The failed transfer triggered separate investigations from both the bank and law enforcement. Madison hired her own attorney, who quickly uncovered the text messages Richard had sent her.
One read: Use the new login. Move the full amount before Claire checks the account.
Another: Do not call her. She’ll panic and interfere.
Madison had replied at one point: Are you sure this is legal?
Richard’s answer had been brief and cold. It is marital money. She has no right to keep it from us.
Except it wasn’t marital money at all. It came from the sale of a software company I had founded eleven years before I ever met Richard, the proceeds sitting untouched in a separate investment account under my own name alone. Our prenuptial agreement stated, in language even a first-year law student couldn’t misread, that neither spouse held any authority over the other’s separate property.
