“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
Jake sighed.
“Because Ryan told them he could always come back home. He said he knows how to ‘handle you.’”
I looked at my children sitting around the breakfast table.
“I have six kids, Jake,” I said quietly. “I can’t hide this forever.”
“That’s why you should come,” he replied.
I asked my neighbor Lena to watch the kids and drove to the office.
Jake met me in the lobby.
“They found hotel bookings, expensive gifts, everything,” he said. “All tied to Amanda.”
Through the glass conference room walls, I saw Ryan pacing while HR sat across from him.
Then the door burst open and Amanda stormed in, furious.
She started shouting the moment she entered.
Someone slid a thick folder across the table toward Ryan.
He stopped talking immediately.
Twenty minutes later the meeting ended.
Ryan stepped into the hallway and froze when he saw me.
“Megan,” he said nervously. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“I’m not discussing this here,” I said.
“You said you’d send money,” I added calmly. “I want that in writing.”
Before he could answer, a woman from HR stepped out behind him.
“Amanda,” she said coldly. “Your contract is terminated effective immediately.”
Amanda stared at her.
“You can’t fire me.”
“We already have.”
Then she turned to Ryan.
“You’re suspended pending termination. Turn in your badge.”
A security guard stepped forward.
Ryan went silent.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then I stepped closer.
“I’m going home,” I told him.
“We need to talk,” he said weakly.
“We will,” I replied. “Through lawyers.”
I walked out without looking back.
When I returned home, the kids ran to hug me.
Emma held on the longest.
“Is Daddy coming back?” she asked.
I kissed her forehead.
“Not today, baby.”
“Tomorrow?”
I took a breath.
“Maybe not for a while,” I said gently. “But I’m here.”
For the first time in years, I realized something important.
He had chosen himself.
And now, finally, I was choosing myself—and my children too.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
