Called a Gold Digger, I Returned Everything novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Program

Lucinda stopped clapping and tilted her head at me.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know that's a terrible thing to say. But it was a good scene."

"Were you following him?"

"I follow him everywhere, honey. It's my job." She said it lightly. "I came to talk to you, actually. I was going to wait at your place, but this is better."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"That's fair." She came up three stairs and stopped, so we were eye to eye. "I begged him not to lie about that ring, you know. I told him you'd find out. He's a romantic. It's his only flaw."

I looked at her.

Her green eyes were wide and kind, and I found I could not tell if she was lying.

That was the most frightening thing about her.

"Why are you telling me this?" I said.

"Because you're about to lose a great deal, and I'd rather it didn't hurt." She sighed. "Dalton called the accountant tonight and put the audit off until Monday. He has a fantasy that he's going to find something. He won't. But I can't stop him."

"What would he find?"

"A man who never read a statement in six years and signed everything I put in front of him." She smiled. "Which is what he is. He's a good man, and he's helpless."

I felt something go very cold.

It was the first time I'd heard her say it out loud.

"So I'll make you an offer," Lucinda said. "Saturday night is the Cudahy Foundation dinner. Three hundred people. A ballroom, a stage, a photographer. I'm hosting. Come as my guest."

"No."

"Come, and let me say what I need to say. In front of everyone, kindly. Then you walk out the door on your own two feet, and nobody ever has to say your name again." She touched her sapphire. "Or don't come, and I'll say it anyway. Only without you there to answer."

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