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I turned around slowly.
“Carol, what a coincidence to find you here.”
“Stephanie,” Carol stammered. “What… what a surprise.”
The saleswoman looked at us, confused.
“Do you know each other?”
“Oh, yes,” I replied with a smile. “We’re family. Or at least that’s what they thought.”
Carol turned red.
“Stephanie, what a beautiful necklace. It must be very expensive.”
Her voice was strained, trying to keep up appearances.
“$65,000,” I replied casually. “But I like it so much, I think I’ll take it.”
“Sixty-five thousand on a necklace…”
Her shock was delicious. This was the same woman who had told me I didn’t need much money.
Carol tried to regain her composure.
“Stephanie, since we’re here, I’d like to talk to you. Ethan is very sorry. He hasn’t eaten in days. He can’t work. Ashley is suffering a great deal, too.”
Her words sounded rehearsed, as if she had practiced this speech.
“What a shame,” I replied, examining some sapphire earrings. “But I’m sure that you, as his real mother, will be able to comfort him.”
The saleswoman was following our conversation with fascination. She had probably never witnessed a family drama in her exclusive boutique.
“Please, Stephanie. Ethan confessed everything to me. He told me you adopted him when he was little, that you gave up everything for him. I didn’t know the whole story.”
Her tears seemed genuine, but they came far too late.
“Ashley,” I said gently, “three weeks ago at your wedding, when you publicly humiliated me—where were these tears of regret? When Ethan asked me for more money the next day, where was this understanding of my sacrifice?”
She couldn’t answer. Carol intervened quickly.
“Stephanie, we understand we made mistakes. That’s why we’re here. We want to make peace. We want to buy you something beautiful as a symbol of our apology.”
She gestured toward the display cases.
“Choose whatever you like, we’ll pay.”
The irony was exquisite. They were offering to buy me a gift with my own money indirectly, since everything they had came from Ethan, and Ethan had lived off my resources for years.
“How generous,” I murmured. “But I’ve already chosen what I want.”
I pointed to the necklace I was wearing.
“$65,000,” Carol whispered, her face losing its color. “That’s… that’s a lot of money.”
Her reaction revealed the truth about their supposed wealth: if they were really as affluent as they pretended, $65,000 wouldn’t be that much.
“It’s not much to me,” I replied. “In fact, I think I’ll also take these earrings and this bracelet.”
The total came to $120,000. Ashley sat down in a chair, overwhelmed. Carol was trying to maintain her dignity, but the shock was evident.
The saleswoman processed my purchase with professional efficiency.
“Will that all be on one card, ma’am?”
“Yes, please.”
The sound of the machine processing the transaction filled the tense silence. Carol and Ashley stared at me as if I were an alien.
“Stephanie,” Carol said finally, “you clearly have resources we were unaware of. This changes things. We could be partners in some businesses, form a real family alliance.”
Her change of tactic was so obvious, it was pathetic.
“Carol,” I replied, as I put away my new jewelry, “when you thought I was poor, you treated me like trash. Now that you know I have money, you want to be partners. Don’t you see the problem with that logic?”
Her silence was revealing. Ashley stood up, swaying.
“Stephanie, I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but Ethan does. He truly loves you. He’s considering making the video you asked for.”
That information caught my attention.
“Really? And what’s stopping him?”
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