When my son-in-law asked for a divorce, he looked at my daughter and said, “I want the house, the cars, the bank account… except our son,” and while his lawyer smiled as if he had already won, mine begged me to fight, but I just clutched the purse where I carried a document he had forgotten years ago, and told my daughter, “Give him everything.”

When the business struggled due to his poor choices, he blamed the market and his partners instead of taking any personal responsibility. When he finally rebuilt the company, he no longer looked at his wife as a partner but as someone who had overstayed her welcome in his house.

When another woman appeared in the picture, he did not even have the decency to hide the affair from the community. My daughter endured the humiliation for the sake of Toby because she wanted to protect his childhood and avoid admitting she had chosen the wrong man.

She held onto that miserable hope many women cling to when a man begins to destroy them, believing the person she once knew would eventually return. However, some men never return because they simply decide to take off the mask they were wearing for years.

The first time Mallory told me through her tears that Garrett wanted a divorce, I naively thought he would at least try to be fair. He didn’t just want to leave with his freedom because he wanted the house where my daughter had rocked her son through many fevers.

He wanted the cars and the accounts that Mallory had worked for right beside him while she believed they were building a future together. The only thing he flatly refused to take was Toby because he claimed the boy did not fit into his new life.

Even today those words burn my heart like a hot iron. Mallory’s lawyer was outraged and talked about financial abuse and legal strategies, but I was no longer looking at the present situation.

I was looking at the past and thinking about that afternoon when Garrett needed our money like a thirsty man needs water. I thought about his signature and the specific clause I had insisted on including in that document.

I remembered the night I promised myself that if he ever tried to crush my daughter, I would give him plenty of time to get comfortable. I wanted him to smile and believe he had won until the very second he walked off the edge of the cliff.

That is why I told everyone to give him everything he asked for during the initial negotiations. Mallory looked at me like I had betrayed her and our lawyer stopped talking in total confusion.

Even Garrett blinked in surprise before his smug smile returned to his face. That was exactly what I wanted because I needed him to sign the preliminary papers and move forward without any suspicion.