He believed he had successfully discarded me, kept the house, and ruined my reputation in one swift move. I put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across my face. Derek thought he had completely outsmarted me. He had absolutely no idea that 9 months ago, just days before my deployment, I had noticed inconsistencies in our bank statements.
Trusting my instincts, I had installed hidden, military-grade encrypted cameras in every single room of that house. Their feeds bypassed the local network entirely, transmitting data directly to my secure private server. He thought he had kicked me out into the dark. He did not know I was about to watch his every move, track his every lie, and systematically dismantle his entire existence.
Sunlight filtered through the cheap plastic blinds of the secure extended stay hotel I had booked the night before. I had slept exactly two hours. My military training had taught me how to function flawlessly on micro naps, but the adrenaline from the living room ambush was still burning through my veins. Lily woke up hungry and fussy in the portable crib I had managed to secure.
I needed to get her baby formula, so I pulled out my phone to order delivery from a local pharmacy. I entered my primary credit card information and tapped the submit button. The screen flashed a red error message indicating the payment was declined. I frowned and tried my backup card, only to receive the exact same rejection.
A cold realization washed over me as I opened my banking application. Every single joint account Derek and I shared had been completely drained to zero. My personal credit lines, which he had access to as my legal spouse, were completely maxed out or frozen by the bank. Derek was executing a textbook financial starvation tactic.
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