2: 2
2.
The investigator worked fast, and before long I had every file on the two of them.
Just as I'd expected, their relationship was clean to the point of being unnatural. There wasn't even a single photo of them together in public.
And the cleaner it looked, the colder I felt inside.
When water is too clear, no fish can live in it. Flora and Jude weren't just childhood sweethearts. Before I came back, they'd been slated for an arranged marriage to each other.
They'd grown up together, gone to school together, and yet there wasn't one photo of them side by side. That absence was the biggest tell of all.
My phone chimed. Twenty million had just been pulled from the company account.
I called the finance office immediately.
"Who authorized you to touch the company's money?"
The man on the line floundered.
"Mr. Fisher, it was your fiancée and your mother—"
Before he could finish, Flora's voice came through from his end.
"Darren, Jude couldn't land any investors, he was practically in tears. Mom and I talked it over. Ten million goes into his new project, and the other ten million is for him to get himself outfitted properly."
"He's a project manager now, after all. What he wears and carries has to look the part, or people will laugh at him."
I actually laughed out loud.
"He cried, so my money covers the difference?"
"He needs to look expensive, so I'm supposed to foot the bill?"
"Flora, I was unconscious for three months. That twenty million isn't just cash. It's the company's lifeline!"
"Enough! It's only twenty million."
"Jude is your brother. He even gave Flora up to you. What's wrong with giving him a little something back?"
That was my mother, her voice thick with disgust.
I thought back to that day in the hospital room, when I woke up out of a sentence that should have been death, and met the shock in her eyes.
Maybe that wasn't joy. Maybe I'd wrecked whatever plan she'd already set in motion.
"That is the company's lifeline," I said again. "It cannot be torn out by the roots."
Flora acted like she hadn't heard a word.
"All right, honey, stop making a scene. The money's already in his account."
"The suit I ordered for you is in. Get yourself ready and I'll come pick you up so you can try it on."
Rage churned in my chest, and I forced it down.
The priority right now was to lock down proof that they'd moved my twenty million behind my back.
I saved the call recording and waited for Flora to come get me.
But night fell and she never showed, and her phone stayed switched off the whole time.
Just as I was starting to think something had happened to her and I was about to call the police, she came strolling back with my mother and Jude, all of them laughing together.
The first thing I saw was the suit on Jude's back. My wedding suit.
Before I could say anything, Jude spoke up, his face all nervous apology.
"I'm sorry, brother. Mom and Flora said you weren't well enough to go out, so they had me try it on for you."
"I'll take it off and give it to you right now—"
Before Jude could move, my mother stepped in front of him.
"Darren! Jude was only trying to help, and this is how you repay him? Have you no heart at all?"
I said nothing. I just looked at that suit fitting Jude like it had been tailored for him, then at my own body, gone gaunt from three months in a coma, and said dryly,
"You're sure this suit was made for me?"
"Flora, the one you really want to marry is Jude, isn't it?"
The air went dead for three seconds. Then Flora spoke.
"What are you talking about, honey. I'm carrying your baby."
"You're right that I didn't think the suit through. I'll get someone to have it altered right now—"
But Jude cut in. "In your condition, brother, even in a suit you couldn't make it to the wedding, could you?"
"Exactly." My mother chimed in.
"Why not let Jude stand in for you at the wedding? It's dignified and it saves everyone the trouble."
In that instant, I actually caught it. A flicker of hope in Flora's eyes.
I found it almost funny. I nodded, right there.
"Fine. Give him the wedding. Let him go sign the marriage certificate with you, and put the baby under his name too."
"And I'll throw the company in as a wedding gift. How's that?"
Flora finally realized something was wrong and grabbed my hand.
"Honey, don't be like this. You're the one I love. You're the one I'm marrying."
"But your health really isn't up to the wedding. It's better to let Jude go in your place. It's easier for everyone."
Easier for what? Easier for them to scheme against me and quietly swallow every last piece of my fortune?
I pulled my hand back and looked at Flora.
"The wedding's off. I'm not getting married."
