While we were waiting at the airport for our anniversary flight, my husband suddenly claimed he had forgotten his passport at home. I called my mother and asked her to grab it for him. Twenty minutes later, she called back, her voice shaking. “Honey, he set you up! Come home now!” Before I could ask why, she sent me a photo of something she had found in his bedside drawer. The moment I opened it, my heart sank. Suddenly, every strange thing he had done at the airport made perfect sense…

Dereck continued contacting me occasionally, insisting that his intentions had been practical rather than malicious. He believed selling the equipment would have solved our kitchen renovation expenses, but I couldn’t accept that explanation because he’d deliberately planned the transaction around my absence.

“You knew I didn’t want to sell those things, Dereck. That’s why you waited until I wouldn’t be there to stop you.”

He had no meaningful response whenever I reminded him of that fact. Eventually, I stopped repeating myself because I realized that understanding the seriousness of his actions was something he would have to accomplish on his own.

One Saturday morning, Mom accompanied me back to storage unit B-17. We’d decided to spend the afternoon organizing Dad’s belongings, checking their condition, and making sure everything had been returned to its proper place.When I opened the unit, the familiar smell of wood, cardboard, and old furniture polish immediately brought back memories of his workshop. For the first time since discovering Dereck’s secret, I could look at those belongings without worrying that someone was about to take them away.