“She doesn’t suspect anything?” Vanessa asked.
“Emily suspects whatever I tell her to suspect.”
I pressed my palm against my mouth.
“She thinks the business is failing because of medical expenses,” Mark continued.
“And when she has nothing left?”
“Then I’ll decide what to do with her.”
Those words changed something inside me.
A nurse appeared at the far end of the hallway carrying a patient chart.
“Mrs. Carter, your husband was asking when you would come in.”
I managed to smile.
“I left something important in my car.”
The nurse looked concerned.
“Are you feeling all right?”
“I’m just tired.”
I walked toward the elevator before she could ask another question.
Inside my aging sedan, I locked the doors and took the lottery ticket from my handbag.
The numbers were still there.
One hundred million dollars.
I should have been celebrating the greatest financial miracle of my life.
Instead, I was staring at a small piece of paper while realizing that the man I had married might have loved my usefulness more than he had ever loved me.
