Chapter 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
That evening, I came home to a brightly lit living room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For once, Dylan had opened wine and set out my favorites-Westfield ham and porcini soup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart warmed, and just as I was about to speak, he raised his glass first: \u201cStella, the board approved the overseas acquisition today. I\u2019m handling the closing. Once this deal wraps up, I\u2019ll take two months off and you can come with me to check out properties in Switzerland.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared. \u201cSwitzerland?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He smiled: \u201cI bought a retirement condo for my parents on Lake Lucerne-permanent ownership, gorgeous views, pristine air, world-class healthcare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he pushed a document toward me: \u201cOverseas Asset Purchase Authorization\u201d-needed my signature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked down at the total price: 3.5 million Swiss francs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lump sum payment, funding source: Stellar Trust No. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked up to meet his expectant gaze: \u201cStella, sign it. I promise your mom can stay there for extended visits too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My fingertips went cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Swiss condo. I couldn\u2019t even get two thousand for Mom, but his parents got Swiss luxury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let my mom \u201cvisit\u201d?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once Mom moved there, with all expenses directly paid by the trust, she\u2019d lose her entire social circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And me? I\u2019d be lucky to see her once a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I smiled and pushed the document back: \u201cDylan, Mom\u2019s lived in her hometown her whole life. She doesn\u2019t speak German and she hates fondue. All she wants is two grand a month to go grocery shopping for deals and play bridge at the community center.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dylan swirled his wine, eyes gradually darkening: \u201cStella, this lack of cooperation will destroy our long-term ROI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before he finished speaking, his phone buzzed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He glanced at it, lips curving slightly: \u201cHoney, your credit card just charged three-twenty-six at the supermarket downstairs-two packs of tampons and toilet paper. Off-budget expense, I\u2019ll mark it as \u2018business entertainment.\u2019 Don\u2019t let it happen again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last thread in my heart snapped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I realized that in this marriage, I was nothing more than a line item under \u201chuman resources costs\u201d on his financial statements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood up, looking down at him: \u201cDylan, starting tomorrow, I\u2019m sending Mom money myself. Two thousand, twenty thousand, whatever-you can\u2019t stop me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He sighed softly, like soothing a disobedient child: \u201cStella Parker, did you forget? All your accounts are under my name.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The smart lock clicked shut;\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:00\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FL Cheater!\u00a0<\/p>\n
ally My FI\u00a0<\/p>\n
16.00h\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The living room curtains automatically drew closed;\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lights went out, leaving only the aquarium\u2019s blue glow illuminating his eyes like deep ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His voice remained gentle, yet ice-cold: \u201cStella, don\u2019t make a scene. Go to sleep like a good girl. Nine AM tomorrow, we\u2019re flying to Zurich to sign\u00a0<\/p>\n
the condo contract.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood in the darkness, listening to my own heartbeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In that moment, I decided:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since he could use financial rules to lock down everything I had, I\u2019d use his own rules to leave him with nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater! by Mark Twain 21 Chapter 2\u00a0 Chapter 2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cilantro-taste-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}