Taking Care of His Best Friend's Wife Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Ledger of Losses

The silence he left behind was different this time. It wasn't empty; it was full of purpose.

I waited until I heard his car pull away, the sound fading into the hum of the city. Then, I moved. I went to the home office—*our* office, though he rarely used it anymore. The desk was dusty. I opened the drawers, one by one. They were a jumble of old receipts, forgotten warranties, and memories I no longer wanted.

And then I found it. A folder tucked at the back of the bottom drawer, unassuming and thick.

Our joint financial records. The savings account we’d opened for a future that no longer existed. The "Future Fund," we'd called it. For a house with a bigger garden. For our children's education.

My hands were steady as I flipped through the statements. The numbers, once symbols of our shared dreams, now held a different story. And there it was. A series of large withdrawals over the past few months. Substantial sums, each one a silent tremor I had missed while focused on the earthquake of his emotional absence.

I traced the transactions with a cold finger. They led to a property purchase. A cozy-looking apartment in a new development across town. An apartment registered under Su Qing's name.

He hadn't just given her his seed, his time, his loyalty.

He had given her our future. Our child's future. He had liquidated our dreams to build a nest for his betrayal.

A strange calm settled over me. The grief and rage crystallized into something sharp, clear, and unyielding: resolve.

Love was a fog that had blinded me. But numbers? Numbers didn't lie. They were cold, hard, and indisputable.

I picked up my phone. My thumb hovered for only a second before I tapped the screen, pulling up the number for the most ruthless divorce lawyer my quick online search could recommend.

"Hello?" a crisp, professional voice answered.

"Hello," I said, my own voice sounding foreign, firm. "My name is Lin Wan. I need to speak with someone about a divorce. And," I added, my gaze fixed on the damning numbers on the paper, "about reclaiming what is mine."

This was no longer about saving a marriage. It was about salvaging a life. My life.

And I would fight for it with everything I had.