Chapter 10 - The Deal
Adam cooperated.
The investigation lasted months.
I was not present for most of it, nor did I want to be.
Rachel kept me informed only when developments affected Grace or our finances.
Records were recovered.
Accounts were frozen.
Investors were identified.
Money began returning.
The most important discovery for me involved the forged debts.
Investigators confirmed I had not authorized them.
For the first time in nearly a year, I could see a financial future that wasn't defined by Adam’s choices.
But money didn't repair trust.
During supervised visits, Adam slowly changed.
At least according to the reports.
He stopped blaming me.
Stopped questioning the rules.
Started arriving early.
He learned Grace’s feeding schedule.
Her favorite toys.
The song that made her laugh.
None of that erased the pen.
I never allowed myself to pretend it did.
But Grace deserved adults capable of distinguishing accountability from revenge.
On her first birthday, Margaret asked if she could host a small celebration.
“Not a reunion,” she added quickly.
I smiled.
“Good.”
We held it at my house.
Twelve people.
Cake.
Balloons.
Grace destroyed a strawberry with both hands and somehow got frosting in her hair.
Robert cried.
Margaret pretended she wasn't crying.
Adam wasn't there.
His visitation arrangements didn't allow it.
But a package arrived.
Inside was a small stuffed horse.
No dramatic letter.
Just a card:
Happy birthday, Grace. Dad loves you.
I placed it with her other gifts.
Margaret watched me.
“You didn't have to.”
“Yes, I did.”
“For Adam?”
“No. For her.”
That evening, after everyone left, I carried Grace into the backyard.
Fireflies floated near the fence.
She rested her head against my shoulder.
A year earlier, I thought a family was something you preserved at any cost.
Now I understood differently.
Family was where safety mattered more than appearances.
Where truth mattered more than loyalty to wrongdoing.
Where love wasn't used as leverage.
My phone rang.
Rachel.
“There’s been a development.”
My stomach tightened automatically.
“What?”
“The financial case is resolving.”
“And?”
“Adam signed everything.”
I waited.
“He surrendered any claim to the money recovered in Grace’s name.”
I was surprised.
“Why?”
“He requested that it remain hers.”
I looked at my daughter.
“How much?”
“After everything is sorted? Probably around seventy thousand.”
I closed my eyes.
Grace had no idea.
Rachel continued.
“There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“Adam asked to amend the divorce agreement.”
My heart sank.
“What does he want?”
Rachel paused.
“Nothing.”
I frowned.
May you like
“He wants to give something up.”
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