I looked at Serena, contempt plain on my face.
"I thought you weren't bankrupt. So if money's so tight, why not set them up in a new place? Why move in here and take over a nest that isn't yours?"
Her expression soured, but she kept her temper and coaxed me.
"Aaron, Kieran and the boy have lived here four years. They're settled. Don't make a scene over nothing."
I let out a short laugh, but something twisted hard inside me.
Four years.
The moment Serena faked the bankruptcy and moved us out of here, she'd brought Kieran and his son straight in.
She told me the house had been sold.
It turned out it had become a little love nest for her and another man.
I didn't waste another word. I walked right up to her and slapped a set of divorce papers down in front of her.
"Sign it. I get custody of our daughter, and we split everything down the middle."
Serena frowned at the papers, then lifted her head and rubbed at the space between her brows, looking worn out.
"Aaron, do you really have to do this?"
"Back then, I had my reasons. Edward was diagnosed with a heart problem the moment he was born, and at the same time you were always picking fights with me, using our daughter to tie me to your side."
"You did nothing all day, watching my every move like you'd lost your mind. If I hadn't faked the bankruptcy, when would you ever have given me any freedom?"
"Edward was still little, and Kieran's ex-wife kept showing up at the door. They needed me."
"You're a father too. You have a child of your own. Couldn't you try to understand me, just a little?"
Serena's grand, high-sounding reasons and her accusations were like two hands tearing my heart raw.
Kieran put on a fake smile and tried to smooth things over.
"Aaron, Serena loves you and the girl too. She'll make sure you never want for anything. Stay on as her husband. My son and I can stand a little hardship, it's nothing. Just don't put Serena in a hard spot."
Serena looked at him tenderly and laced her fingers through his, right in front of me and our daughter.
I clenched my teeth, both hands tightening into fists.
Before our daughter was even a year old, I'd found a whole box of used contraceptives in Serena's pocket.
On her computer, in the messaging app she'd forgotten to log out of, there was nothing but sweet talk between her and Kieran.
I lost all reason. I drove straight to her company, and in front of everyone, crying, I slapped her.
"Serena, Kieran's five years older than you, and he has a wife. You're throwing yourself at him as the other woman, wrecking another family? Our daughter isn't even one year old yet. Have you no shame at all?"
Her face went dark, but she didn't argue back. She forced me to come home with her.
That night, she fired Kieran and swore a vicious oath in front of me that she'd never see him again.
After that, I watched her closely. She had to come straight home after work, I went through her phone every day, and every call had to be accounted for.
Serena grew quieter and quieter, but she submitted to all of my checking without complaint.
Until a year later, when an investment failed, her company went under, and she was buried in debt.
I poured everything into making money, wanting to help her get through it, and I no longer had any attention to spare for her and Kieran.
But all of it was nothing more than a play she had staged.
I looked at the calm on Serena's face, shut my eyes hard, and decided I didn't want to dig into it anymore.
"Fine. Then let's divorce. I won't put you in a hard spot."
After I'd listened to Serena and quit my job to be a full-time stay-at-home husband, I'd become deeply insecure, gripped by a fierce possessiveness toward her.
But after four years of being ground down, facing her betrayal again, I found I actually had the courage to leave.
Our daughter had stood quietly beside me the whole time, her small warm hand giving me a sense of calm.
Serena shook her head, as if there were nothing to be done.
