Chapter 6
Ten minutes into the drive, Richard's phone rang.
He answered.
"Yeah. Okay, you're here? Give me ten minutes," Richard said.
He hung up and took a turn at the next intersection.
"Where are you going? This isn't the way home," I said.
"Picking someone up first," Richard said.
I didn't say anything.
When the car stopped in front of the mall, Monica strode out of the revolving doors, wearing that dark green dress.
She was carrying three or four shopping bags, and she pulled the back door open with a bright smile and slid in.
"Richard, I bought two ties. Tell me which one you like," Monica said.
She settled in the back, as if I didn't even exist in the passenger seat.
Richard glanced at her in the mirror. "We'll look at home."
The word "home" landed and my whole body went stiff for a second.
"Where is she going?" I asked.
"Home," Richard replied.
"Which home?" I pressed.
"Our home," Richard said.
Monica laughed from the back seat. "Evelyn, relax. I'm only stopping by."
I turned to look at her.
She was in my dress, carrying bags paid for with money I couldn't trace, riding in my husband's car, and planning to stop by my apartment.
"She's not coming," I said.
"That's my call," Richard said without turning his head.
"Richard!" I snapped.
"Keep it down. The next car over can hear you."
Monica pulled out a dark blue tie from her shopping bag, leaned forward, and looped it around Richard's neck, checking how it looked.
"This one works with your gray suit," Monica said.
I snatched the tie off.
Silence hung in the car for a couple seconds.
Monica looked at the tie I had thrown on the floor, and her expression cooled.
"Evelyn, you're being unreasonable," Monica said.
"I'm being unreasonable? You're wearing my dress, sitting in my husband's car, and now you want to crash at my place. You're calling me unreasonable?" I shot back.
Richard slammed on the brakes.
The car pulled over abruptly at the curb.
"Get out," Richard said.
"What?" I said.
"Evelyn, this is your last chance. Either you keep quiet and stay put, or you get out of the car right now," Richard said.
I stared at him, but he kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, didn't even glance at me.
Monica picked up the tie from the floor, brushed off the dust, and said softly, "Richard, don't fight with her. Maybe I should just leave."
"You don't have to leave," Richard said.
He reached over me and pushed open the passenger door.
"Get out," Richard said.
He shoved me out.
I stumbled out of the car, my heel caught and I twisted my ankle, my knee scraping hard against the curb.
The door slammed shut behind me.
Monica leaned over from the back seat and moved up front to the passenger seat.
She glanced down at me.
That angle and that expression were exactly the same as five years ago, when she sat at the head of Eric's bed and looked down at me.
The taillights flashed for a second, and the black car merged into traffic and disappeared.
I knelt by the curb, blood trickling from my knee.
People walked by, giving me a wide berth. No one stopped.
My phone buzzed.
I pulled it out. It was a message from Richard.
Richard: [Walk back when you've made up your mind. The key is under the mat.]
Another message popped up right after.
Richard: [Don't take your time. Monica is eating at our place tonight.]
I gripped my phone so hard my knuckles turned white.
Then a third message came through.
It wasn't from Richard.
It was from that unknown number.
Frank: [Ms. Lane, I'm in room 818 at the Ashford Hotel. If you're willing to come, I have something your father left for you. Your father was a co-founder of Summit Holdings.]
I couldn't tear my eyes away from those words on the screen.
The name on the screen was Summit Holdings.
It was one of the biggest companies in the city.
My father had been a co-founder of Summit Holdings.
The screen went dark.
The battery was down to 3 percent.
Before the last bit of light vanished, those words were etched into my mind.
I got up.
My knee was still bleeding, one heel had snapped off, and the wind pulled at my skirt.
I stood at the crossing.
Left took me back to Richard's apartment, back to being a kept wife with no say in anything.
Right took me to the Ashford Hotel.
An old man I had never met, a truth that might be a con, and a secret about my father I had never heard.
The screen went black.
I turned right.
I took my first step, barefoot on the asphalt.