Chapter 7 - THE TEN DAYS
The ten-day move-out clause became the simplest part of the divorce.
Because the condo belonged to Carter Residential Holdings, neither spouse owned it.
Emily’s lawyer asked for sixty days of temporary occupancy due to pregnancy.
The company’s housing committee approved forty-five.
Michael objected.
Then withdrew the objection when Maya reminded him Jessica could not occupy the unit during the investigation anyway.
Emily packed slowly.
The nursery hurt most: an unassembled crib, paint samples, and books Michael had chosen earlier in the pregnancy.
He had not always been cold.
That complicated grief.
Then Michael came to the condo while Emily was packing.
With counsel’s permission.
He stood in the doorway of the nursery.
“I meant it when I wanted the baby.”
Emily looked at him.
“That isn’t what you said at dinner.”
“I wanted to hurt you.”
“Congratulations.”
He flinched.
Then he said:
“Jessica became something I didn’t have to fail at yet.”
Emily stared.
Michael had spent years proving himself against David Carter’s shadow.
Emily rarely compared them.
Michael heard the comparison anyway.
“That doesn’t explain the release.”
“No.”
“Or the condo.”
“No.”
“Or hiding Jessica’s interest.”
He looked away.
“I thought I could close the deal, disclose it later, and fix the optics after.”
There it was.
Later.
The refuge of people who wanted benefits now and accountability afterward.
Then Michael said:
“Your father did worse.”
Emily’s expression hardened.
“This marriage is not a competition between you and my father.”
“I’m saying he used your pain to investigate me.”
“I know.”
Michael looked surprised.
“You’re angry at him?”
“Yes.”
For one second, something human passed between them.
Then it vanished.
Emily asked:
“Did you intend for Jessica to move in while I was still pregnant?”
Michael closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
That answer ended the conversation.
After he left, Emily dismantled the nursery herself.
May you like
Not because she had nowhere else to go.
Because she needed to stop living inside the room he had already promised to someone else.
