Penny discovers her husband’s betrayal and his mother’s involvement in a fraudulent car deed. After a dramatic court case, she takes charge of her life, reclaiming what’s rightfully hers. A powerful story of justice, resilience, and redemption.
Penny stood by the window, gazing at the black BMW parked in the yard. The car hadn’t come easy – they had to take out a loan that she and Adam were still paying off. Or rather, only Penny was paying it off – her husband hadn’t worked for the past three years.
“Are you staring out the window again?” Adam said, sprawled on the couch while scrolling through his phone feed. “Admiring our beauty?”
“Our beauty?” Penny turned away from the window. “I’m the one paying the loan.”
“But I’m the one behind the wheel,” Adam grinned. “Or do you think you could handle driving such a car? Your driver’s license is practically covered in cobwebs.”
Penny fell silent. After five years of marriage, she had grown accustomed to her husband’s barbs. At first, she attributed everything to his difficult temperament, then to his temporary work problems. But now it was clear – Adam had simply been using her.
“By the way, I arranged with the guys to go fishing,” her husband casually announced.
“On the weekend?”
“Yeah. About three days.”
“And where will you get the money?”
“Well, you wouldn’t say no to your beloved husband, would you?” Adam flashed an endearing smile.
Penny wearily rubbed her temples. Every month it was the same – fishing trips, meetings with friends, a new phone needed. And somehow, she always ended up paying.
“No, Adam. I won’t give you any more money.”
“What do you mean – you won’t give?” Adam abruptly sat up. “You are obligated to support me!”
“Obligated?” Penny turned toward him. “Why is that?”
“Because you’re a wife! And a wife is supposed to support her husband.”
“I’ve been supporting you for five years. Enough is enough.”
Adam jumped off the couch. “How dare you? I, by the way, contribute to the family too! We bought the car…”
“With my money!”
“But it’s registered in my name,” Adam said with a smirk. “Actually – in my mother’s name.”
Penny froze. “What do you mean – in your mother’s name?”
“Literally. I transferred it to her a month ago, so you wouldn’t lay claim to it.”
“What have you done?”
“Did you really think I was that stupid?” Adam beamed triumphantly. “I can see you’re hinting at divorce. So I made sure.”
Penny slowly sank into her chair. The car was worth four million. They had taken out a three-year loan, half of which had already been repaid. And all this time…
“How could you?”
“Very simply,” Adam headed for the door. “Mother gave her consent, and I handled everything. Now the car is ours with her, not yours.”
“So, did Nina Petrovna know?”
“Of course!” In the doorway appeared her mother-in-law herself. “What did you think? That we’d let you profit from the divorce?”
Penny shifted her gaze from her husband to her mother-in-law. Nina Petrovna looked unusually pleased.
“Artyom, you did the right thing,” the mother-in-law continued. “A car is more essential to a man. Otherwise, she might have divorced and driven off into the sunset.”
“You think you’re the smartest?” Penny asked quietly.
“Oh, indeed!” Adam theatrically bowed. “Learn while I’m still around.”
“So the car is now yours?”
“Exactly,” Nina Petrovna said proudly, tilting her head. “And don’t even think about taking any action. Everything is legally in order.”
Penny silently retrieved her phone.
“Who are you calling?” Adam asked warily.
“My lawyer.”
“Useless!” Nina Petrovna laughed. “The deed is perfectly drawn up. You could call every lawyer in the city.”
Penny dialed a number. “Good afternoon, Mikhail Sergeyevich. Do you remember I told you about my husband’s manipulations? Well, he transferred the car to his mother…”
Adam stopped smiling. “What manipulations? What are you talking about?”
“Now listen carefully,” Penny said as she put away the phone. “I’d long suspected you were up to something. That’s why I collected evidence for the past six months…”
Penny walked over to the cabinet and retrieved a thick folder. Inside were neatly stapled documents: the bill of sale, the loan payment schedule, and bank statements.
“Look,” Penny spread the papers out on the table. “Here are the monthly payments – all made from my account, because the loan was in my name. Throughout this time, Adam hasn’t contributed a penny.”
“So what?” Nina Petrovna snorted. “The car is now mine; according to the documents, everything’s in order.”
“Really?” Penny produced another sheet. “And here’s a copy of my divorce application. The submission date is the fifteenth, and the deed was executed on the seventeenth.”
Adam paled. “How did you know the date of the deed?”
“I told you – I did my research,” Penny continued as she laid out the documents. “Here’s testimony from the car dealership staff confirming that I chose and paid for the car. Here’s a certificate of my income. And here’s information showing that you, Adam, haven’t worked for three years.”
“Maybe not even ten!” Nina Petrovna interjected. “The deed is legal!”
“It’s fraudulent,” Penny replied calmly. “It was drawn up in order to avoid dividing our marital property upon divorce.”
The next day, Penny visited her lawyer. Mikhail Sergeyevich carefully studied the documents.
“This is undoubtedly a sham transaction,” he concluded. “The court will annul it. Moreover, such fraud carries penalties.”
“What penalties exactly?”
“Given the amount, very serious ones,” Mikhail Sergeyevich began to make notes. “Plus, you could claim compensation for moral damages. I would advise filing a lawsuit immediately.”
That same day, Penny prepared a statement for the court. She acted quietly, without warning her husband or her mother-in-law.
Adam learned of everything only a week later when he received a court summons. He burst into the apartment, waving a paper in his hand. “What are you doing? You think you’re so smart?”
