She Divorced The Wrong Man

Chapter 3

For a second nobody moved. Then Jessica started laughing, and Diane joined in.

"Where did you pick that up, the trash?" Diane said, wiping her eyes. "Or did you steal it from somebody?"

"That's the supreme black card," Jessica said. "It's the highest card this bank has. The people who own those are some of the most powerful people in the world."

"If the real owner finds out you're walking around with it, they'll have you killed," Diane said. "And you're standing here waving it like a toy."

Ethan kept his voice flat. "I didn't steal it. It was given to me."

"Given to you." Diane shook her head. "By whom? Nobody gives away a card like that. You must have done something shady. A scam, a robbery, I don't know."

Jessica took a step back from him and looked at the people around them. "Mom, what if he drags us into it? We were just talking to him. Somebody could say we knew."

"That's right." Diane's face went tight. She pointed at Ethan like he had a disease. "Thank God Claire is done with you. I don't want one bit of your mess on this family."

She turned to the guards. "What are you waiting for? Take him. He's got a stolen card and he put his hands on me."

The younger guard, a big man named Gary, hesitated. Then he looked at the bronze card lying on the step, the one Diane had dropped. To him that was a customer who mattered, and Ethan was a guy in dirty boots.

"Ma'am, don't worry, I've got him," Gary said. He grabbed Ethan's wrist and twisted it behind his back. "Come on, buddy. Let's see what the police have to say about that card."

"Let go," Ethan said quietly.

"Or what?" Gary laughed. "You think you're some big shot because you found a card? Nice try."

Ethan didn't fight him. He just stood there, and for some reason that made Gary squeeze harder.

The glass doors behind them slid open.

A woman walked out, and the whole front of the bank seemed to change. She looked about thirty, tall, in a dark fitted dress and sharp heels, with long black hair that fell over one shoulder. She was beautiful in a way that made people look twice, and the way she walked made them step out of her path.

Her badge said Olivia Grant, Senior Director.

"What's all this noise?" she said. "You can hear it from the lobby."

"Ms. Grant, sorry about this," Gary said right away. "We caught a man using a fake black card. I'm taking him in."

Olivia's eyes moved to Ethan's hand, and they stopped.

She stood very still. The card was shining there in the sun, with its small silver mark in the corner.

She walked closer, slowly, and looked at it without touching it. Her face went pale.

There were only nine of those cards in the whole world. She had seen every one of them, and she knew who held each one. But this one she had never seen in person in three years, not since its owner disappeared.

Her eyes went up to Ethan's face, and her lips parted.

Then she turned and swung her hand hard across Gary's cheek.

The sound cracked across the steps. Gary's head snapped to the side, and he let go of Ethan's wrist.

"Take your hands off him!" Olivia said. Her voice was sharp and shaking. "Do you know who you just grabbed? Do you have any idea?"

Gary held his face. "Ms. Grant, I thought..."

"You thought." She cut him off. "You put your hands on a holder of this card, in front of my bank, in front of all these people. You're fired. Give me your badge and get off this property right now."

Gary's face went white. "Ms. Grant, please, I was only doing my job..."

"Your badge," she said again, very quietly this time. That was worse than yelling.

His hand shook as he unclipped it and gave it to her. The other guard stared at the ground and didn't say a word.

Diane was staring too, but not for long. She pushed forward and grabbed Olivia's arm.

"Wait, wait, you can't do that. He's right. That man is a nobody. He's a car wash worker who just got divorced from my daughter. He can't be the owner of that card."

"He's a thief," Jessica added. "Please, just call the police and have him arrested before he does something worse."

Olivia looked down at Diane's hand on her sleeve until Diane let go.

She knew something these two didn't. A person who owned a supreme black card didn't lose it. They didn't drop it in the street for an ordinary man to find, because the bank guarded those accounts closer than anything. If this man had it in his hand, then the card had been given to him on purpose, and that meant he was someone very important.

Someone she had waited three years to see.

"I don't know who you think you are," Olivia said, her voice cold as ice. "But you've insulted a guest of this bank on its own steps, accused him of a crime with no proof, and caused a scene in front of my customers."

"But he..." Diane started.

"I'm not finished." Olivia took one step toward her. "As of right now, both of your membership cards are being taken back. Your accounts are being reviewed, and your right to do business at any Sterling Crown branch is cancelled for good."

Diane's mouth opened, but nothing came out.

"Mom," Jessica whispered. "She can't do that. Can she?"

Olivia didn't even look at her. She had already turned to Ethan, and her whole face had softened.