I stared at those two texts for a long time.
The sender quickly added one more line.
“Want to know the truth? Three days from now, the old fish market on the south side of Baltimore.”
Three days from now.
The exact day they were coming to take me in.
I called the number back.
Not in service.
The door swung open, and my mother-in-law walked in with her handbag.
Behind her came the Gilbert family driver and two bodyguards.
“Evelyn, aren't you something now.”
She tossed her bag onto the couch. “Keeping Laurence up all night over you.”
I almost laughed.
Laurence had stayed up all night pulling strings for Madge.
What did that have to do with me?
“Mother.”
“Don't call me that.”
She sat down, her well-preserved face full of distaste. “You've been married into this family all these years and your belly's still empty, and your own people can't prop themselves up either. Now we ask you to take a little heat for the Gilberts, and you're putting on airs?”
I set the phone face-down on the blanket.
“Are you finished?”
She snorted. “I read the divorce agreement. You walk away with nothing. At least you know your place.”
“Mm.”
“But this can't happen now.”
I looked at her.
She lifted the water cup and blew across steam that wasn't there.
“Right now you're Mrs. Gilbert. Your confession carries weight that way. Once the sentence comes down and it all blows over, the family will give you some money.”
Watching her, I suddenly understood where Laurence's cold blood came from.
It ran in the family.
“How much?”
She blinked, as if she hadn't expected me to ask.
“Two million.”
I smiled.
My mother's old house had sold for eight million back then, and every cent of it had gone into the Gilbert accounts.
Now my freedom, my name, my whole life.
Worth two million.
“Too little.”
Her face changed. “Evelyn, don't be greedy.”
“Then find someone else.”
She shot to her feet. “You wouldn't dare!”
I pressed the call button for the nurse.
Her chest heaved with anger. “You think Laurence really can't bear to let you go? Let me tell you, if you hadn't put up money for this family back then, someone with your background wouldn't have made it past our front door.”
I raised my eyes. “So that money was my admission ticket?”
She had no answer for that.
Footsteps came from the doorway.
Laurence appeared, looking worse than he had the night before.
“Mother, go on home first.”
She jabbed a finger at me. “Look at the attitude on her now!”
Laurence rubbed the space between his brows. “I'll talk to her.”
Then it was just the two of us in the room.
He set a new agreement in front of me.
“Sign it.”
I glanced over it.
Two million had become five million.
Plus an apartment in the suburbs.
“Your mother just said two million.”
“Evelyn.”
There was fire held down under his voice. “Don't push your luck.”
I looked up. “Laurence, I want a hundred million.”
He looked like he hadn't heard right.
“What did you say?”
“A hundred million.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Madge's freedom isn't worth that much?”
His face darkened. “Evelyn, when did you turn so money-grubbing?”
That one nearly made me laugh.
The Gilberts hadn't minded when they took my money.
They hadn't minded when they made me take the fall.
Now I ask for money, and I'm money-grubbing.
“Then forget it.”
I pushed the agreement back at him.
Laurence leaned over and seized my wrist. “You really think I've got no way to deal with you?”
His grip crushed down until my wrist ached.
I looked at him. “You're welcome to try.”
A cough came from the hall.
Owen was standing there, a document folder in his hand.
“Mr. Gilbert, let go, please.”
Laurence turned his head, his eyes chilling.
“And who are you?”
Owen pushed his glasses up. “Miss Fox's attorney.”
Laurence sneered. “You?”
Owen didn't rise to it. He just handed me the file.
“Miss Fox, that matter you asked me to look into. I have the results.”
I hadn't asked him to look into anything.
But he pressed a slip of paper into my palm.
There was only one line on it.
“Fish market meeting moved up. Ten o'clock tonight.”
I closed my hand around the note.
Laurence stared at me. “What results?”
Owen's expression didn't shift. “An accounting of the marital assets.”
“She's walking away with nothing. What is there to account for?”
I looked up all at once. “Who said I'm walking away with nothing?”
Laurence's pupils shrank.
I took the divorce agreement back and tore it in two right in front of him.
Scraps of paper drifted onto the blanket.
“Laurence, I've changed my mind.”
His jaw clenched. “Evelyn.”
I looked at him.
“I want ten percent of the Gilbert company.”
