The office was cool and smelled faintly of old paper and perfume.
Mark stepped inside and locked the door behind him to stay uninterrupted.
He walked straight to the filing cabinet sitting beside the large window.
He pulled out the top drawer where all the important documents were kept.
He found several bank statements that he had never seen before in his life.
The statements showed large monthly transfers from their joint home account into a private balance.
Over fifty thousand dollars had been quietly moved over the last four months.
Mark felt a cold chill run down his spine as he read the numbers.
Valerie had been draining their family savings account little by little every week.
He kept searching through the thick paper folders in the lower metal drawer.
Underneath a pile of tax forms, he found a thick legal envelope marked private.
He opened the envelope and pulled out several pages of legal correspondence.
The letters were from a top divorce lawyer based in the city nearby.
Mark read through the formal paragraphs with increasing shock and anger.
Valerie had consulted the attorney three months ago to prepare divorce papers.
She was planning to file for a contested divorce while requesting full spousal support.
Even worse, she had drafted legal affidavits claiming Mark was an unfit parent.
She had written false statements about his temper to gain control of the house.
She wanted the judge to grant her sole possession of the primary family residence.
Mark: She was building a trap for me this whole entire time.
He realized why she was provoking the children in the backyard earlier.
She wanted Mark to lose his temper and act recklessly in front of witnesses.
She wanted an excuse to call the local authorities and file a report.
Mark carefully placed the documents inside his leather jacket pocket for safekeeping.
He snapped photos of every single document using his smartphone camera as backup.
He knew he had to remain completely calm and play this smart now.
If he lost his head, he would fall right into her legal trap.
He took a deep breath to settle his racing pulse and stood up.
He unlocked the office door and walked back into the main living room.
Valerie was standing near the front entrance, holding her expensive designer purse.
Valerie: I am going out to meet a friend for dinner tonight.
Mark: Is that so? Have a nice evening, Valerie.
Valerie: We will discuss your children's terrible behavior tomorrow morning.
Mark: Oh, we will definitely discuss everything tomorrow morning, Valerie.