Chapter 4 - THE DECISION THAT MADE DEREK STOP CALLING HER SELFISH
Derek left the house that night.
Not because Alyssa threw him out.
Because Rebecca advised that if he refused to disclose the transfers, voluntary separation would be safer while they untangled finances.
Derek went to Patricia’s.
Alyssa remained in the Phoenix townhouse they had bought four years earlier.
Megan stayed with her for three nights.
The first practical consequence arrived quickly.
Derek had been paying the household credit card from an individual account.
He stopped.
Alyssa discovered nearly $14,000 in charges she had not known existed.
Restaurants.
Golf.
Hotel rooms.
None immediately suggested an affair.
Most clustered around business travel.
Rebecca requested formal financial disclosure as part of a legal-separation petition.
Alyssa was not ready to file for divorce.
She was ready to prevent more money from moving.
The temporary order, once entered, prohibited either spouse from transferring unusual marital assets outside normal living expenses.
Derek called it humiliating.
“You made our marriage a court file.”
“You made my maternity savings your mother’s account.”
Patricia began calling too.
At first she was furious.
“You embarrassed me in front of my friends.”
Alyssa nearly laughed.
“I fell into a pool.”
“Because you made a scene.”
“You were holding my money.”
“You have plenty of money.”
That sentence mattered.
Alyssa heard the assumption beneath it.
She worked as an independent interior designer specializing in high-end medical offices and restaurants. Her income was good but unpredictable. Because her pregnancy became high-risk, she had already declined two projects and expected several unpaid months after delivery.
The $23,000 was not luxury.
It was the runway protecting her from needing Derek’s permission to recover.
“Why does P.M. Family Holdings exist?” Alyssa asked.
Patricia immediately became guarded.
“Property management.”
“What property?”
“My affairs are private.”
“Then stop funding them with my money.”
Patricia hung up.
Megan searched Arizona corporate records, which were public.
P.M. Family Holdings LLC had been formed thirty-four months earlier.
Its statutory agent was Patricia Morgan.
Its business address was not Patricia’s house.
It was a mailbox at a Scottsdale executive-office center.
That was strange but not illegal.
Then Megan found a deed.
The LLC owned a condominium in Tempe.
Purchased two years earlier for $312,000.
Alyssa stared at the address.
Patricia had never mentioned owning a condominium.
“Maybe it’s an investment.”
“With what down payment?”
Megan looked at her.
They both knew the answer might already be in the transfers.
Alyssa drove nowhere.
She did not knock on doors.
She gave the information to Rebecca.
The next day, Rebecca’s investigator confirmed the Tempe condo was rented.
The tenant paid $2,650 a month.
Patricia’s mysterious LLC was generating income.
May you like
She had not needed Alyssa’s money to survive.
The $23,000 had been going to a woman collecting rent from property Alyssa had never known existed.
Related Stories
