Sophie's feed updated again with more photos of the northern lights.

With a caption.

"Everyone should see the northern lights once in their life, with the person they love most. Only then is a life complete."

Every time she posted, I liked it. Just to show I'd seen it.

That evening I came home from work to find the living room packed with suitcases.

They'd cut the trip short and come back.

"Weren't they supposed to be gone a month? It hadn't even been a week."

Hilary was seething. He strode right up to me and let loose. "This is because you cut off our cards. You forced us to make Sophie cover everything, and now her card's maxed out!"

"Oh. So there's no money, and the trip's off."

"We'll let the card thing go for now. Just hurry up and pay Sophie back what you owe her!"

"Tenfold, was it?"

"The whole family let Sophie front the money on her own. Isn't it only right we give her a little extra?"

"You can pay her back however much you like. You don't need to run it by me."

Hilary shouted at me, "I'm telling you to pay!"

"Why should I? I didn't even go, and you want me to foot the bill."

"I don't have the money to pay her!"

"No money, so why put on airs like a big shot!"

Hilary followed me into the room. "Mila, you're just dead set on making life miserable for everyone, aren't you?"

He was winding up for more when the bank's collection call came through.

"What? This month's mortgage is overdue? That's impossible. My wife pays it automatically every month."

He'd barely hung up when the call about the overdue car loan came in.

After the two calls, Hilary blew up.

"Mila, you stopped the mortgage and the car loan. What the hell are you trying to do!"

His phone rang again. It was the barista from the coffee shop.

"Hello, whatever it is, make it fast!"

"Boss, I wanted to ask when we're getting paid. Payday was three days ago and the wages still haven't come through. Also, the landlord came by today. He wants next quarter's rent right away. If we can't pay on time, he won't rent to us anymore."

Hilary's eyes were practically shooting fire.

"Mila, you didn't pay the coffee shop staff, you didn't pay the rent, what the hell are you trying to do? Are we even going to have a life anymore!"

"From now on you pay the mortgage and the car loan yourself. You pay the coffee shop wages and rent yourself too. The house and the car are both in your name, the coffee shop is yours, so why should the money come from me?"

"Whatever I paid before, I paid. But from now on, not one cent of mine goes to your family!"

Hilary raised his hand and slapped me.

The slap knocked me to the floor, and there was blood at the corner of my mouth.

That one slap also wiped out the last shred of attachment I had left for him.

His parents and Nadia came rushing in at the noise.

Seeing me knocked to the floor, Nadia laughed loudly.

"You had it coming, sis. My brother was right to hit you. You just had to go looking for trouble, and now look, you got hit."

Hilary's father pointed at me and cursed, filth I couldn't stand to hear.

Hilary's mother wore the look of someone disgusted at a lost cause. "Mila, I'm not saying this to be cruel, but you handled this terribly. Hilary hitting you, you brought it on yourself."

Hilary's father roared, "A slap's letting you off easy. Hilary, you've spoiled her too much all this time. Today you should've beaten some sense into her, so she wouldn't dare pull this again!"

Sophie came over playing the good one.

"Hilary, no matter how angry you are, you can't hit her. Mila, are you all right?"

She reached down to help me up, and on instinct I shook her off.

She let herself drop straight to the floor.

Hilary rushed over to steady her. : 「Sophie, are you okay?」

「I'm fine. Mila's just angry, she didn't mean it.」

Hilary let go of Sophie, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me up.

「You won't pay the mortgage or the car loan? Fine, then you don't get to live in my house or ride in my car!」

He shoved me toward the door. : 「Get out! There's no place for you in this house anymore.」

The door slammed shut. Just like that, Hilary had thrown me out.

I wasn't ready to give up. I tried the door, but they'd bolted it from the inside, and my fingerprint wouldn't unlock it.

I gave the door one hard kick, then finally walked away.

I didn't have a cent on me, hadn't even grabbed my phone. All I could do was walk an hour to my best friend Vera Fox's place.

When Vera saw the state of me, she wanted to march straight over to the Pruitts and set things right.

I held her back. : 「No rush. I've already got a lawyer gathering evidence. Every cent Hilary has spent on Sophie all these years, I'm getting it back!」

「Every cent I ever spent on the Pruitts is going to come back like a boomerang and hit them right where it hurts!」

「Once the lawyer finishes the property division, there'll still be plenty of time to settle up with the whole family.」

A week later, Hilary came to my office on his own.

「Mila, it's been a while now. You've had enough time to think it over. Come home for dinner tonight. Mom and Dad are waiting for your apology.」

「Fine. Got it.」

Hilary thought I'd come crawling back to beg the whole family's forgiveness. In fact, I was going there to lay everything on the table.

That evening when I went back, not one of them gave me a decent look.

Sophie was there too, still in a lace camisole nightgown.

Nadia sidled up to me. : 「You know, if you keep acting up, my brother's going to trade you in for a new wife.」

「I'm gone a week and Sophie's moved in?」

「That's right. Sophie's going to be living with us from now on.」

Hilary added, : 「Sophie's lease was up, and we happen to have a spare bedroom sitting empty. No point letting it go to waste, so I told her to move in.」

I didn't say anything. I just pulled out my suitcase and went into the bedroom.

「What are you packing for?」

「You let Sophie move in, so obviously I have to make room for her.」

「Mila, are you insane? I already told you Sophie's in the spare room, she's not taking the master bedroom, so what are you packing for?」

I opened the closet and found every one of my designer bags gone.

「Where are my bags?」

Hilary looked a little guilty. : 「I took them to sell. The mortgage, the car loan, the staff wages, the shop rent, they're all waiting on money. You bought all those designer bags and never even carried them, they were just sitting in the closet collecting dust.」

Then I saw my gold jewelry was gone too. So were my Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, my Bvlgari ring, all of it.

「You sold my jewelry too?」

「No, that I gave to Sophie. We owe her so much money and can't pay it back, so I had to settle it with the jewelry.」

I was about to explode.

「Hilary, you've got some nerve. Taking things without asking is stealing!」

「That's a nasty thing to say! We're married. What's yours is mine. Do I need to check with you before I use my own things?」

I didn't waste any more words on him. I just went on packing my things.

Hilary kept yammering at my side.

「Mila, I really have been too good to you, haven't I? If you walk out, don't you ever come back!」

I treated it like so much hot air.

A moment later the doorbell rang.

Hilary went to answer it. Two police officers stood outside.

「We received a report. There's a suspected large-scale theft at this address.」

「Officers, there must be some mistake. Nobody here called the police, and nothing's been stolen.」

I came out from the room.

「I'm the one who called!」

I pulled out the divorce papers and threw them in Hilary's face.

「It's about time we settled the account between the two of us!」