Chapter 7 - The Deal Ryan Thought I Would Take
Ryan’s attorney requested a settlement conference.
Leah wanted to decline.
I wanted to see his face.
We met in a conference room with glass walls and a view of downtown.
Ryan wore the navy suit I had bought him for our seventh anniversary.
For one terrible second, my body remembered loving him before my mind remembered why I was there.
Then he looked at Leah instead of me.
“This has gotten out of control.”
I almost smiled.
“You threw me and Sophie out with thirty-seven dollars.”
“You left voluntarily.”
“You gave me until morning.”
“I never said you couldn’t come back.”
Leah raised one hand. “We are not debating semantics. Your client is facing allegations of financial fraud, unauthorized borrowing, and misuse of marital funds.”
Ryan finally looked at me.
“The business was failing.”
There it was.
Not denial.
Justification.
“What business?”
“Mitchell Ridge Development.”
“You told me your job was going great.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I felt something in me go still.
Every person who had lied to me used the same word.
Protect.
Ryan leaned forward.
“The line of credit kept the company alive. It kept the mortgage paid. It kept health insurance on you and Sophie.”
“In my name.”
“You were my wife.”
“That is not permission.”
His lawyer slid a document across the table.
“Mr. Mitchell is willing to withdraw his request for primary temporary custody. He will agree to shared parenting and an uncontested divorce.”
“What does he want?” Leah asked.
“Mutual release of financial claims relating to marital accounts and business liabilities.”
I stared at Ryan.
“You want me to forgive six hundred thousand dollars in debt for the privilege of keeping my daughter.”
His expression tightened.
“I want this family to stop destroying itself.”
“No. You want me scared.”
For the first time, anger cracked his calm.
“You think your grandmother is innocent in this?”
Grandma was not in the room.
I leaned back.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan looked at his lawyer.
His lawyer looked alarmed.
Then Ryan said it anyway.
“The bank did not accept Linda’s signature by itself. They had authorization from Evelyn.”
Leah’s face changed.
“That is false.”
Ryan reached into his folder and placed a notarized document on the table.
At the bottom was Grandma’s signature.
TRUSTEE CONSENT TO COLLATERAL ASSIGNMENT.
The notary seal was real.
And according to the date, Grandma had signed it three months before Ryan and I got married.
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