They were so certain I was bluffing that they stopped being careful.

And a person who is defrauding you and has stopped being careful is the most useful thing in the world, if you are patient, and if you keep the records, and if you have a retired general and a furious specialist and a forensic accountant already quietly at work behind you.

Chapter 9 — Reckless

They became reckless in the way I needed them to.

Julian posted photographs online with his new girlfriend, a young woman named Selina, captioning them, without apparent irony, Finally building the family I deserve. Evelyn told mutual acquaintances, at lunches and at her club, that I had simply failed as a wife, that it was sad but not surprising.

And Julian — this is the detail that still amazes me — had his lawyer send a demand that I reimburse him for the medical expenses he claimed he had wasted on my failed treatments.