I don’t know when my blood began to boil, but it’s bubbling at the surface, and I’m squeezing my free fist hard enough that deep pressure blooms in my palm. This is not good. Not fucking good at all.
“Can you just get to the threat part of this conversation so I can carry on with my day?”
Bernard’s expression darkens, the smugness making way for annoyance. “You’re still my wife, Scarlet. You don’t get to disrespect me.”
I burst out laughing. I can’t help myself. “Your wife? Fuck you and your delusional bullshit, asshole.” My gaze flickers to Ariana. “You’re insulting my poor excuse of a replacement, by the way. She doesn’t look like she likes it when you call me ‘your wife.’”
She hisses at me, her souring expression emphasizing wrinkles I never noticed before.
“Actually, say it again. She looks pretty when she’s all hurt and angry,” I say, unable to contain my amusement.
“You shut your mouth.” Bernard steps right into my space, and my grin shakes. “Give me the stones, Scarlet, same monthly arrangement as before, or—”
“No. Go fuck yourself, Bernard. Along with your leverage. Shove it deep up your asshole until you can fucking taste it. Now, I have shit to do.”
I turn to leave, but he wraps his hand around my wrist, the tightness so constricting that dangerous pressure grows beneath the skin. In moments like this one, it would be useful to be able to distinguish the sensation. Is it pain? Is he constricting my blood vessels? Is he breaking my fucking wrist?
I pull to get away, but he yanks me right back to face him.
“Give me the stones, Scarlet, or I’ll deliver the Levain pendant back to its last owner and tell him your parents stole it. Along with the rest of their jewels.”
“Nice try, but I know for a fact it’s currently in a jewelry box in my safe.” Only, I’m not as confident as I should be in those words, because Bernard’s grin is far too smug.
He cocks his head, regarding me for a brief moment before he pulls out his phone. He swipes a couple of times on the screen, then shows it to me.
My spine stiffens, blood freezing in my veins.
“This proves nothing. It could have been taken when we were still together,” I say, looking at the photo of the precious ruby pendant held in front of his arrogant face.
“Last night, actually.” He shoves his phone back into his pocket, looking like he won this game I didn’t know we were playing. “You’ll find that the one in your safe is a pretty darn good replica I commissioned.”
“You’re bluffing,” I challenge.
Disbelief melds with fury, and I want to clock him right here in the middle of the fucking street. He could still be lying to me, but somehow, I doubt he would look so goddamn confident if he was.
“Not at all. But you’ll have your confirmation when you go home,” he says.
I won’t need it; he’s not lying about this. As much as I wish he was. The Levain pendant is one of the few pieces my father and I have stolen that’s too beautiful to break apart and too unique to sell without getting us in serious trouble. I took inventory of everything when I moved out, but in the madness of it all, I didn’t check each goddamn piece in detail. It never crossed my mind this asshole would pull something like it. A fake? Really?
This is bad. Real bad.
“Why did you do this, Bernard?”
“I suggested it, actually.” Ariana crosses her arms against her chest, pursing her lips.
“You?” I should be surprised, but these two assholes were going at it behind my back long before I found out.
“Leverage,” Bernard explains. “I had other plans with it, but I knew there would come a time when you would refuse to give me my stones.”
“Yourstones? You’re fucking delusional. I can’t believe you planned for me to discover you were cheating.”
“I didn’t plan for that, actually,” he says, tightening his hold on my wrist.
I’m confused. “You were going to blackmail me while we were still together?”
“Controlling you would have been slightly easier, but I would say I’m doing pretty damn good even now that we’re separated.”
His victorious grin disgusts me.
