Elena filed an emergency motion asking the court to freeze the home equity line, prohibit Nate from transferring or encumbering the house, and order him to preserve all financial records. The judge, a careful woman named Judge Patricia Okonkwo, granted it within forty-eight hours.
Nate found out on a Thursday, when First Lakeshore Bank froze his credit line and he got a copy of the court order.
He came home at six o’clock. I was in the kitchen making dinner, because I still lived there and Elena had told me not to leave.
He walked in holding the order and threw it on the island.
“What is this?”
I set down the spoon. “It’s a court order, Nate.”
“You hired a lawyer? You went behind my back?”
