"And she was so obsessed with money. Walking away with nothing was the only way I bought my freedom."
A few clueless people in the group chat chimed right in.
"You've really been through it, Julian!"
"Better to cut a gold-digger loose early."
Rachel dropped a two-hundred-dollar luck-of-the-draw cash gift into the chat.
Playing the good-hearted peacemaker.
"Come on, everyone, don't talk about Sabina like that. She had her own struggles too."
"Honestly, I just couldn't stand watching Julian end up out on the street."
"So I took him in out of kindness. I never expected feelings to grow over time."
"I hope you'll all wish us well."
Watching the screen fill up with congratulations on his fine new wife and wishes for a long, happy life together.
I opened the keyboard and typed out a line to set the record straight.
Then I thought about it, and quietly deleted it.
Explaining myself to these people now would be a pure waste of breath.
Instead, I turned on screen recording.
Every message of theirs, every lie, every twisting of the truth.
From the first word to the last, I saved all of it, leaving nothing out.
Once that was done.
I cleanly exited every group chat we shared.
And while I was at it, I blocked Julian and Rachel completely, both their messages and their numbers.
Out of sight, out of mind.
I washed up and took a cab straight to the bank.
Sitting down at the VIP counter.
I slid my ID across to the teller.
"Hi. I need you to cancel the supplementary card linked to Julian Woodward's phone."
"And the joint account in both our names, freeze it and settle it out completely."
Back when we set it up, it was just the easy thing to do, every household expense ran through that account.
Julian's dead-end paycheck barely covered his own cigarettes and drinks.
For the past few years, I'd been the one keeping him afloat.
Now it was time to cut him off.
I'd just stepped out the bank's front doors.
When my phone rang.
An unfamiliar local number.
I picked up, and a frantic voice came through.
"Hello? Is this Sabina? It's Katherine Lambert, I used to live next door to Rachel's family!"
"Mrs. Lambert? Is there something I can do for you?"
"Oh, thank goodness I got through!"
Katherine's voice dropped very low.
"Sabina, have you seen Rachel lately?"
"What's happened with her?"
"Something's gone down at her family's old house!"
"This morning a whole crowd of men showed up."
"Carrying red paint, splashed her door until it was covered in writing!"
"All of it stuff like pay your debts or your whole family dies!"
My heart gave a hard jolt.
"Debt collectors?"
"What else could it be!"
Katherine slapped her own thigh.
"Those men pounded on that door like animals, said Rachel owed them millions!"
"I was too scared to even step outside."
"Sabina, you stay far away from her, don't let her drag you down with her!"
"I understand. Thank you, Mrs. Lambert."
I hung up.
Stood there on the street.
And in that moment every thread in my mind closed into a full circle.
I finally understood.
Five years ago, Rachel received four hundred and seventy thousand dollars from her property buyout.
But she'd never saved a cent of it.
She'd burned through all of it long ago, and even gone deep into loan-shark debt!
The sham marriage was never about scamming a buyout settlement.
It was about scamming the marital home out from under me!
She needed a property worth millions to plug the hole the loan sharks had torn open!
No wonder she'd pressured me overnight to walk away with nothing.
No wonder she was in such a rush to get the house signed over into Julian's name.
So it turned out she was hunting for a scapegoat.
And Julian, that fool.
Still thought he'd landed himself a wealthy woman about to cash in on a buyout.
Grinning, he slipped his own neck right into the loan sharks' noose.
I took a deep breath.
And couldn't help but laugh out loud.
