Hilary rushed over to steady her. : 「Sophie, are you okay?」
「I'm fine. Mila's just angry, she didn't mean it.」
Hilary let go of Sophie, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me up.
「You won't pay the mortgage or the car loan? Fine, then you don't get to live in my house or ride in my car!」
He shoved me toward the door. : 「Get out! There's no place for you in this house anymore.」
The door slammed shut. Just like that, Hilary had thrown me out.
I wasn't ready to give up. I tried the door, but they'd bolted it from the inside, and my fingerprint wouldn't unlock it.
I gave the door one hard kick, then finally walked away.
I didn't have a cent on me, hadn't even grabbed my phone. All I could do was walk an hour to my best friend Vera Fox's place.
When Vera saw the state of me, she wanted to march straight over to the Pruitts and set things right.
I held her back. : 「No rush. I've already got a lawyer gathering evidence. Every cent Hilary has spent on Sophie all these years, I'm getting it back!」
「Every cent I ever spent on the Pruitts is going to come back like a boomerang and hit them right where it hurts!」
「Once the lawyer finishes the property division, there'll still be plenty of time to settle up with the whole family.」
A week later, Hilary came to my office on his own.
「Mila, it's been a while now. You've had enough time to think it over. Come home for dinner tonight. Mom and Dad are waiting for your apology.」
「Fine. Got it.」
Hilary thought I'd come crawling back to beg the whole family's forgiveness. In fact, I was going there to lay everything on the table.
That evening when I went back, not one of them gave me a decent look.
Sophie was there too, still in a lace camisole nightgown.
Nadia sidled up to me. : 「You know, if you keep acting up, my brother's going to trade you in for a new wife.」
「I'm gone a week and Sophie's moved in?」
「That's right. Sophie's going to be living with us from now on.」
Hilary added, : 「Sophie's lease was up, and we happen to have a spare bedroom sitting empty. No point letting it go to waste, so I told her to move in.」
I didn't say anything. I just pulled out my suitcase and went into the bedroom.
「What are you packing for?」
「You let Sophie move in, so obviously I have to make room for her.」
「Mila, are you insane? I already told you Sophie's in the spare room, she's not taking the master bedroom, so what are you packing for?」
I opened the closet and found every one of my designer bags gone.
「Where are my bags?」
Hilary looked a little guilty. : 「I took them to sell. The mortgage, the car loan, the staff wages, the shop rent, they're all waiting on money. You bought all those designer bags and never even carried them, they were just sitting in the closet collecting dust.」
Then I saw my gold jewelry was gone too. So were my Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, my Bvlgari ring, all of it.
「You sold my jewelry too?」
「No, that I gave to Sophie. We owe her so much money and can't pay it back, so I had to settle it with the jewelry.」
I was about to explode.
「Hilary, you've got some nerve. Taking things without asking is stealing!」
「That's a nasty thing to say! We're married. What's yours is mine. Do I need to check with you before I use my own things?」
I didn't waste any more words on him. I just went on packing my things.
Hilary kept yammering at my side.
「Mila, I really have been too good to you, haven't I? If you walk out, don't you ever come back!」
I treated it like so much hot air.
A moment later the doorbell rang.
Hilary went to answer it. Two police officers stood outside.
「We received a report. There's a suspected large-scale theft at this address.」
「Officers, there must be some mistake. Nobody here called the police, and nothing's been stolen.」
I came out from the room.
「I'm the one who called!」
I pulled out the divorce papers and threw them in Hilary's face.
「It's about time we settled the account between the two of us!」
