With Mr. Thompson’s guidance, I began to make changes. First, I revised my will. Previously, everything I owned was to be divided among Anna, Lucas, and Emily. Now, I left everything to a charity organization I had always admired, one that supported victims of betrayal and abandonment. My assets and properties would fund something meaningful, not the lavish lifestyles of those who had forsaken me.

Next, I set up surveillance. With Mr. Thompson’s help, I had small, unobtrusive cameras installed in our house—places they would never think to look. I wanted to know everything they said, every secret they whispered when they thought no one was listening. What I discovered only fueled my resolve.

During their vacation, I listened to their conversations, heard them laugh and joke about the “unexpected freedom” my illness had granted them. They discussed plans for the future—a future that clearly didn’t include me. Anna and the man she was with, someone I realized was an old acquaintance from her past, were plotting a life together, funded by what they believed would soon be “our” money.