Chapter 15 - RICHARD AFTER THE PARTY
Richard’s business did not collapse overnight.
His marriage did.
The company struggled for another year.
One project was sold.
His father refinanced another asset.
Several employees left.
Richard eventually took a salaried development role with a larger firm rather than continue pretending his family company was healthy.
That was probably good for him.
Our divorce took fourteen months.
Lily spent meaningful time with both parents under increasingly normal arrangements after Richard completed counseling and complied with court requirements.
I never tried to erase him as her father.
I did require something he hated.
Boundaries.
No insulting me in front of Lily.
No Olivia acting as messenger.
No unilateral travel.
No accessing my accounts.
No using Lily to gather information.
Richard improved slowly.
Not because humiliation transformed him.
Because consequences forced repetition.
I stopped needing him to become a good man for me to move on.
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He only needed to behave safely enough to parent our daughter.
Those were different goals.
