Vanessa laughed, a sharp, ugly sound.

I knelt and hugged my terrified children, pressing my face into Lily’s hair so Daniel couldn’t see my eyes hardening. “Mommy’s going to go away for just a little while, okay? But I promise I’ll be back. Be good for Daddy.”

I stood, grabbed the handles of my suitcases, and turned my back on the man I’d loved for a decade.

I walked down the driveway, dragging the heavy wheels behind me, playing the pathetic victim with every step.

But at the end of the block, out of their sight, I stopped. I pulled out my phone and dialed the silver-haired attorney I’d left barely an hour earlier.

“Mr. Meyers,” I said, my voice no longer trembling. “We have a serious problem. And I need to understand exactly what he’s done to me — every document, on the record.”