My Husband Gave My Two-Million Jewelry to His Sister-in-Law, I Divorced

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1.

The same day I bought a two-million-dollar jewelry necklace at auction under my own name, my brother-in-law Eustace Gilbert, facing prison over tax evasion, jumped to his death.

The day his widow lost her husband, my husband Albert Gilbert gave her my necklace without asking me.

She just lost Eustace. She still has a whole life ahead of her, and right now she needs money more than anyone.

I stood there frozen, staring at the necklace in its red velvet case, and kept my voice level. "Anything but this one. She can pick from the others, can't she?"

Margot Barnes picked at her fingers and stammered, "Layla, I know how much you love this necklace. Once I get through this, I promise I'll pay you back."

Seeing that, Albert comforted her, all consideration. "We're family. It's yours now that it's been given to you."

Something in my throat went raw. They were family, yes. But I was the person closest to Albert, wasn't I?

The necklace was worth a fortune. Albert had deliberately handed it off to an outsider and now refused to take it back. I had every right to pick up the law and use it.

...

I refused to let it go, and asked him one more time.

"Albert, are you really giving the necklace to her?"

Albert acted as if I'd embarrassed him.

"Layla Payne, it's one necklace. Can you not nickel-and-dime this? It's settled. The necklace is a gift to Margot, free and clear."

"You're both women. How can you have not one ounce of sympathy?"

"And if I ever catch you going behind my back to ask her for it, I'll file for divorce and split the assets."

Eight years of marriage, and he was ready to divorce me over her.

I stood rooted to the spot and said nothing for a long time.

Seeing me like that, Albert assumed I'd caved, and the corner of his mouth curved up.

"What's the point of struggling? The thing was always going to be Margot's anyway. Oh, and that new Mercedes sports car you bought, give it to Margot too, while you're at it. It'll make getting around easier for her."

He'd dropped even the word for his brother's widow now and gone straight to her first name.

My nails dug into my flesh and I couldn't even feel the pain. He was after my car now too.

"That's the limited edition Dad just had shipped over from abroad. It's my daily driver."

Albert let out a scornful little laugh, indifference all over his face.

"That car is a limited edition. It suits a refined heiress far better. As for you, a country hick who grew up in the sticks, you probably can't even tell a luxury item when you see one."

"Besides, do you understand this car's performance, the engine, the horsepower, any of it? You know nothing. Leaving it in your hands is a waste of a good thing."

So that was what he thought of me deep down.

Albert saw my reddened eyes, and his tone softened despite himself.

"What I said is true, but don't take it to heart."

"Margot's been comfortable her whole life. It can't be that she loses everything just because Eustace is gone."

"Once I make money down the road, I'll make it up to you."

I listened to Albert paint me his empty, impossible promises.

Since the comfort I'd once known was gone, I should just accept reality.

Says who?

My necklace was bought with the trust fund my mother left me. The car was a birthday gift from my father.

My things. Why should they build her comfortable life for her.

"Since she wasn't born to a life of comfort, she should accept reality and stop dreaming. And another thing, if you're all talk, why don't you buy it for her yourself?"

Albert had no comeback for that, and his voice turned cold and hard. "Layla Payne, don't push your luck."

I looked at him with flat, empty eyes. "That divorce you just brought up, I agree to it."

"Eight years we've been together..."

I cut in and repeated myself.

"The divorce. I agree to it."

2.

Albert stumbled back a few steps, looking at me with irritation.

Is this really necessary? It's a small thing. There's no reason to take it all the way to divorce.

I said calmly Right, over something this small. And you were the one who brought up divorce first. I'm only giving you what you asked for.

Margot clutched the hem of her dress and murmured Albert, I feel awful that the two of you are falling out because of me. The necklace and the car were never mine to begin with.

Then she started to sob softly, and Albert rushed to comfort her, his heart clearly aching for her.

Margot, all your accounts have been frozen by the bank. You can't go on with no money to fall back on. Plenty of people are dying to get their hands on that necklace, it'll sell for several times its price, and you'll be set for life.

The moment he finished, he fixed a resentful stare on me.

Layla, count it as me borrowing from you. I'll write you an IOU.

She lost both parents when she was little. When my mother found her, she was fighting a dog for scraps of food, so my mother brought her home. My brother and I treated her like our own sister, and my parents cherished her like a treasure.

My brother and I both swore that whatever she wanted, we'd do everything we could to give it to her.

