Chapter 8 - ABIGAIL FILED FOR DIVORCE
Abigail waited eleven days after leaving the hospital.
Not because she was undecided about Derek.
Because she wanted to separate injury from impulse.
She met Nathan and a family-law attorney named Lauren Brooks in the short-term apartment.
Lauren reviewed the house, accounts, debts, employment income, insurance, and the disputed loan application.
Then she asked one question.
“What outcome are you asking me to pursue?”
Abigail looked down at the brace running from thigh to ankle.
“A divorce.”
Saying it felt quieter than she expected.
No dramatic liberation.
No collapse.
Just a door inside her closing.
Lauren filed.
The decision cost Abigail immediately.
She and Derek had planned to use savings for a kitchen renovation the following spring.
Now some of that money would fund attorneys.
Their joint credit cards had to be separated carefully.
The house could not simply become Abigail’s because Derek had behaved terribly. Ownership still had to be addressed through the divorce.
Abigail understood.
She wanted reality, not fantasy justice.
The filing also triggered Derek’s strongest reaction yet.
Through counsel, he demanded access to part of the joint savings and denied any plan to burden Abigail unfairly with home-equity debt.
He claimed the AFTER ABBY budget was merely “contingency planning during marital conflict.”
He admitted seeing a divorce attorney.
He did not admit intending to leave Abigail with a fraudulent loan.
That question remained under investigation.
Then Evelyn made a move of her own.
She left Robert.
Not legally.
Not yet.
She moved into Derek’s house while Robert went to a motel.
The irony was not lost on Abigail.
The woman who had spent a year telling Abigail marriage meant loyalty abandoned her husband the moment he cooperated with police.
Robert called Nathan asking whether Abigail would speak with him.
Abigail said no.
The refusal cost her more than she expected.
Robert had once been kind to her.
He taught her how to smoke ribs.
He cried at her wedding.
When her mother underwent surgery in Arizona, Robert drove Abigail to the airport at four in the morning.
Good memories did not disappear because later choices became terrible.
They simply stopped functioning as excuses.
The evening the divorce filing reached Derek, he sent one message through the approved co-parenting-style communication platform Lauren had recommended for documenting essential contact even though they had no children.
There were no insults.
Just one sentence.
You have no idea what you’re breaking apart.
Abigail looked at it.
May you like
Then closed the app.
Her leg had already taught her what had been broken.
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