One recording showed them kissing before the elevator doors closed.
Another showed Vanessa leaving our apartment shortly after dawn wearing one of Grant’s jackets.
I downloaded everything.
Then I thought about the necklace.
Two days later, under the terms arranged through our attorneys, I returned to collect additional personal belongings.
Maya came as my witness.
In Grant’s dresser, behind a tray of cufflinks, we found a dark green jewelry box.
Inside was a diamond necklace.
The receipt was tucked underneath.
$28,900.
I photographed it.
Then closed the box.
Maya stared at me.
“You’re leaving it?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why?”
“Because I want Vanessa to enjoy every carat.”
Maya looked confused.
I smiled.
“After Grant reimburses me for my half.”
The following night, I asked Grant to meet me at a steakhouse near Union Station.
He arrived looking smug.
That was the only word for it.
Smug.
“I’m glad you finally want to talk rationally,” he said.
“I’ve been rational the entire time.”
He gave me the tired smile of a man dealing with a difficult employee.
“Natalie, we can make this easier if we stop trying to hurt each other.”
I placed a folder on the table.
His smile faded.
Hotel bills.
Flights.
Restaurant charges.
The spa.
The jewelry receipt.
Security camera stills.
He flipped through them.
His face tightened.
“Where did you get these?”
“From accounts with my name on them and cameras in the building where I lived.”
“This is obsessive.”
“No, Grant. This is accounting.”
He pushed the folder away.
“What do you want?”
“The apartment.”
“No.”
“My SUV remains mine.”
“Obviously.”
“We close every joint account.”
“Fine.”
“And you reimburse the marital funds spent on Vanessa.”
His chair creaked as he leaned back.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am.”
“You’re trying to punish me.”
“I’m separating myself financially from your affair.”
“Our marriage failed before Vanessa.”
“Then you should have divorced me before buying her a twenty-eight-thousand-dollar necklace.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I’m not paying you for a gift I bought someone else.”
“You already did.”
“What?”
“With our money.”
