Things are not always as they seem.
I had a friend run a background check on Tom’s
business.
I was shocked by what I discovered.
Tom ran a trading company.
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Basically, he bought and sold goods, making a
profit off the difference.
Two weeks earlier, a batch of goods that Linda had been responsible for purchasing turned out
to be counterfeit.
The supplier had vanished.
The customers refused to accept the goods and demanded compensation for all losses.
Apparently, Tom had emptied his savings to
cover the losses.
He was practically broke. He probably couldn’t come up with a thousand bucks, let alone half a
million.
His attempt to reconcile was not just about dodging the million dollars.
He was probably after the house
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Г
He was probably after the house.
www.
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We lived in a good school district, and the house was worth at least five or six million.
I wondered what Alex had said to Tom during the divorce negotiations.
Maybe he still felt a tiny bit of remorse toward
- us.
Or maybe his business was booming at the
time, and he didn’t care about the money.
But now that he was down on his luck, those assets became a lifeline.
He wanted to hold onto them.
But it was ridiculous to ask his ex–wife to help
out with the mess his mistress had created.
<
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It wasn’t going to be that easy.
10
The waiting period was over, and we were
supposed to get our divorce certificate.
But I couldn’t reach Tom. He was probably
stalling to prevent the finalization of the
divorce.
I was frustrated when I received a package.
It was a flash drive containing evidence of
Tom’s affair.
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There were videos of him and Linda making out
and going to hotels, explicit chat logs.
Even money transfers with notes like “I love
you” or “Thinking of you.”
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I took a picture and sent it to Tom.
“If we can’t finalize the divorce, I can still go
through with a lawsuit.”
A while later, Tom called.
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“Honey, are you really this heartless? We’ve
been together for so long. Can you just throw it all away?”
It was raining heavily.
I was standing at the intersection downstairs
when the phone rang.
The wind howled around me.
I said softly, “Tom, you’re the one who threw it
all away.”
The line went silent.
<
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Tom finally came to pick up the divorce
certificate.
He came alone, without Linda.
He looked terrible.
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His trading company was practically shut down.
He needed to pay the suppliers and the
employees.
He must have been stressed.
11
As we parted ways, he grabbed my arm.
“Sarah, can we get dinner?”
I was about to refuse when he said urgently,
“Even if we’re not together, we can still be
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friends, right? Can’t we just have one dinner
together?”
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I knew him too well. He was being humble for a
reason. He probably had something he wanted.
to say.
I nodded.
We went to a restaurant next to the courthouse.
After we sat down, he kept twirling his glass,
looking hesitant.
I didn’t want to waste time, so I spoke first.
“Tom, just say what you want.”
He hesitated.
“About the million dollars I promised you, can I
have some more time? I’m not trying to get out
of it, but…”
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“Okay.”
I cut him off.
“Sarah!”
He reached for my hand.
I subtly pulled back.
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“I agree to postpone the payment for a year,
but I’ll charge you 10 percent interest. Also, I
want to get a discount from your company like you would give to a large retailer. Don’t worry,
I’ll pay on time.”
Sarah had been saying that it was hard to find
good products.
Alex overheard her.
The smart kid blinked and said, “Aunt Sarah, I
know where you can find what you need.”
<
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I was wondering how to bring it up to Tom.
He delivered the offer himself.
Being a large distributor from their company
was a privilege.
It required purchasing millions of dollars of
products.
Tom probably didn’t expect me to make demands. He paused for a moment before
saying.
“You’re different from before.”
“Tom.”
I cut him off again.
I knew what he wanted to say.
I used to be focused on him and our child.
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<
