My Boyfriend Called My Mother’S ICU A Bottomless Pit And Her Startup A Gift Chapter 07

My Boyfriend Called My Mother’S ICU A Bottomless Pit And Her Startup A Gift Chapter 07

After the divorce petition was filed, Dashiell finally panicked.

He started calling me again and again.

I blocked every number.

Then he switched to texting from new ones.

Dashiell: [Sable, we can settle the divorce privately. Please don’t take this to court.]

Dashiell: [I know I failed you. I should have been there for your mother, and I should have been there for you.]

Dashiell: [I’ll make it up to you. Whatever you want, it’s yours.]

I stared at those messages and felt only disbelief.

Even now, he still thought money could fix everything.

But there were things money couldn’t reach.

My mother was gone.

So was my child.

Before the first hearing, Dashiell’s attorney filed a statement with the court.

It claimed I had been unemployed for most of the marriage and had contributed little to the marital estate. It called the money I gave Dashiell to start his company a voluntary gift made during the marriage.

Then it said that after my mother’s death and my miscarriage, I had become emotionally unstable, and that my request for divorce was not a rational decision.

When I read that last line, my fingers went cold.

Hollis frowned.

“That’s dirty.”

I nodded.

“Sounds like him.”

That was what Dashiell did best. He took my pain and turned it into my fault.

Later, he texted me and said those words had not come from him, that it was only legal strategy.

I didn’t believe a single word.

Without his permission, his lawyer would never have pressed a knife directly into my wound.

On the day of the hearing, Dashiell sat at the respondent’s table.

He looked much thinner than before.

Elodie was there too, sitting in the back row of the gallery.

Once the hearing began, Dashiell’s attorney spoke in a steady voice.

“Ms. Merrick did not participate in the operation of Veyne Capital after the marriage.”

“The alleged capital contribution lacks the basic elements of a loan agreement.”

“In addition, Ms. Merrick has recently suffered significant personal trauma. Her claims show signs of emotional impulse rather than sound judgment.”

I listened without saying a word.

Then Hollis submitted the first set of evidence.

It was a voice message Dashiell had sent me in the early days of his company.

His voice came through the speaker.

“Sable, treat this $370,000 as a loan to me. Once the company survives, I’ll pay you back with interest.”

“I won’t let you lose out.”

The second set of evidence was my income record before I resigned.

My annual salary had been $185,000.

The third set was a chain of early client emails from Veyne Capital.

Many of the company’s key resources had come through me.

Dashiell’s attorney’s face changed.

Dashiell looked up at me sharply too.

Maybe he had forgotten.

I hadn’t always been this version of myself.

I had made myself smaller for him, one compromise at a time.

During recess, Dashiell came over.

“You kept all of this?”

I looked at him.

“Yes.”

“I kept it before because I was afraid you’d forget how we survived.”

“Now I keep it because I’m afraid I’ll forget how you stepped on me.”

His throat moved.

“Sable, I never meant to hurt you this badly.”

I gave a faint smile.

“But you did.”

“I asked for your help. I asked for your time. I asked you not to leave me alone in that hospital.”

“You said no every time.”

His eyes reddened.

Elodie walked over from the side and spoke softly.

“Mr. Veyne, your attorney is asking for you.”

Dashiell shook off her hand on instinct. Elodie froze where she stood.

Watching them, I only found it ironic.

Back then, he had shaken off my pleas again and again for her.

Now she was only getting a taste of what that felt like.

Before the second hearing, Elodie’s project imploded.

She had used the $600,000 to build a women’s med-spa franchise.
The licensing was falsified, and customers started filing complaints.

The media followed the money trail straight back to Dashiell.

The headlines were ugly.

#Veyne Capital Executive Poured $600,000 Into Young Female
Subordinate’s Company While Refusing Help During Mother-in-Law’s
ICU Crisis#

#Wife Files for Divorce After Miscarriage and Family Tragedy#

The day the story broke, Dashiell was placed on administrative leave
pending a board investigation.

He called me.

“Did you leak this to the press?”

“No.”

“Sable, do you really have to destroy me?”

I stood by the window and watched the traffic moving below.

“Dashiell.”

“When your mother dies in a hospital, and your child dies on an
operating table, ask me that again.”

The other end stayed silent for a long time.

At last, he said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes.

“Too late.”