I stood frozen, watching this husband of eight years grant another woman's every wish, and felt nothing but a deep ache.

So this was the person he kept closest to his heart. Just not me.

He knew Margot had a hard childhood, so he was twice as good to her.

But apart from knowing I grew up in the countryside, he knew nothing about me.

My parents left to start their business when I was five, and left me in the countryside to depend on my grandmother.

Growing up there, I gradually stopped fitting in with the other kids my age, because I was pretty.

My looks drew the greedy eyes of the villagers, who leered at me.

My grandmother was blind, and some men went so far as to slide their hands into my clothes right in front of her, brazen about it.

I did think about fighting back, but it only brought worse treatment. One of them grabbed a fistful of my hair and threatened me You think people will believe a little seductress like you, or a model husband like me?

Compared to the physical torment, the torment to my mind was what really broke me.

In the ten years we'd known each other, I never once wore anything too revealing in front of him. Even in the hottest part of summer, I stayed in long sleeves and long pants.

But he never wondered about anything strange in me, because his heart was never on me at all.

In my years married into the Gilbert family, I waited on my in-laws with everything I had, yet they never once gave me a kind face, while they greeted sweet-tongued Margot with smiles.

Later I understood. It was because I grew up in the countryside. They looked down on me, but for the sake of appearances, they never showed it.

My parents felt they owed me, and made up for it with plenty of money.

I had money, but that was no reason for other people to bleed me dry.

Albert, you keep saying you'll write me an IOU. But ask yourself honestly, if I hand the necklace over to Margot, are you ever going to pay me back?

Albert had no answer. The living room went dead silent, and Margot shattered the silence in an instant.

Without a comfortable life, I might as well be dead.

Then she slammed her head into the corner of the table, the one with a protective guard on it.

Albert rushed to Margot in a panic, without the slightest thought for how I felt.

I glanced around, then walked out the front door without a shred of regret. Only when I stood in the sunlight did I feel like I'd come back to life.

Then I picked up my phone and dialed a number. I want the most respected divorce lawyer your firm has.

3.

Alexandra Dickerson, founder of the Dickerson Law Firm, was my college classmate. When she heard I wanted a divorce, her face went blank with shock.

"Layla, what happened? Why would you want a divorce?"

I took a sip of my coffee. "Albert cares about nothing but Margot. Where does that leave me?"

Alexandra pulled me into a hug and murmured gently.

"Back then, when Mrs. Gilbert told Margot to pick one of the Gilbert brothers to marry, she kept waffling, never able to decide. Now, in her own roundabout way, she's ended up getting both of them."

"Your marriage to Albert is legal. If you divorce, he's entitled to half of your assets. Do you really want to just stand there and watch that money land in Margot's hands?"

"You could keep the marriage going. You could use your rights as Albert's wife to make Margot cough up everything he ever gave her."

Listening to Alexandra think everything through for my sake, I couldn't stop my eyes from stinging. But I didn't want this marriage that was a marriage in name only anymore.

So I poured it all out, eight years of the Gilberts looking down on me.

When she'd heard it all, Alexandra held my hand, indignant on my behalf. "Albert's no prize. What gives him the right to trample all over your feelings like that?"

"If you've really made up your mind, I'll respect what you want."

I looked at her and smiled, and said with everything I had, "Thank you."

After a whole morning of legal consultation, my nerves finally loosened a little, so I went to walk around the mall.

I'd just bought a bunch of chicory when I ran into Albert helping Margot try on gowns. The salesclerks were all praising them, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, so well matched.

"Albert, this gown is exactly my taste. Will you buy it for me?"

Albert doted on her, giving the tip of her nose an affectionate flick. "Buy it. Anything you set your eye on, I'll buy it for you."

"This gown really suits you."

Something competitive rose up in Margot's mind.

"Albert, did you ever go shopping for gowns with Layla?"

A scornful little smile came into Albert's eyes.

"With taste as tacky as hers, I won't even get started. Going out with her, I'm just embarrassed to be seen."

Margot wrapped her arm around Albert's, close and familiar. "Albert, aside from your older brother, you're the best person to me in the world."

Standing there in the flower shop, hearing all of this, my throat ached so sharply I couldn't get a word out.

When we were newly married, I saw couples in love strolling the streets, and I envied them so much. I said so the moment I got home, and his face filled with impatience.

