Chapter 3
That evening, he came home strangely energized. He didn’t tell me a word. Instead, he locked himself in the study with his mother, Olivia, and his sister, Chloe.
I crept down the hallway and leaned my ear against the door.
“Mom, this is our chance to never depend on Genevieve again,” Arthur was saying excitedly. “I just need another two hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Where am I supposed to get that kind of money, Arthur?” Olivia asked.
“Sell your townhouse in New Jersey.”
Silence fell over the room. That townhouse was practically everything Olivia owned.
Then Arthur dropped the magic number: “When we flip these lots next month, we’ll walk away with over two million dollars.”
Chloe was the first to jump in. “Sell it, Mom! We can buy a mansion after!”
Olivia caved. Over the next three days, they pushed through a rush cash sale on her townhouse, slashing the price just to get the funds immediately.
I watched the entire circus unfold without saying a word. And as they grew convinced they were on the verge of immense wealth, they completely dropped their masks around me.
“Now that your company is auditing you, maybe you should learn to be a proper wife,” Olivia sneered over dinner one evening. “A woman can make money, but at the end of the day, she needs a real man to support her.”
Chloe laughed. “Once Arthur is a millionaire, Genevieve, you’re going to have to lose that arrogant attitude.”
I smiled softly. “You’re probably right.”
My quiet submission only made them more insufferably arrogant.
On the fourth day, Arthur received the wire from the sale of his mother’s home and practically sprinted out the door. Two hours later, my phone vibrated.
It was Victoria: “The $500,000 total is in. He signed everything. All five lots are officially in his name.”
May you like
I looked out into the living room, where Olivia and Chloe were clinking glasses, already celebrating their imaginary new lives with European cars and oceanfront vacations.
Arthur had just gambled away the entire life savings of two different families. And none of them knew that by tomorrow morning, I would lay down a set of papers that would crush every single dream they were celebrating.
