We'd only been married six months when work moved me to another city. It was meant to be temporary. A month later she went to stay with her parents. At first we spoke every day. I paid for her course, her online classes, sent her money for living costs. I thought I was being supportive. Then her calls slowed. Messages stopped. Her family said she was ill. The truth arrived by post ' court papers accusing me of abuse and dowry demands I never made. Then came the message: if I wanted a quiet divorce, it would cost twelve lakh. I haven't slept properly since. I still don't understand how love turned into a threat so fast.