And not as a loan, like you like to tell people, but simply because he believed in me. Not in you. In me.”

A murmur swept through the room. Some raised their eyebrows, others set down their glasses. My husband turned pale.

— “So, darling, you’re only right about one thing: sometimes investments don’t pay off. My family invested everything in you. But now everyone sees what kind of ‘independent’ man is really standing before them.”