He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a thick envelope. Hands shaking, he passed it to me.
“I didn’t know how to tell you. But you need to see this.”
Inside were debt notices, lawsuit documents, and printed emails between Daniel and someone named Greg.
The emails made my skin crawl.
“She’s got no family, owns her house outright, and a fat savings account. Marry her, wait two years, claim emotional distress, walk away with half. It’s easy, man.”
“She’s falling for it fast. Told you — charming works. I’m drowning in debt. This’ll save me.”
I stared at the words until they blurred.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
“I heard him talking to Uncle Greg on the phone weeks ago,” Evan whispered. “He was bragging about it… about how he’d convince you to sign everything over. I didn’t believe it at first. I wanted to think I misunderstood.”
I looked up at him, tears threatening.
“So you… what? Took his phone?”
He nodded. “He’s careless. I know his passcode. I took screenshots, printed them at school. I was going to tell you earlier, but I thought if I acted cold enough, you’d just walk away.”
“Oh, Evan…”
“I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to ruin everything if I was wrong. But I had to tell you before it was too late.”
“You weren’t wrong,” I said, pulling him into a hug. “You were trying to protect me.”
—
I called Michael, my longtime friend and lawyer, who was supposed to walk me down the aisle. When I showed him the envelope, his face turned white.
“I need an ironclad prenup,” I told him. “Everything I own stays mine. No loopholes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
He drafted it and brought it to Daniel.
Minutes later, I heard the shouting echo through the venue.
Daniel stormed into the bridal suite, red-faced and shaking.
“What the hell is this?! A prenup? Now?”
“Sign it,” I said quietly.
“Absolutely not. This is i.n.sult1ng.”
“Then there’s no wedding.”
His face twisted. “Cora, I love you.”
“You love the idea of draining my savings and starting over with a clean slate.”
“That’s insane!”
I held up the envelope. “I know everything, Daniel. The emails. The debt. The plan.”