"Shopping is such a waste of time. Who has the leisure for that? You, honestly, always making trouble out of nothing."

I didn't want to buy anything. I just wanted him to come with me.

So in his eyes, I was just making trouble out of nothing.

I stood frozen there holding the roses, still not processing it, when someone grabbed me. It was Margot.

She gave the gown on her body a little show-off swish. "The bond the two of us have had since childhood is something your eight years of marriage could never match."

"And just so you know, he handed his paycheck card over to me. He said you don't know how to manage that kind of money, so it's better off with me."

Then she looked at the roses in my hand. "Chicory is the flower I hate most. Remember to throw it out."

And with that she left, harmless as anything, blocking Albert's probing look on her way.

I walked over to the stairwell, wrapped my arms around my knees, and broke down sobbing.

After we married, he never once brought his salary home. Every expense in that house was paid with my money.

Once I couldn't help asking him about the paycheck card, and he told me the money had already been handed over to someone who managed it professionally. I actually believed him.

So that professional someone was Margot.

From now on I wouldn't spend a single cent on him. I wiped my eyes dry and went back to the villa in the suburbs.

Michelle Lambert lit up the moment she saw me. "Layla, you're finally home. Your father talks about you all the time."

I acted like nothing was wrong and handed her the bunch of bitter greens I was carrying. "Michelle, remember to put these in a vase."

Just then my father came down the stairs. He looked me over. "You've lost weight. Stay a few more days. Let Michelle fatten you back up."

Something bitter spread through my chest. He didn't say anything, but he understood everything. He knew something was weighing on me, that I was only putting on a brave face.

That evening the two of us sat out in the little courtyard, taking in the moon.

Michelle kept slipping me little snacks, and my father kept asking if I was cold. My nose stung all at once. At the Gilberts', I was always the one looked down on, the one no one noticed.

I didn't dare meet his eyes. It came out in a rush. "Dad, I'm planning to get a divorce."

His hand paused as he lifted his tea, then he took a calm sip. "Have you really made up your mind?"

"Yes."

"Whatever you decide, I'm behind you."

I froze. I'd been sure he would try to talk me out of it. After all, I was the one who'd insisted on marrying Albert in the first place.

Seeing my disbelief, he spoke gravely. "The Gilberts are old money. The Paynes are new money. The two families were never on equal footing to begin with. You're my only daughter. All I want is for you to be happy and get what your heart wants."

His words lifted the weight off me in an instant. "Dad, once I'm divorced, I can stay by your side for good."

He stroked my head, all indulgence. "And I'll get to enjoy having my daughter home again."

I stayed at the villa for a week, planting flowers with Michelle, cooking, doing nothing much and enjoying every minute of it.

After that week, I decided to go home and get Albert to come with me to the county clerk's office to file for the divorce.

But the second I opened the door, the sight inside stopped me cold.

I tore through everything. The jewelry and necklace in the red velvet case, the other accessories, the keys to the sports car, all gone.

I didn't have to guess who'd done it.

Margot had taken my things without so much as asking me.

Right then there was a noise at the entryway. I turned to see Albert walk in carrying Margot on his back, and in her hand were the keys to the Bentley.

Eustace's assets had all been frozen by the bank. Neither of them had any money. That car had been bought with mine.

The moment Albert saw me, he started laying into me without hearing a single word. "Layla, what are you playing at? Don't you know Margot's allergic to bitter greens?"

"It's all because of you. Margot broke out in a rash all over, had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night for an IV before it settled. I think you did it on purpose."

I hadn't known Margot was allergic to bitter greens, and I certainly hadn't meant anything by it. I looked at this man in front of me, blaming me for everything, and he felt like a complete stranger.

I had no interest in wasting words on him. I said it plainly. "Give me my things back. Taking what isn't yours without asking is stealing."

Margot cowered behind him, tears trembling on her lashes. "Everything you own is partly Albert's too. Those were gifts from him."

She said it wearing an outright taunt on her face.

Albert stared at me, his eyes dark. "They're just some accessories. Layla, when did you turn so petty?"

"The things have already been given to Margot. There's no sense in demanding them back. You bought the bitter greens and set off Margot's allergy. I haven't even settled that score with you. Where do you get the nerve to ask for jewelry?"

They really did put the ugliest side of human nature on full display. I pulled a divorce agreement out of my bag and slapped it down on the table.

"Sign it."