Nathan’s answer came through with perfect clarity.

“Especially because of those kids.

She’s desperate to feel secure.”

My hand tightened around the edge of the dresser until my knuckles ached.

Those kids. He said it the way you would say that furniture, or those boxes in the garage — a category, an inconvenience, a set of objects to be factored into a plan.

And a plan was exactly what I was listening to.

In two sentences, the man I had loved for three years, the man whose ring was on my finger, had reduced my entire family to leverage.