Page 93 of Wanted

“He deserves it so badly,” she yells after Lorraine gasps her name.

Regretfully, I hate to admit that she’s right.

“There’s something else,” I tell them. “Shortly after getting married, Stella transferred a significant amount of money to an account that she manages but is under your name, Lorraine. Do you know where that money came from?”

Lorraine looks at me with wide eyes, not blinking. Her brain has short-circuited.

Felicia is the one who breaks the heavy silence that fills the room. “She doesn’t know, but I do. I gave that money to her.”

The news has taken Lorraine by surprise, her reaction can’t be faked. Those blue eyes, so much like Stella’s, don’t hide a thing, they’re too expressive.

“But, Felicia, where did you get it from if we barely have money to pay the bills?”

This pair seems very close, they bicker like sisters.

“It’s the money that the insurance company paid out after my brother passed away,” she begins to explain, moving her hands a lot, but her eyes are fixed on mine. She’s very sure of every syllable that leaves her mouth. “Lorraine has no brain for money.” Those words earn her a hard look. “Don’t look at me like that, you know it’s true.” She pauses to give my mother-in-law a stink eye. “And Stella was just a little girl, so I started the claim process and took care of keeping the money in an account. After she married the other man, I thought she wanted to buy a house, so I withdrew the money, I put it in a box, and wrapped it as a gift. I thought that they would be delighted with the news, but Stella told me what was happening between you, we talked about it for a long time. We decided that it was best to put it in Lorraine’s account, after all it’s my niece who handles everything.”

There it is, I knew that was explainable. Something deep inside was shouting that my Stella couldn’t have been part of this macabre plot.

When she showed me her love, it was because she really felt it.

Damn, it sucks to think about the past. I hope that my mistakes have not ended our future.

“So,” I say after we have talked for another forty minutes, I’ve also asked them questions about the hive. It’s an important topic for Stella, so it’s also for me. We’re already walking toward the door. “Will you tell me if Stella contacts you?”

“I don’t know, Lionel Kral.” It’s Felicia who takes the floor, Lorraine has let her be her spokesperson. “Tell me why I should trust you right now? How can I be sure it isn’t another deception?”

“Because you love Stella and want the best for her, just like me.” That’s the whole truth, I can’t give them a better reason than that.

“Trust takes time, Lionel Kral.”

In those words I seem to be listening to my wife’s voice.

“Well, I plan to stay close enough to earn it,” I reply before turning and walking toward the door.

As I walk away, I can almost be sure that I’ve seen Aunt Felicia smile.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Mr. Kral, how nice to see you again.” The lively clerk at the Jefferson County office greets me like she has known me a lifetime. For a minute, I think she might have mistaken me for someone else.

Thank God the woman has an ID hanging around her neck on which I can read her printed name. “Kathleen, good morning, how are you?”

She stares at me with her mouth open, like another head has suddenly come out.

“So formal,” she chides as she raises her hands. “Come here and give me a hug, boy. I’m so glad to see you so well, we all got distraught when we saw your name appear on the news.”

I walk over to the bar that separates her desk and allow her to hug me. The truth is I’m not a man open to displays of affection with strangers, this has shaken my world a bit. Whoever impersonated me was responsible for leaving impressions on the people he met. Part of the plan, I guess.

“Now tell me, how is that beautiful wife of yours?”

How and where is my wife? Good question, I wish I could give her an answer.

“She’s well, thank you for asking.”

She makes a strange gesture again, but come on, how am I supposed to share my personal life with someone who I just met?

“I hope you come to visit me soon. You guys have been the talk of the town for weeks, first how romantic your wedding was, then what happened to you in Los Angeles. Here we all followed the news day by day, like a television series. When I tell them you came, they won’t believe me. Should we take a selfie?”

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