Chapter 8: Nine Sharp

Nobody moved until the clock in the hall struck twelve.

Then the cashier from the casino came up the cellar stairs with a leather bag in both arms.

She stopped at the edge of the marble, looked at Tommaso, and waited.

He did not tell her to go back. He did not tell her anything.

"The pool closed at midnight," I said. "I was right."

The cashier set the bag on the table beside the divorce papers and unzipped it.

Inside were bundles of notes with paper bands, stacked tight.

"One million, forty thousand euros," she said in a small voice. "After the house's ten percent."

"I know the house's cut."

"Yes, Donna."

I didn't check. I had spent six years watching that cage count to the cent, and I trusted her hands.

I took off my wedding ring.

It slid over my knuckle without trouble, which surprised me.

I laid it on the white linen next to the papers, and it rolled once and lay still.

A hundred phones stayed raised. No one filmed anything.

"Marisa," Tommaso said.

I zipped the bag.

"Your driver can bring the rest of my things to the bakery in the Vomero," I said. "Tomorrow, before noon."

"Marisa, wait."

"Nine o'clock, at the law firm," I said. "Don't be late."

The doormen stood aside.

I carried a million euros out through the front hall, past the champagne tower and the garlands, without anyone saying a word.

At nine sharp the next morning the family's law offices were silent.

I sat at one side of a polished wooden table with a cup of cold coffee.

Pina had insisted on coming. She sat in the waiting room with a bag of rolls on her lap, glaring at the receptionist.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Jealousy Game Over, Marriage Over: The Donna Who Walked Away from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.