Driving by my son-in-law’s house, I decided to stop in. Saw my wife’s car at the gate—what was she doing here? Approached the window… heard something that left me stunned…

But when I saw my wife’s car at the gate, the gleaming silver Lexus that should have been in our garage, my heart tightened unpleasantly. Something’s wrong. I thought, and approached the window, trying not to make noise so as not to give myself away.

What I heard inside turned my world upside down forever. When that old fool finally signs the papers, we’ll have everything we planned. Emily’s voice seeped through the cracked window like poison in the blood.

I sat in the car, frozen, right outside Sarah’s house. The keys still dangled in the ignition. Five minutes ago, I called my daughter to surprise her, wanted to invite her to dinner.

«Dad, I’m not home,» she said cheerfully. But David is there, working on some stuff. And there it was, Emily’s Lexus, parked by the porch as if nothing was wrong.

I turned off the engine and approached the window on wobbly legs. Through the gap in the curtains, I saw it all clearly. My wife, with whom I’ve been together for 25 years, lounged on the couch like she owned the place, and my son-in-law leaned against the bookshelf with that smug grin I’ve long despised.

«Everything on schedule,» he said. «We’ll file in June, cite irreconcilable differences.» Under the new Illinois state laws, Emily gets half of everything acquired in marriage, plus lifetime alimony.

Emily laughed, that same ringing laugh that once seemed enchanting to me. «The construction business alone is worth about 12 million,» she said. «Plus the real estate, the cabin, investments.

Almost 20 million in total.» My hands shook. When I pulled out my phone and started recording, just as David continued his legal lecture, and most interestingly, his gullibility.

Michael doesn’t suspect a thing; we’ve already calculated everything. Bank statements, property documents, business valuation, all copied. He nodded at the yellow folder on the coffee table.

He handed us the keys to his empire himself. «Two years pretending to be the devoted wife,» Emily said, examining her nails. Made it seem.

Like I was interested in his boring stories about construction sites, nodded understandingly when he worried about workers’ salaries. «God, that man still believes I love him.» A branch cracked under my foot…