Chapter 3

I walked out of the VFW hall and into the cool evening air, the black briefcase clutched tightly in my hand.

Ethan scrambled after me, his voice a desperate whisper now that we were away from the main crowd, but still audible to the thousands now watching my stream.

"Gabrielle, stop! What are you doing? This is insane!"

He tried to grab the briefcase, but I swung it out of his reach.

"Don' t touch me, Ethan."

His desperation was starting to look suspicious. The tone of the comments on the live stream began to shift.

"Wait... why is he so scared of her going to the bank?"

"If the money is real, what' s the problem?"

"Something' s not right here."

Ethan must have seen the comments, because he suddenly changed his story. He forced a shaky smile, trying to sound reasonable.

"Okay, okay, you' re right. This is all so stressful." He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "Look, my uncle just called. He' s wiring us the money. He' s a good man. He' ll help."

I just kept walking.

"So you don' t need my money anymore?" I asked, my voice flat.

"No, we' re good. It' s handled," he said quickly. "So you can put that away. Let' s go back to the party. We shouldn' t be doing this on our engagement day. It' s... it' s bad luck to deposit money on a day like this. It' s a bad omen for our marriage."

A bad omen. The irony was so thick I could taste it.

"I don' t believe in bad luck, Ethan," I said, never breaking my stride. "I believe in verifying things."

We were approaching the credit union. The lights were on inside. I could see the tellers behind the counter.

Ethan' s panic became palpable. He lunged in front of me, blocking my path to the door.

"Gabrielle, please! Don' t do this. You' re embarrassing me! You' re embarrassing us! Think about what people will say!"

"I' m long past caring what people say," I replied, pushing past him and pulling open the glass door. "I only care about the truth."

The little bell above the door chimed, announcing our arrival.

And there she was, standing behind the loan officer' s desk, a fake, welcoming smile on her face.

Lucy. The other woman. The one carrying his real child.