“We moved in together and basically became roommates, playing the happy couple for our parents. But slowly, the two of us grew closer. Slowly, we went from roommates to something more.” Nita smiled. “And here we are, three kids and almost twenty-five years later, still together.”

“I had no idea,” Yvonne said. “The two of you seem like such a normal married couple.”

“That’s because we are. Why do you think I’ve stuck with Mark through everything he’s put the family through with this business of his, all the mistakes he’s made? It’s because I love him. Yvonne, sometimes fate throws people together. But embracing that fate, embracing love? That’s a choice only you can make.”

Yvonne shook her head. “What’s between Ruby and me, it isn’t fate, or love. It’s just money, and sex, and emotions.”

“Do you truly believe that, or are you just telling yourself that because it makes this easier?”

Yvonne didn’t answer her.

Nita tilted her head, studying Yvonne. “Why did you marry Ruby in the first place?”

Yvonne frowned. Did she even know the answer herself? While she’d ostensibly gotten married to solve a problem, was that truly the only reason she’d married Ruby? Had there been a part of her that had simply married Ruby because she’d felt that pull, that attraction to her, from the moment their eyes had met in that bar?

Would Yvonne have gone through with the marriage if she hadn’t felt anything toward Ruby at all?

She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Everything between us is too messy, too complicated. It was never going to work.”

There was no point in fighting it. Ruby’s bags were packed. She already had one foot out the door.

It was over.

Chapter 25

Yvonne parked her car out the front of Bill Marsden’s law offices. She’d come straight from work. Ruby hadn’t arrived yet, but she’d promised to show.

Not that it mattered at this point. Yvonne had spent the entire week trying to think of a way to convince Bill to give her the money, but she hadn’t come up with anything. She didn’t know if the news that her marriage to Ruby was a sham had reached Bill himself, but even if it hadn’t, Yvonne didn’t have a witness to vouch for them. The meeting was pointless.

She got out of the car. As she spotted Ruby heading in her direction, she felt a tightness in her chest. Over the course of the past week and a half, the two of them had barely spoken to, or even seen each other, despite still living together. The gulf that had formed between them was insurmountable.

Yvonne approached her. “Ready to go in?”

Ruby nodded.

“Ruby, I-”

“Let’s just do this.”

Yvonne headed into the office, Ruby behind her. After speaking to Bill’s secretary, they took a seat in the waiting room. They were early, so they sat in silence while they waited. Ruby wouldn’t even look at Yvonne.

After a few minutes, the door to the waiting room swung open. In walked Madison, dressed casually and looking hurried.