Chapter 4

“Not even good fakes,” she added. “You can see the plating coming off.”

The other assistant looked over. They exchanged a glance and laughed.

There had to be a mistake. I remembered Dante fastening that necklace around my throat. I remembered what he had whispered afterward.

“Found you.”

Vivienne stood in the doorway. Dante was behind her, flanked by a man whose hand stayed close to his jacket.

The shop fell quiet when the owner recognized him.

He looked at the jewelry spread across the counter.

“Every one of those meant something, Elena. You were really going to sell them?”

“I need the money for—”

“For the baby,” Vivienne finished. “Yes, we know. That’s the explanation for everything now.”

She touched the bag on her shoulder. My bag.

“I switched them before you left. I wanted to show Dante what would happen when the cash stopped.”

I looked at Dante.

“Tell her to return what she took.”

“I knew about the test,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d actually sell them.”

“I brought them here to pay for the appointments.”

Vivienne smiled.

“And the moment you couldn’t get cash from him, every sentimental gift became something to sell.”

Dante’s eyes moved over the counter.

“I chose those for you, Elena. I thought they meant more than this.”

“I remember every one.”

“Then why are they here?”

I had already told him.

Vivienne lifted the pendant at her throat. The real one.

“We had a bet. If you tried to cash them in, I got to keep the originals. At least I appreciate them.”

I could have let her have the diamonds. All of them.

Then I saw the bracelet on her wrist.

A narrow gold chain with a tiny engraved oval. My grandmother’s.

“Give me that.”

Vivienne followed my gaze.

“This?”

“It isn’t his. My grandmother left it to me.”

She unclasped it and let it dangle from one finger.

“What do you have that isn’t his?”

“Dante.” I turned to him. “Tell her.”

He knew. He had watched my mother fasten it around my wrist on our wedding morning.

Vivienne tilted her head.

“Tell you what. Take off everything he paid for, and you can have your precious bracelet back.”

Someone near the window raised a phone.

My face burned. I could hear a woman whispering behind me.

“Enough, Viv,” Dante said. “She can’t take a joke.”

He didn’t tell her to give it back.

I reached for the bracelet. Vivienne jerked her arm away, and I caught her wrist.

“Elena, let go.”

Dante caught my arm and pulled me back. Too hard.

My heel slipped. My hip struck the freestanding glass display, and the cabinet tipped toward me.

He reached for me as it fell.

Glass shattered across the floor. Pain gripped my belly. Something warm ran from my hairline.

Dante dropped beside me.

“Elena. Don’t move.”

He pulled off his jacket and pressed it against the cut on my head. His other hand shook as he took out his phone.

“Send an ambulance. My wife is five months pregnant. She’s bleeding.”

Vivienne touched his shoulder.

“She grabbed me first, Dante. You were trying to—”

“Get out of the way.”

He stayed beside me until the paramedics arrived, then rode with me to the hospital.

At the hospital, they treated me immediately. For now, there was still a heartbeat.

Dante bent over my hand and cried.

“I pulled too hard. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

I watched the monitor.

When he tried to kiss my fingers, I moved my hand onto the blanket.

Vivienne came in after the examination.

“The baby still has a heartbeat?” she asked.

Dante nodded without looking away from me.

“Then you can be grateful for that and still address what happened. Elena grabbed me. You intervened. Calling the entire incident your fault won’t help either of you.”

Dante looked at me.

“I’ll pay for the damage. The hospital bill, too. But you need to understand why I stepped in.”

“She was holding my grandmother’s bracelet.”

“And I told her to stop joking. You could have let me handle it.”

The monitor kept beating beside us.

“I want a divorce.”

He went still.

“No.”

“I’ll have a lawyer contact you.”

“Elena, I love you. We’re supposed to be fixing this.”

Vivienne opened her notebook.

“Threatening to end the marriage when she’s asked to acknowledge her part. We discussed this response.”

Dante pulled his chair closer to the bed.

“I’m staying tonight. You can be angry with me. I’m not leaving you here alone.”

He stayed until morning.

Before I was discharged, he collected my medication, settled the hospital bill, and wrote down the time of my next appointment.

After he left, I called Mom, the specialist, and a lawyer.

I asked for separation papers to be prepared and for all communication with Dante to go through the lawyer once I left New York.

After I was discharged, an old coworker found me temporary work updating the guest list for a private club’s charity event. I could do it from home.

The manager agreed to advance part of my pay. I went to the club to collect a laptop and sign the paperwork.

Between the advance, the seven hundred dollars from the canceled flight, and the last of my savings, I had enough for the remaining three thousand dollars.

I paid the specialist and sent the appointment schedule to Mom. She was arranging the care I would need in Portland.

By the time I reached the hospital for another check, my phone would not stop vibrating.

Vivienne had posted a video of me at the club.