"So what if it's Tristan's child? You could still raise it as your own!"
"And you can't fire Tristan. He's been bringing in contracts left and right lately. You're not even half the asset he is!"
I wasn't half the asset he was?
I laughed until tears streamed down my face. "Then what's left to say?"
I turned and walked out.
Behind me, my son's crying echoed through the room, tangled with my family's voices calling me ungrateful and unfilial.
I went home, packed my bags, and left.
I headed to a hotel to get a room.
When I finished checking in, the woman at the front desk gave me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, sir. Your card was declined."
I tried Apple Pay, every payment app I had. Nothing went through.
That was when a text from Marina came in.
"Honey, having trouble paying for things?"
"As long as you drop the divorce and stop trying to get Tristan fired, you can buy whatever you want."
She'd insisted early in our marriage that I hand over my paycheck. I'd used her supplementary card and her linked payment accounts ever since. At the time, I hadn't thought twice about it. I figured it was just something couples did to build trust.
Turned out it was a leash.