“I wasn’t deployed.”
“Whatever. You were gone.”
“I sold ventilation systems to a hospital project.”
She looked away.
I laughed once.
My whole marriage had become surreal.
Rebecca continued quietly.
“Claire apparently discovered a clause in the trust.”
Martin nodded.
“If the marriage ended through voluntary dissolution, occupancy rights terminated and sole beneficial possession reverted to you, Mr. Mercer.”
Derek’s face went pale.
“And if Cole abandoned the home?” Rebecca asked.
Martin answered.
“If he permanently vacated under certain documented conditions, Claire could petition for continued occupancy.”
There it was.
I understood.
The affair.
The humiliation.
The challenge.
&
nbsp;
The pressure to leave.
The insistence that I sign everything away.
They had needed me out.
Not merely divorced.
Out voluntarily.
Preferably
angry.
