She Divorced The Wrong Man

Chapter 4

Diane and Jessica stood frozen on the steps. They knew who Olivia Grant was, and they knew she meant every word.

Diane opened her mouth to argue, then shut it again. Jessica tugged at her sleeve, and the two of them walked off down the sidewalk without looking back. People were still filming, and Jessica kept her face turned away.

"Mom, that's it for us at this bank," Jessica said once they were far enough. "All because of him."

"Don't worry," Diane said through her teeth. "That card is fake, I'd bet my life on it. Once the staff checks it, they'll find out and the police will come. He'll get a lot worse than we did."

She took out her phone and called Claire. She didn't wait for a hello.

"Claire, your husband just hit me. I'm at the bank, I fell down the steps, and my hip is killing me." Her voice was shaking, and it sounded real. "And that's not even the worst of it. He's mixed up with some gang of thieves. He showed up here with a fake black card trying to cheat the bank out of money."

"Mom, slow down," Claire said. "Ethan wouldn't hit anyone."

"Then explain the card! A car wash worker with a black card? I never thought he would sink this low. Call him, tell him to turn himself in before it gets worse. If he goes to the police on his own, they might go easy on him."

Claire hung up and sat there with the phone in her hand. Preston glanced over from the driver's seat but didn't say anything, he had a small smile on his face.

She didn't want to believe it. But her mother had never lied to her like this before, and her voice had sounded so scared. After a minute she called Ethan.

He picked up on the second ring. "Claire."

"Ethan, what did you do?" Her voice came out sharper than she meant. "My mother says you pushed her. She says you have a fake card and you're with some kind of fraud group. Is that true?"

He didn't say anything for a moment. She could hear the sound of an air conditioner in the background.

"Do you really think so?" he said.

"I don't know what to think. If you did something, please just go to the police. It will go easier for you if you turn yourself in. I'll even..."

"I didn't touch your mother," Ethan said. His voice was calm, but there was something cold in it that she had never heard before. "I didn't steal anything, and I'm not in any gang. If you want to believe the worst about me, that's up to you."

"Ethan, wait..."

The line went dead.

Claire stared at the screen. Three years of marriage, and she didn't know if she had just heard him lie or told the truth. Something in her stomach turned over.

"I need to see him," she said. "I need to hear it from him in person."

"We're due at the charity dinner in an hour," Preston said. He said it easily, like it was nothing. "Half the city's going to be there. You can't skip it, Claire, not with the deal we have going. After dinner you can look for him."

She wanted to say no. But the deal mattered, and so did the people she'd be meeting tonight. She slowly put the phone in her lap.

"After dinner," she said.

Ethan put his phone in his pocket. His chest felt hollow. He hadn't expected Claire to take her mother's word without asking him first, not after three years.

It wasn't that she had left him that hurt. It was that she thought he could do those things.

"Mr. Cole," Olivia said gently. She had waited a few steps away and given him a moment. "Please, if you'll come with me. Not out here."

He followed her through the glass doors and across the big lobby. People stopped talking when she passed, and then stopped again when they saw who was walking behind her. She led him into a private elevator, then down a quiet hallway to a room with leather chairs, a dark wood desk, and a screen on the wall.

"This is our VIP room," she said. "Nobody will bother us here."

She had a staff member bring him a glass of water and a towel for his hands. Ethan hadn't realized how dirty they were until he saw the towel.

"The card has a keypad on the terminal," Olivia said. "You can check your balance whenever you'd like."

Ethan sat down in front of the terminal and slid the black card into the slot. The screen asked for a password.

He typed in his birthday, the one thing he had never lost.

The screen blinked once, and then a long row of numbers came up.

He read it, then he read it again. He counted the zeroes with his finger, because he didn't trust his eyes.

It was in the trillions.

Several trillion dollars, sitting under his name.

His hand slowly came off the mouse. He sat back in the chair and stared at the number, and for a long while he couldn't say anything.

The woman at the car wash hadn't been lying, every single thing she had said was true.

Olivia stood beside him, and she was looking at the screen too. She had known he held a supreme card, but she had never seen the amount. Her eyes went a little wider.

"I knew it was large," she said quietly. "I didn't think it was this large."

She straightened and folded her hands in front of her. When she spoke again, her voice was careful and respectful, the way a person talks to someone far above them.

"Mr. Cole, you're the highest-level client this bank has ever had. If there is anything you need, anything at all, please let me know. Sterling Crown has a lot of businesses and investment projects across the country, and I can open any door you want."

She took a small card from her pocket and set it on the desk. It had a phone number written on it in pen.

"That's my private line. Call me day or night."

"Thank you," Ethan said. His voice sounded strange to his own ears. "I'm still trying to understand all this."

"There's one more thing, if you don't mind me asking. Tonight there's a charity dinner downtown, with an auction. A lot of important people will be there, and there are some rare pieces on the list. I'd like to invite you to come with me. You might see something you like."

Ethan shook his head. "I don't think so. I'm not dressed for it, and I'm not in the mood for a party."

"I can fix the clothes in twenty minutes," Olivia said. "And please, at least look at the auction list before you decide."

She tapped the wall screen and a list came up with photos beside each name. There were paintings, old watches, a diamond necklace, and a vase from some dynasty he'd never heard of. Ethan looked at it without much interest.

Then he stopped.

Near the bottom of the list was a small photo of a ring.

It was dark and heavy, with strange lines cut into it. It looked almost exactly like the ring on his own finger. But the pattern was different. When he held his hand up next to the screen, he could see that the lines on his ring and the lines on the one in the photo didn't match.

They fit together. If he put the two rings side by side, the lines would join into one whole pattern.

A sharp pain went through his head, like someone had pushed a needle behind his eye. He grabbed the edge of the desk, and for a second he saw something, a dark room and a woman's hand holding a ring. Then it was gone.

"Mr. Cole?" Olivia stepped closer. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." He rubbed his temple and kept his eyes on the screen. His heart was beating hard. "That ring. Who has it?"

"It was donated to the auction by a private collector. Nobody knows much about it."

Ethan looked at the photo a little longer. He didn't know why, but he was sure of one thing. That ring had something to do with the three years he couldn't remember.

"I'll go," he said.

Olivia smiled. "I'll have a car ready in twenty minutes."