Chapter 2 - THREE DAYS BEFORE THE DINNER
Three days earlier, Maya had found David standing inside her locked home office.
He was holding a folder from her late father’s estate.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
David closed the folder too quickly.
“Looking for the insurance paperwork.”
“That’s in the downstairs cabinet.”
He smiled and walked toward her.
For the first two years of their marriage, that smile had made Maya feel safe.
Now it made her step backward.
David kissed her forehead.
“You’ve been tense lately.”
“You changed the password to our joint account.”
“For security.”
“And eighteen thousand dollars disappeared.”
His expression hardened for half a second.
Then the charming husband returned.
“It was transferred into an investment account.”
“Whose account?”
“Ours.”
Maya held out her hand.
“Show me.”
David moved past her.
“My mother was right. You don’t understand how business works.”
Maya was a pediatric speech therapist. She had never wanted to run the property company her father left behind.
David had once said he loved that about her.
He said she cared more about children than balance sheets.
After their wedding, he offered to handle the finances so she would never feel overwhelmed.
At first, it seemed loving.
Then her bank alerts stopped arriving.
Her accountant was replaced.
Her father’s longtime attorney was told not to contact her directly.
Whenever Maya questioned anything, David accused her of distrusting him.
That evening, Rebecca called.
“We’re having dinner Friday at the Bellweather,” she said. “Your mother should come.”
“Why?”
“To settle this childish tension.”
“What tension?”
“The tension you created by refusing to sign the restructuring agreement.”
Maya had never seen such an agreement.
Rebecca paused.
“David hasn’t shown you?”
Maya looked toward the closed office door.
May you like
On the other side, she heard the shredder running.
👉 Maya had believed David was hiding one bank transfer, but the papers he destroyed pointed to a financial crisis built around her inheritance.
