Chapter 5 - WHY LINDA HATED MELinda asked to meet.
Amanda said no alone.
So mediation room.
Lawyers.
No Jason.
Linda wore pearls.
Of course.
She looked at me and said:
“I never hated you.”
I almost laughed.
“Then what was Sunday?”
“A mistake.”
“A planned mistake?”
Her face tightened.
“I wanted Jason to see how easily you lose control.”
I stared.
“He was watching.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the cameras.”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“And the towel?”
“Yes.”
There.
No denial.
“Why?”
“Because you were destroying him.”
“How?”
“You changed him.”
I leaned back.
Linda explained.
Before marriage, Jason called her every day.
Visited every Sunday.
Let her help with finances.
After me?
Less.
He spent holidays with my family sometimes.
Stopped asking Linda before making major decisions.
Then Owen was born.
I wanted boundaries.
No unannounced visits.
No criticizing our parenting in front of Owen.
No key to our house.
Linda interpreted every boundary as theft.
“You took my son.”
“No.”
I said.
“He grew up.”
Linda's eyes filled.
That sentence hurt.
Then she became angry again.
“You think because you married him, everyone else disappears?”
I almost laughed at the irony.
That was exactly what she and Jason were trying to do to me.
Linda admitted learning about the deed years earlier.
She believed the house should remain in “the Mercer family.”
Apparently I was not Mercer enough despite seven years of marriage and a child.
When the accountant said joint ownership protected me, Linda panicked.
She told Jason:
“If Rachel ever leaves, she takes half of what your father built.”
Except Jason's father hadn't built the house.
Linda bought it using inheritance and Jason reimbursed part.
Facts had transformed into myth.
Family property.
Blood.
Ownership.
Linda could not tolerate me being permanent on paper.
Did she create the forged deed?
“I didn't sign your name.”
“Did you know?”
Silence.
Yes.
“Did you tell Jason to do it?”
“No.”
Not exactly.
She told him:
“Fix it.”
Jason decided how.
Convenient.
Then Sunday.
Why now?
Because Jason wanted divorce.
Why?
Linda said:
“He's in love with someone else.”
The room went silent.
My attorney looked at me.
I stared at Linda.
“What?”
She instantly regretted saying it.
“Who?”
“Ask him.”
“Who?”
Linda looked away.
I felt strangely calm.
There had been late nights.
Business trips.
Phone turned over.
But I had been too exhausted to investigate.
Then the name came to me.
Melissa had once mentioned someone.
Jason's colleague.
Lauren Price.
Marketing director.
Married.
Two children.
Amanda requested financial discovery.
Hotel receipts.
Meals.
Flights.
Some perfectly normal business.
Some not.
I didn't need every detail.
The marriage was already ending.
But the affair explained the timeline.
Jason wanted me gone before relationship became public.
If I appeared violent and unstable, he could frame divorce as necessity rather than abandonment for another woman.
Image.
Always image.
He did not just want to leave me.
He wanted to remain the good man while doing it.
That required me to become the bad woman.
Linda whispered:
“Lauren understands him.”
I looked at her.
“You threw a dirty towel at my face so your son could leave me for another woman and keep the house?”
Linda winced.
When spoken plainly, plans sound different.
She said:
“I wanted Owen protected.”
“No.”
I stood.
“You wanted Jason protected from consequences.”
I left.
No shouting.
No towel.
Nothing for her cameras.
That night Jason texted:
Mom had no right to tell you about Lauren.
Not:
It isn't true.
I forwarded it to Amanda.
May you like
Then blocked direct contact except co-parenting app.
Jason had finally admitted the affair without meaning to.
Related Stories
