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My Husband's Family Chat Included His Ex—But Not Me
Novelix
Completed
Claire Morgan discovers that her husband's family group chat includes his ex-wife, Vanessa, but excludes Claire. Soon she uncovers a $120,000 transfer from their joint account, expensive gifts, and business decisions made in Vanessa's favor. Daniel dismisses every concern as jealousy. But Claire helped build his company—and owns the patent it depends on. Instead of begging to be accepted, she files for divorce, asserts her rights, and walks away to create a company and a family of her own choosing.
Chapters (2)
Chapter 1
We were out of soy sauce, so I picked up my husband Daniel's phone from the kitchen table to add a bottle to our grocery delivery.
A group-message notification popped up.
*The Brooks Family.*
The chat included Daniel, his parents, his sister Ashley, Ashley's husband, and his ex-wife, Vanessa Reed.
Everyone except me.
The latest message was from his mother, Margaret.
*Sunday's your dad's birthday. Daniel, bring Vanessa early. He's been asking about you two all week.*
Daniel replied: *Will do. The massage chair I ordered for Dad is being delivered this afternoon.*
Ashley sent an eye-rolling emoji.
*Great. Time to hide my Instagram Stories from Claire again.*
I stared at the screen.
Last year, I'd seen photographs of his father's birthday dinner on Ashley's account. When I asked Daniel why I hadn't been invited, he said his parents wanted something quiet and didn't want me to go to any trouble.
Now I understood. I hadn't been spared the trouble of attending. I hadn't had a place at the table.
I scrolled back. The chat was more than two years old. They planned holiday trips, discussed Margaret's surgery, scheduled activities for Daniel and Vanessa's son, Ollie, and even talked about how to "handle" me whenever Daniel and I fought.
Whenever Vanessa joined the conversation, someone invariably wrote, *You can always count on real family.*
Daniel stepped out of his office and saw the phone in my hand. His expression changed.
"You saw it."
I set his phone down.
"Daniel. Am I not part of your family?"
After a long silence, he said, "You're making this more complicated than it is."
"Okay."
I didn't argue that night.
I opened my laptop and searched for a divorce attorney.
By the time the printer released the third page of a draft divorce settlement, Daniel appeared in my office doorway.
"Claire, seriously? Over a group chat?"
I placed my palm over the warm papers.
"It's not just a group chat."
He pulled out a chair with an impatient sigh.
"We use it to coordinate things for Ollie. Vanessa is his mother. Of course she's in the chat."
There it was again: Ollie.
On our wedding night, Vanessa had called Daniel away because Ollie was upset about having a stepmother. Every month I was expected to clear my plans for a full day of "family time" between Daniel, his son, and his ex. I'd never objected to his being a father. I objected to being treated as if I didn't exist.
"It's a Brooks family group," I said. "Why am I the only Brooks who isn't invited?"
"You don't get along with Ashley. Mom can be blunt. Putting you all together would cause arguments."
"So you started it three days after we got married, and decided I shouldn't be there?"
He hesitated. "That was ages ago. I don't remember."
He remembered that Vanessa hated cilantro. He remembered Ollie's piano lesson every Wednesday. He remembered that his father preferred a charcoal-gray massage chair.
He just couldn't remember excluding his new wife from a family chat three days into their marriage.
"So I don't count," I said.
"Stop exaggerating."
He glanced at the settlement draft and set it aside.
"You're angry. Printing forms won't accomplish anything. We can talk when you've calmed down."
At the doorway, he paused.
"Did you order the soy sauce?"
For a moment I couldn't speak. I'd still been hoping he'd explain, ask me to stay, or at least wonder when I'd started thinking about leaving.
Instead he wanted to know about a bottle of soy sauce.
"No," I said.
He shrugged and left.
Minutes later, I heard him on the phone.
"Yeah, she found out. She's just upset. Ignore it. She always gets over things."
I stood behind the door, one finger pressed against the edge of the settlement draft.
I'd compromised so often he'd come to believe surrender was my nature.
Not this time.
I signed the papers and messaged my attorney, Ethan Parker.
*Please review the major withdrawals from our joint accounts over the past two years.*
*Are you sure you want to investigate Daniel?* he replied.
I looked around the quiet house.
*I'm sure.*
Near dawn, Ethan sent me a bank record.
The latest major transfer was for $120,000.
Recipient: Vanessa Reed.
Chapter 2
The following afternoon, Daniel pulled his car to the curb.
"Mom wants us over," he said. "She knows you saw the chat. Don't come in with an attitude and make everyone uncomfortable."
I opened the front passenger door and found an uncapped lipstick on the dashboard.
I closed it again and got into the back seat.
Daniel frowned, but said nothing.
When we reached his parents' house, the front door was slightly open.
I heard Ashley speaking inside.
"Why did Mom insist on inviting *her*? We can never enjoy ourselves with Claire around."
"Remember when we were on vacation and she called Daniel crying that she was trapped by a hurricane?" Ashley continued. "As if he could do anything from another country. Vanessa was right there. Nobody wanted to deal with Claire's drama."
Vanessa's voice followed, amused.
"She was probably scared."
I dug my nails into my palms.
I remembered that storm. Flash flooding had trapped me beneath an overpass. Traffic was at a standstill. I called Daniel, frightened and alone.
"Find somewhere higher and wait," he'd snapped. "The entire city's dealing with this. You know I'm overseas. Stop bothering me with things I can't fix."
I'd heard a woman laughing in the background and thought she was a coworker.
Now I knew they'd been laughing at me together.
Daniel saw my expression.
"It's not what you think," he murmured, then pushed the door open.
Conversation stopped.
Margaret glanced at me. "You're here. Sit down."
Vanessa sat beside her at the head end of the dining table. The chair next to Vanessa was reserved for Daniel. The only other seat was at the corner beside the kitchen doorway.
Vanessa rose to take his coat as naturally as if she still lived there.
"You forgot to bring my lipstick inside," she scolded playfully.
Then I noticed the emerald pendant around her neck. I'd bought it for Margaret's birthday the previous year.
Vanessa caught me looking.
"Margaret said it didn't suit her complexion, so she gave it to me. You don't mind, do you, Claire?"
Three years after her divorce, Vanessa still called my mother-in-law "Mom." Nobody corrected her.
Margaret waved a hand. "We're all family. Claire isn't that petty."
Daniel sat beside Vanessa and gave me a warning look.
"Don't bring your mood into somebody else's home."
Ashley scoffed. "When doesn't she?"
Everyone looked at me as if I alone had spoiled the afternoon.
Then Ollie held up a drawing.
"Grandma! My teacher told us to draw our family."
On the page stood Margaret, Daniel's father, Ashley and her husband, then Daniel, Vanessa, and Ollie in the center.
No Claire.
Margaret beamed. "That's wonderful, sweetheart. All the family together."
Vanessa tilted her head. "Looks like you forgot Claire."
Ollie stared at his shoes.
"Dad said I should draw the people closest to me."
I looked at Daniel.
"When did I say that?" he demanded.
"When you helped me with it last week."
Daniel put down his fork. "Kids misremember things. Don't take it so seriously."
I sat down in the chair by the doorway.
"Sure. Not seriously."
On the drive home, Daniel was silent. Only when we entered the garage did he speak.
"I know today wasn't fair to you."
He reached into the glove compartment and handed me a velvet jewelry box.
"I was saving this for tonight."
Inside lay a pearl necklace. For a moment, something in my chest softened.
Then I saw the receipt tucked beneath the velvet lining.
Two necklaces purchased together.
Pearls: $950.
Diamonds: $12,000.
The diamond necklace was being shipped to Vanessa Reed.
