He Gave His Female Best Friend My 5th Anniversary Trip, Then Bet I Wouldn't Leave novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Freeze

The lawyer filed an emergency order before lunch.

"It freezes the account he moved the money into," she told me on the phone, typing as she talked. "He has twenty-four hours to put the twenty-two thousand back where it was. If he doesn't, a judge will ask him why."

"What if he spent it?"

"Then he'll be explaining that to a judge too."

"He told me he did it on Sunday," I said. "He said it right in my ear."

"Good," she said. "Say that again to me in writing. I'll add it to the file."

I was still in my manager's office, with her door closed and a cup of tea going cold.

I wrote it out and sent it.

Then I went back to my desk and did four hours of work I couldn't remember afterward.

At six, Carrie picked me up.

We had barely climbed the stairs to her apartment when somebody knocked on the door.

Carrie looked through the peephole and swore softly.

"It's Derek's mother."

I put my hand on my stomach, then took it away again.

"Let her in."

Derek's mother was sixty-three, with short silver hair, a quilted jacket and a plate of lemon bars covered in plastic wrap.

I had always liked her.

She had cried at our wedding, held my hand through my first round of treatments, and sent a card every Mother's Day, even though I wasn't one.

She stood in the doorway of the small kitchen and didn't come any farther.

"Leah, honey," she said. "He's a mess."

"I'm sure he is."

"He hasn't slept since Cabo." She set the plate on the counter. "I'm not here to take his side. I just want to understand what happened."

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