Annas hands trembled as she clutched the kitchen table, the printed bank statement glaring up at her like an accusation. The nest eggthe one theyd scraped together for thirteen long years, the one meant for their son Olivers futurewas gone. Every last penny.
“Are you out of your mind?” Her voice was eerily calm, like the quiet before a storm. “You spent the money we saved for five yearsmy money tooon a flat for your pregnant mistress?”
Jonathan had always been late coming home from work lately, smelling of something floralnot his usual cologne. Lilies, maybe. Or jasmine. Anna had ignored it at first, told herself it was nothing. But then the phone, always face-down now, always locked. The way he flinched when she reached for it.
He walked in at half past nine, tossing his keys onto the sideboard with a tired sigh. “Hello, love. Long day.”
“Jonathan.” She didnt look up. “Sit down.”
His footsteps hesitated. He saw the papers. The colour drained from his face.
“Whats this?”
“The savings account. Empty. Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Gone.”
Jonathan sank into the chair opposite her, his fingers tapping nervously. He didnt deny it.
“I bought a flat,” he admitted, voice hollow.
“For who?”
“Sophie.”
The name hung between them like a guillotine.
Anna exhaled slowly. “Sophie. Of course.”
He stumbled through the storysome corporate retreat last year, a nineteen-year-old bartender with tattoos and a motorbike. A whirlwind affair. A pregnancy.
“And our son?” Annas voice was steel. “Oliver? Did you even think about him?”
Jonathan winced. “Anna, I couldnt just abandon her”
“Right. Your daughter matters. Mine doesnt.” She stood, gripping the edge of the table. “Tomorrow, youll sign your half of this house over to Oliver. Then I want you gone.”
He begged, of course. Left pleading voicemails, loitered outside the house like a stray. But Anna never answered.
The divorce was swift. As for Sophiewell, the baby had Jonathans surname, but not his eyes. The truth, when it came, was almost poetic.
Some dreams, it seemed, were never meant to last.
