A man will never admit to cheating. Not unless you drag him out of the bed yourself.
When I didn't respond, Daniel softened his tone.
"Come on, we've been married this long. Don't you know what kind of person I am by now?"
"I'm just trying to keep things running at work so I can provide for this family. That's all it is."
"I didn't think it through, okay? I didn't handle it well. Stop being angry. From now on, we can just—"
As he talked, my heart sank lower and lower.
Until it dropped past feeling altogether, into a silence so deep nothing could reach me.
I watched his lips moving without stopping and heard my own voice come out, raw and strained.
"Daniel. Let's get divorced."
His voice cut off mid-sentence, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.
"Divorce? You want to divorce me?"
"You don't work. You don't earn a cent. Tell me—how exactly do you plan to survive without me?"
"Rose is still little. If you divorce me, how are you going to feed her?"
Before I could answer, he was already heading for the door.
"You're clearly not thinking straight! You're still worked up and I'm not wasting my breath on this!"
"Stay home and think it over!"
The door slammed shut, and the living room fell into dead silence.
Daniel wasn't wrong about the facts.
I had no one. It had always been just me and my brother Adrian, holding each other up since we were kids.
Four years ago, after I gave birth to Rose, Lois Cox refused to help. So I quit my job and stayed home full-time with the baby.
Every ounce of devotion I'd poured into this family—that was exactly what Daniel held over my head to make sure I couldn't leave.
What a joke.
Just then, my phone rang.
"Hello, is this Miss Weiss? Is Daniel Cox your husband?"
"Your husband's loan with our bank has been overdue for over a month. Please let him know he needs to make a payment as soon as possible, or we will be taking legal action."
A high-pitched ringing flooded my skull.
Just moments ago, I'd been wondering where Daniel got the money for all those things he bought Julia.
Now it all made sense.
I dialed Adrian right away.
"Adrian—help me. I'm divorcing Daniel."
After I hung up, I saw it was nearly time for Rose's preschool to let out. I splashed water on my face and left.
But the moment I arrived, the teacher's words stopped me cold.
"Rose's mom? What are you doing here?"
"Her dad already picked her up. He's taking her out for three days."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Four years old, and Daniel had never once looked after Rose for a single day—and now, after everything that just happened, he shows up at her school.
I called him immediately.
"Daniel! Where's my daughter!"
His voice was full of mockery.
"The way you've been carrying on, I don't think you're in any shape to take care of her. So I picked her up myself."
"Besides, my mom's been missing her. I'm taking Rose to the countryside so she can spend some quality time with her grandmother."
"You can use the time to think things over between us—"
I hung up before he could finish and drove straight to Lois's place.
Lois had two sons—Daniel in the city, and Ryan, the younger one, who'd never held a job in his life and still lived with her in the countryside. She'd always poured everything she had into Ryan's family, money and labor both. Once Ryan married, she'd taken over raising his boy herself, her precious first grandson, with her own two hands.
Six years I'd been married into that family. Because I gave birth to a girl, Lois had never once come to see Rose.
Ryan's son was four years old. The same age as Rose.
