Seasons of Sorrow by C. C. Wood Read Free Book Online Page B

they called the bank that handled what was left of her mother’s life insurance policy payout, they discovered he had tried to withdraw that money as well but wasn’t allowed since Charlotte had, on her father’s behest, set up the account in a way that Derek could only withdraw money with her approval or in the event of her death.
    When Brandy heard, she immediately had Charlotte start the process of having him removed from the account completely. Brandy explained that since Charlotte had those assets before she married Derek and that no deposits had been made into the account, only withdrawals, she was entitled to keep the account unless a judge declared it community property in court.
    The account only had about fifty thousand dollars left in it, since the insurance payout hadn’t been very large to begin with, but it would provide Charlotte with a cushion until she found a job. Brandy promised Charlotte that an attorney friend would represent her at a reasonable rate, but, even with the discount, that account wouldn’t last long if Charlotte was both paying the lawyer and living off the money.
    She was going to have to find a job. Something that paid relative well. If she didn’t, then she would have give up the house. Charlotte couldn’t imagine it. She couldn’t leave. All her memories of her son were here.
    It terrified her. She hadn’t been in the workforce for five years, since Derek insisted that she shouldn’t have to deal with the stresses of working and entertaining as much as his business demanded. At the time, Charlotte had been relieved, because Derek threw dinner parties for clients and employees constantly and she always did all the cooking and cleaning in preparation for the events. Or they went out for long dinners at nice restaurants, courting potential clients or celebrating the closing of a deal.
    Then, later, when she was pregnant with Adam, she was grateful she didn’t have to drag herself to work everyday. Her morning sickness had actually been all day sickness and the last couple of months had been especially rough. Charlotte had been on bed rest and would have been unable to work anyway.
    Now, the thought of job hunting made her palms sweat. Before she married Derek, she had been an office manager for a local business. The business had grown in the time she had worked there, so, by the time she left, she was making good money. Charlotte doubted she would be able to find a job like that easily. With the current job market, she worried she wouldn’t be able to find work at all.
    She also couldn’t believe that Derek could do this to her. It was becoming distressingly clear that her husband didn’t care about her at all. He also seemed completely unaffected by the loss of their child.
    That burning sensation returned to her middle. It wasn’t anxiety, it was anger, an emotion that was becoming near constant. All she wanted was her little boy back and her soon-to-be-ex-husband seemed to care less. It felt good to let the anger rise up.
    Straightening in her seat, Charlotte grabbed up her phone. She clicked Derek’s number and waited while the phone rang. Of course, he didn’t pick up. He never did the few times she had called him since he left. Obviously her husband intended to make a clean break, never mind the eight years that they had been man and wife.
    That was fine. If she left it in a recorded voice message, maybe he would listen to it more than once and it would get through the layer of indifference.
    “I just got off the phone with the bank, Derek. It seems you’ve been busy. You know, I was willing to give you a quick and painless divorce. Instead, you got greedy. Now, I’m going to fight for every piece of you I’m entitled to after eight years of marriage. You wanted to screw me over, well, now it’s war.”
    Charlotte managed to disconnect the call without smashing the phone against the wall, but it was a close thing. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe