She Divorced The Wrong Man

Chapter 2

Claire sat in the white car and watched the car wash get smaller in the side mirror. Her chest felt tight and she didn't know why.

Ethan hadn't argued with her, he hadn't even taken the money. He had just signed and said, "Be happy, Claire."

She told herself that proved she had done the right thing. It was better to end it clean than let it drag on until they hated each other.

"You did the right thing," Preston said, keeping his eyes on the road. "Guys like that never get it anyway."

Claire didn't answer, she kept her hands in her lap and looked out the window.

Back at the car wash, Ethan was still standing by his locker. The ring was heavy in his pocket, and he kept thinking about that check. Fifty thousand dollars, pushed at him like a tip.

He had said no because his pride wouldn't let him say yes. But he knew how people treated a man with empty pockets, and today he had seen it up close.

He had no place to go, since the apartment was in Claire's name. He had forty dollars in his wallet. And somewhere in the city was a card that a stranger said belonged to him.

It was probably nothing. It could be a joke or a scam. But if there was even a small chance she was telling the truth, he wanted to know.

He told Mr. Dunn he was leaving, hung up his wet apron, and took a bus downtown. On the way he put the old ring on his finger so he wouldn't lose it. It fit like it was made for him, and that bothered him.

The bank was the biggest building on the street, all glass and white stone, with Sterling Crown Bank in tall letters across the front. Two guards in pressed uniforms stood at the doors. Ethan looked at his work boots and the stains on his jeans and almost turned back.

"Well, look who it is."

He knew that voice. Claire's mother, Diane Bennett, was standing on the steps in a silk dress and pearls, holding her purse close. Next to her was Claire's younger sister, Jessica, with a phone in one hand and a coffee in the other.

Both of them looked at him like he had no right to be there.

"What are you doing here?" Diane asked. "The car wash is on the other side of town."

Jessica laughed. "Maybe he came to ask for a loan to buy soap."

"I have something to take care of here," Ethan said.

"You?" Diane laughed loud enough that people walking by turned their heads. "You have a bucket and a rag, Ethan. That's all you have."

She stepped closer. "Claire told us this morning. I'll be honest, I was happy to hear it. For three years she's carried you, and I'm glad she finally woke up."

"Mom's right," Jessica said. "Claire is going places now. She can't have a husband who smells like a garage."

Ethan's jaw tightened, but he kept quiet.

"I want you out of that apartment by tonight," Diane said, jabbing a finger at his chest. "Take your clothes and your cheap things and go. Whatever is left tomorrow, I'll throw in the street myself."

Ethan understood her fine, he just didn't feel like answering.

Then her eyes dropped to his hand and narrowed. "What's that on your finger?"

He looked down. The dark ring caught the sun. "It's mine."

"Yours?" Diane gave a short laugh. "It doesn't look like much to me, but you can't even afford a belt. Where did you get it? Did you steal it? Or did Claire give it to you and you forgot to hand it back?"

"Someone gave it to me," Ethan said.

"Who, the garbage man?" Jessica said, and snorted.

Diane's hand shot out. "Give it here. You're not taking one more thing from this family."

Ethan pulled his hand back before she touched it. "Don't."

"Don't you tell me what to do!" She lunged again and he stepped to the side. Her heel caught the edge of the step, her arms flew up, and she went down hard on her side with a yell.

Her purse spilled all over the steps.

"Mom!" Jessica dropped her coffee and ran over. Then she spun around and pointed at Ethan. "He pushed her! Did you see that? He pushed my mother!"

"I never touched her," Ethan said. "She fell."

"Liar!" Diane was already sitting up, holding her hip and wincing a little too much. "Security! Somebody help me! This man attacked me!"

The guards ran over. People on the sidewalk stopped, and a few of them held up their phones.

"Ma'am, are you hurt?" one guard asked.

"He pushed me down the stairs! Arrest him!"

The other guard took Ethan's arm. "Sir, I need you to stay right here."

Ethan was tired. The day had already taken everything from him, and now this.

"I didn't push anyone," he said. "Check the cameras if you want. I came here for business, that's all."

"Business?" Jessica sneered. "Officer, look at him. He works at a car wash. He can't have business at a bank like this."

Diane stood up with Jessica's help and brushed off her dress. Now that people were watching, she seemed to enjoy herself.

"Let me explain something to you, Ethan," she said. "This is Sterling Crown Bank. It's the biggest bank in the country, and they don't let just anyone in."

"To get a plain bronze card, you need at least one million dollars sitting in your account. One million. Do you even know what that looks like?"

Jessica jumped in. "And that's only bronze. Then there's platinum, then diamond. The top one is the supreme black card, and that's for people on a whole other level."

"The more money you have, the higher the card," Diane said. "It shows everybody who you are."

She picked a shiny bronze card out of her spilled purse and held it high. "Preston Whitaker got us this one. One phone call, that's all it took. That's the kind of man Claire needs. A man who can open doors, not one who cleans up after other people."

The crowd muttered. Some of them looked at Ethan with pity, and some with disgust.

Ethan stood there with the guard's hand on his arm. He thought about the woman in the white suit pushing the card into his palm.

Behind the guards, in the lobby window, there was a big sign showing every card in a row, each one darker than the last. The last one was plain black with a small silver mark in the corner.

It was the same as the one in his pocket. His heart started to pound.

He slowly pulled his arm free. "Sir, don't," the guard started.

"I'm just getting something out," Ethan said.

He took the black card from his pocket and held it up. The silver mark flashed in the sun.

Nobody said a word. Jessica's mouth hung open. Diane's bronze card slipped from her fingers and clicked on the step, and one of the guards leaned in, looked closer, and sucked in a breath.

Ethan looked at the card, then at the sign. If it was what it looked like, there was more money behind that little silver mark than he could count in ten lifetimes. It could be over a billion dollars.

And Diane, who had been shouting so loudly a minute ago, couldn't make a sound.