“Let’s settle this cleanly, Lourdes,” he said, warm and reasonable.

“I’ll sell the apartment, we split the equity fifty-fifty, and you drop the claims about the marital funds.

Everyone moves on.”

Solene let out a small, professional laugh, and opened a leather binder, and slid four documents across the table one at a time.

Chapter 16 — Four Documents

“First,” she said, “the apartment down payment was a documented, non-marital gift from Lourdes’s father, secured by a signed promissory note.