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That night, my mother slept in the guest suite.
Noah slept beside me.
And Derek stayed outside.
He called seventeen times.
I didn’t answer.
By midnight, the messages started.
“Please talk to me.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“You misunderstood what happened.”
“Your mother made it seem worse than it was.”
Then came the message that finally made me understand how little he had changed.
“Your mother needs to stop interfering in our marriage.”
I stared at the screen.
Then I deleted the message.
The next morning, Derek came to the mansion.
He stood outside the gate.
I watched him through the security camera.
He looked exhausted.
For a moment, I almost felt sorry for him.
Then I remembered my mother’s face beside the stove.
I opened the gate.
Derek entered.
He stood in the foyer.
“This place is incredible.”
I said nothing.
“I didn’t know you had this kind of money.”
“You never asked.”
He looked at the marble staircase.
“The company?”
“Yes.”
“You bought all this with your company money?”
“With money I earned.”
He nodded slowly.
Then he said something I never expected.
“Maybe we can work this out.”
I stared at him.
“What exactly are you trying to work out?”
“Our marriage.”
I almost smiled.
“Derek, you don’t want our marriage.”
His eyebrows tightened.
“Of course I do.”
“You want the life attached to it.”
He became defensive.
“That isn’t fair.”
“Isn’t it?”
I walked toward him.
“When was the last time you asked me how I was doing?”
He didn’t answer.
“When was the last time you thanked me?”
Silence.
“When was the last time you asked my mother whether she was in pain?”
Nothing.
I nodded.
“That is what I thought.”
He sat down.
“Maya, I made a mistake.”
“You made six years of choices.”
He looked down.
“I can change.”
“Maybe.”
He looked up.
“But not with me.”
His face fell.
“You’re leaving me?”
“I’ve already left.”
He stared at me.
“What about Noah?”
“You will always be his father.”
“I want custody.”
I shook my head.
“You should have thought about being a father when you watched his grandmother struggle to carry him.”
His face reddened.
“You can’t keep my son from me.”
“I won’t.”
I leaned closer.
“But you will never use him as leverage.”
He looked away.
Then he whispered:
“What about my mother?”
I stared at him.
“Your mother made her choice.”
“She has nowhere to go.”
“She has a house.”
“You’re kicking her out?”
“No.”
“I am asking her to live according to her own means.”
Derek stared at me.
Then he finally understood.
The comfortable lifestyle was ending.
The designer bags.
The expensive restaurants.
The vacations.
The luxury cars.
The house.
All of it.
He had mistaken my generosity for dependence.
And now he was discovering the difference.
