Minimal for Me, Everything for Her Chapter 05

Minimal for Me, Everything for Her Chapter 05

I pulled my phone back.

“Sienna Parker.”

“Everything she accepted came out of marital property.”

Sienna followed him into the hallway.

The smugness had vanished from her face.

“Nora Bennett, Adrian gave me those things willingly.”

“His willingness doesn’t give him the right to dispose of my share.”

Adrian stepped between us.

“How much do you want? I’ll transfer it to you. Leave Sienna out of this.”

I stared at him.

“Even now, you’re protecting her.”

“I’m trying to solve the problem.”

“Your solution is that I keep being understanding?”

His voice dropped.

“Do you really have to drag this into court and humiliate everyone?”

“The person being humiliated isn’t me.”

I moved his hand away from my phone.

“Someone will contact you tomorrow.”

Adrian didn’t follow me.

He probably thought this was another test.

The next day, when he came home, I had already moved out.

The matching mugs and framed photo he’d boxed up were still stacked against the wall.

I took only my clothes and daily necessities.

The $11.80 oatmeal was still on the table.

Beside it lay a proposed marital settlement agreement.

Adrian called me seventeen times.

I didn’t answer once.

That evening, he found the furnished apartment where I was staying and pounded on the door.

“Nora Bennett. Open up.”

I answered through the door.

“What?”

“Come home.”

“That’s not my home anymore.”

“You’re ending a four-year marriage over a few gifts?”

“It wasn’t a few.”

I opened the door and handed him the list my attorney had prepared.

Over four years, he’d bought Sienna twenty-seven designer bags and fourteen pieces of jewelry.

He’d also paid for hotels, trips, and private events.

The total was over $1.2 million.

Every charge had fallen on a day that was supposed to belong to me.

Adrian reached the last page.

His face changed.

“You went through my accounts?”

“They’re marital accounts. I had a right to know.”

“I earned that money.”

“And every month, you transferred $1,500 into the household checking account and expected me to cover utilities, groceries, and every home expense.”

I looked at him.

“Adrian, I spent four years making up the difference with savings I had before we married.”

He froze.

“If it wasn’t enough, why didn’t you say something?”

“I did.”

The first year, I told him $1,500 wasn’t enough.

He said minimalist living meant learning to control your wants.

The second year, our water heater broke.

I asked him to send me money for the repair.

He told me cold showers were healthier.

I paid for it myself.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard me.

He simply hadn’t wanted to remember.

Adrian tightened his grip on the list.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“No.”

“Then what do you want?”

“A divorce. And the marital assets you transferred to her returned.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh.

“You don’t have proof that every gift came from me.”

I lifted my phone.

“Sienna gave me the proof herself.”

Her private Instagram documented each gift with dates, brands, and thinly veiled thank-yous.

That line about him insisting on proving his love was practically a confession she’d written for me.

Adrian’s face went pale.

His phone rang.

Sienna was crying when he answered.

“Adrian, a sheriff’s deputy is here. They served an order against my condo.”

Adrian’s head snapped up.

I took the list from his hand and closed the door.

Before the gap disappeared, I heard Sienna shriek through the phone.

“Didn’t you say she’d never fight me for any of it?”