The husband k.icked his wife and children out, but his mistress followed them, handed her $10,000, and quietly said, “Come back in three days… there will be a surprise waiting for you…”

“So I made a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” she asked.

“That he disappears completely and never contacts you again,” Rachel said. “In exchange, you and your children are left alone.”

Her heart nearly stopped.

“Disappear completely?”

“Yes.”

“And he agreed to that?”

Rachel shook her head slightly.

“He did not have a choice.”

Silence filled the space again, heavy and final.

“Is he still alive?” she asked, her voice trembling.

Rachel hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Yes, he is alive, but you will never see him again.”

Tears fell quietly down her face as reality settled into place.
She held her children close, grounding herself in the only thing that still felt certain.

“What happens to us now?” she asked softly.

Rachel gently pushed the file closer.

“Now you start over,” she said.

“With what exactly, because we have nothing left,” she replied bitterly.

Rachel gestured around the empty room.

“You still have this house.”

She frowned in confusion.

“What do you mean by that?”

“The house is now legally in your name,” Rachel explained.