The Billionaire's Wife(33)
“Why did he have to be married Allie?”
“Oh honey I don’t know…” She reaches for my purse and rummages through it. “Don’t you have any tissues in here?” She stops rummaging and lets out a gasp. “Holy shit Melissa!”
“What?” The tears stop immediately and I blink to rid my eyes of blur. Allison pulls out a small piece of paper. A piece of paper that looks very much like a check. She holds it up to me. It is a piece of paper that very much is a check. It’s a check written on the account of Mr. G Lambert for a total sum of $10,000. “What the hell?” When did he put that in there? Why did he put that in there? Was it my payoff to keep quiet, to let him keep living as Mr. Gideon Lambert with that cute bit on the side that looks just like his wife?
“Oh my God, Melissa, that’s ten thousand fucking dollars…do you realize what you could do with money like that?” I do realize what I can do with money like that but I also know what I want to do with money like that, I want to tear it up and throw it in his face. Sure, it’s a lot of money but does he actually think he can buy my integrity for ten thousand dollars?
“I’m not selling out for ten thousand dollars Allie.” She smirks at me.
“I’d sell out for ten thousand dollars…at least until the money ran out.” I can’t help but laugh at her. “Then, I’d probably just ask for some more.”
“I wish it was that simple Allie, but I think I love him…”
“Well, can’t you love him and pretend he’s not married? I mean, we still haven’t seen his wife.”
“Apparently,” I wipe my nose on the sleeve of my shirt, “she looks just like me…or I look just like her…” Allie looks at me in disbelief.
“What a creep! If you were going to cheat on your wife why would you cheat with someone who looked just like her? That’s just creepy!” I shrug. “Unless…” I look at her questioningly.
“Unless what?”
“Unless he really did kill her and bury her somewhere in the woods and now he’s trying to pass you off as his wife so he doesn’t get caught.” She raises a single eyebrow, “you know, that would mean there wasn’t a wife anymore which would also mean that you’re not the mistress anymore…”
“But it would also mean he was a murderer and I’m pretty sure being in love with a murderer is worse than being in love with a cheater?”
“Hmm. I suppose so.” Allison stuffs the check back in my purse. “So, what are you going to do with it?”
“I don’t know Allie, I really don’t know.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Well?” Allison eyes me suspiciously.
“Well what?” I play dumb, knowing full well what she’s talking about.
“It’s been three days Melissa and there’s still a check for ten thousand dollars sitting in your purse. Any sane person would have cashed it and…well…done something with it.” Allison looks at me expectantly.
“Allie, I don’t want his money. I don’t want to get paid for being his girl on the side. I don’t even know why he gave me the money in the first place but I know I can’t keep it. I won’t keep it.”
Nothing has played on my mind more over the last few days than that stupid check. The money would do incredible things for me. I would finally be able to do some of the things I want to do; I could take time off work to read. I could go on a real vacation without tagging along with my sister and her family. Ten thousand dollars would be such an incredible addition to any bank account (especially my own) but when I think about where the money came from…and what I did to get it. It’s dirty money, it makes me feel like a whore and while it would still be nice to pay off someone or do something nice for myself I can’t and won’t do it with money paid to me through Gideon’s misguided sense of chivalry.
“Well…I could keep it?” Allison looks at me, one eyebrow raised, snapping me back to the here and now and I can’t help but laugh.
“Sorry Allie, I’m giving this one back. I can’t have his dirty money sitting in my bank account mocking me, making me feel like a cheap escort.”
“You can’t give it back Allie that’s just rude!”
“Oh, and paying me off to keep me as a girl on the side isn’t rude?” Allison flops down on the chair opposite me and rests her chin on her hand.