Chapter Six: The Morning Move
Ernest woke at 6:00.
Kelly was still asleep. He moved through the dark house like a ghost, gathering the documents he’d need. Driver’s license. Social security card. Account numbers he’d memorized weeks ago, when he first started preparing for this moment.
The bank opened at 9:00.
He was standing at the door at 8:45.
By 9:15, he’d transferred $43,000 — exactly half — from their joint savings account into a new individual account. By 9:30, he’d changed the beneficiary on his 401k from Kelly to his mother. By 9:45, he’d done the same with his life insurance policy.
Forty-one thousand dollars in retirement savings.
Two hundred fifty thousand in life insurance.
Kelly’s name removed from both.
He drove to Patricia’s office with the sun climbing over Charlotte. The city looked different today — sharper somehow. Like he was seeing it clearly for the first time in years.
“Sign here,” Patricia said, sliding the divorce papers across her desk. “And here. And initial here.”
Ernest signed.
“We’re filing this afternoon. She’ll be served with papers probably by Thursday. That gives you two days to prepare for her reaction.”
“What should I expect?”
Patricia smiled. It wasn’t particularly warm.
“Shock. Anger. Probably threats. She’s going to realize that her entire strategy just collapsed. Women like Kelly — people like Kelly — she corrected herself, don’t take well to having their plans disrupted.”
“She thought she was in control.”
“She was. Until she wasn’t.”
