Chapter 4

By the time I stepped out of the shower, it was already four in the afternoon.

My phone was vibrating frantically on the coffee table. I picked it up and glanced at it. It was a voice message from Julian’s friend, Henry Reid.

I tapped to play it, and Henry’s shrill voice instantly exploded through the room.

“Haley, how could you leave Julian all by himself at the hotel to deal with the remaining fee? Do you have any idea that the hotel called the police and has Julian detained in the lobby? He’s never dealt with anything like this before! How do you expect him to face the police? How could you be so evil?”

I didn’t even bother replying and blocked him directly.

Right after, a call came through from Grace. I answered it and put it on speaker.

The moment the call connected, her shrill voice came through. “Haley Gibson! You ungrateful, heartless woman! Get your ass over to the hotel right now! The cops have taken Julian to the station for mediation! Do you know how embarrassing this is for our family?

“I’ll have you know that if you don’t pay off this bill of over two hundred thousand today, you can forget about your marriage to Julian!”

I sat on the sofa and poured myself a glass of water.

“Mrs. Clarke, allow me to remind you of a few things. First, I have no intention of staying married anymore anyway. Second, I wasn’t the one who embarrassed the Clarke family; it was your precious son who exchanged rings with his childhood friend.

“Third, isn’t Wendy supposed to be brilliant? Isn’t she overseas-educated? Why can’t she afford a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bill?”

The person on the other end of the line was panting heavily with fury. “Wendy is sick! Where is she supposed to get that much cash on her?”

“If she doesn’t have it, and Julian doesn’t have it, then on what grounds did they open twenty bottles of premium champagne?” I took a sip of water, my tone cold. “Mrs. Clarke, you can take your precious son and Wendy to get a loan for that money elsewhere.”

“Haley! Don’t you dare hang up on me! Believe me, I will–”

I hung up and blocked her number as well.

The world instantly fell silent. I switched on my laptop and plugged in a USB drive. It was high time to settle those accounts properly.

When we were preparing to buy a house and get married half a year ago, Julian told me we would split the house down payment fifty-fifty and save the rest of the money for renovations and buying a car. So, we opened a joint account to save for the car’s down payment, totaling two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

I deposited two hundred thousand, while Julian put in fifty thousand. However, last month, when I checked the account to prepare for picking up the car, I discovered that one hundred and twenty thousand had mysteriously gone missing.

At the time, I asked Julian where the money went. Julian’s eyes flickered evasively as he said he had lent it to his cousin to help his business off the ground, promising it would be repaid next month.

I didn’t expose him then. However, the very next day, I got a friend to look into it, only to find out he had used the money to purchase a custom high-end wedding dress worth eleven thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars for Wendy. It meant that the white wedding dress Wendy wore when she barged into the hall was bought with money meant for my car.

Next, I dialed my collegemate, Chloe Scott, who was a lawyer.

“Chloe, are you at the law firm?”

“I am. What’s up? Isn’t today your big day?”

I gave her a brief overview of what happened.

Chloe went silent on the other end of the line for a full minute before finally cursing. “I can’t believe these people exist. What do you plan to do?”

“Recover the joint assets that were transferred without authorization during the marriage.”

I flicked the cigarette ash into a paper cup.

After hanging up, I went to the travel agency downtown where the honeymoon was originally booked and canceled both plane tickets and the resort booking.

A few minutes later, Julian’s phone call came through. I put on my Bluetooth earpiece and answered it.

Julian’s voice sounded exhausted. “The hotel people won’t let us leave. They have called the police and are insisting that we hand over the eighteen thousand six hundred dollars. Wendy’s card has been frozen, my credit cards are maxed out, and I’ve emptied every line of credit I could get, just to scramble together eight thousand dollars for the deposit!

“The hotel gave me a deadline to settle the remaining one hundred thousand by today. Otherwise, they’re going to sue me for fraud!”