Chapter 9 - The Ring That Shouldn't Exist
Emma looked from the ring to Mark.
"I don't understand."
Neither did Vanessa.
I gently lifted the ring from the box.
It was beautiful.
Elegant.
Timeless.
And completely unfamiliar to everyone except Mark.
"I found it years ago."
"When?" Emma asked.
"About twelve years into our marriage."
Mark slowly closed his eyes.
He remembered.
"I was cleaning the attic."
"I forgot about that."
"I didn't."
The apartment became silent once more.
"I asked him whose ring it was."
Emma listened without blinking.
"He told me it belonged to his mother."
Vanessa immediately looked at Mark.
"Your mother never wore gold."
Mark remained silent.
"I believed him," I continued.
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to."
I placed the ring back inside the box.
"Later, I found the receipt."
Emma whispered,
"It wasn't his mother's."
"No."
"It was purchased two weeks before our fifteenth anniversary."
Vanessa slowly connected the pieces.
"You were planning to leave."
Mark still said nothing.
"But the woman refused him," I continued.
"So he returned home."
Emma stared at him in disbelief.
"You proposed... while you were still married?"
"No," Mark finally answered.
"I considered it."
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"That sounds exactly like you."
Emma stepped backward again.
"So before me..."
"There were others."
"And before Vanessa..."
"There were others."
I looked at Emma gently.
"You were never the beginning of a new chapter."
She lowered her head.
"You were simply the next page."
Tears finally rolled down her cheeks.
She wasn't crying because she had lost Mark.
She was crying because she had just realized she had never truly known him.
Meanwhile, Rachel quietly examined the documents from the safe.
She stopped on one page.
Then another.
Finally she looked toward Mark with an expression I hadn't seen all evening.
Not anger.
Concern.
"Mr. Dawson..."
He looked up.
"I think you have a much bigger problem than losing this apartment."
"What are you talking about?"
Rachel slowly held up one document.
"It appears someone has been investigating your finances for nearly a year."
Mark's face turned ghost white.
He recognized the letter immediately.
May you like
Because it wasn't addressed by a bank.
It had been issued by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division.
