child.
I had turned thirty-five two months earlier.
Emily’s birth triggered the second portion.
Current value:
Approximately $487,000.
I stared at Nina.
“I didn’t know.”
“You should have.”
“Why didn’t the attorney contact me?”
“He did.”
Edward produced records.
Three letters mailed to the Columbus house.
Two certified notices.
One email.
All during the last eight months.
I had seen none.
The email account?
An old address Derek had access to.
The certified letters?
Signed for.
Signature:
D. Collins.
Derek knew.
For months.
That explained the timing.
Why he suddenly cared whether I stopped working.
Why he needed Emily born before filing.
Why he asked Jenna about inheritance.
Why he moved house equity before delivery.
My daughter’s birth did not merely change our family.
It triggered nearly a quarter-million-dollar trust distribution.
Derek had been waiting.
The night I went into labor, he had not only been moving marital assets.
He had been preparing to position himself before the trust money became accessible.
But there was one thing Derek failed to understand.
The trust was my separate inheritance.
Not marital property merely because we were married.
His plan had depended on me voluntarily moving it.
Nina found a draft email on Derek’s computer through discovery.
Addressed to me.
Never sent.
Megan, once the baby comes, Grandpa’s trust distribution should go into the joint investment account. It’ll simplify taxes.
I stared at the words.
He had already prepared the request.
A request I probably would have followed.
Before the fifteen dollars.
Before Rachel’s car.
Before Emily arrived in a hospital Derek never chose.
The midpoint truth was brutal.
Derek had not been planning to divorce me because I was financially dependent.
He had been planning to make me financially dependent—
May you like
until my inheritance arrived.
Then he intended to make my money dependent on him too.
