Chapter 4

Ursula sent me a message.

"Honey, work just dumped a rush project on me. I have to fly out on short notice."

To make me believe it, she followed up with the flight details.

"If you miss me, come find me."

Then she sent the hotel's location.

"For you, there's always time."

There was a time when Ursula would report everything to me. What she ate, what she drank, who she saw, every last detail spelled out. I used to laugh at her, saying she was like a kid who never grew up, already running the whole company and still this clingy.

Ursula never minded. She would only tell me,

"Making my husband feel secure is my job." She corrected me, serious about it. "Besides, getting to be a silly little kid in front of the person you love is its own kind of blessing."

Now she was certain I wouldn't come and disrupt her little getaway with Arthur.

But what she didn't know.

I was standing right at the hotel entrance, watching Arthur circle her waist with his arm as he teased, "Honey this, honey that. Why do you love your husband so much, hmm?"

"If you love him that much," Arthur's tone turned sour, "why come out here with me?"

Ursula hugged him tighter and laughed.

"The flower at home is never as sweet as the one in the wild."

"Plain white rice can't compare to the one who got away."

"So, do you like the fly on the wall," Ursula leaned in close to him, "or the mark you can't scrub off?"

The two of them flirting and squabbling, all of it caught on camera.

The assistant couldn't stand it.

"The evidence we have now is enough to send Ursula out with nothing."

"Not enough yet."

My voice was flat as I told him,

"Ursula still believes everything we have now came from the magic lamp. That heaven took pity on her, that this fortune was always fated to be hers. Not because of me."

"So," I thought of what Grandma had said, "people never remember the one who stayed and suffered beside them. They only remember the one who walked away when they were at rock bottom."

"People are wired that way. Base. Always chasing whatever they can't have."

Now.

I checked the time.

"Three days. That's all."

"I can wait."

For those three days, I trailed along while Ursula and Arthur played house. I watched Arthur drop tens of thousands on a bag without blinking, watched him put a million-dollar ring on hold, and then tell Ursula,

"This freebie, pass it off as a travel gift for your husband."

"And don't you go buying anything new."

Arthur wheedled.

"What's yours is mine."

Ursula only laughed.

"Fine, whatever you want."

Once, Ursula said she would be my umbrella, that she would never let me suffer a single slight.

Now she had torn that umbrella to shreds and left me to suffer all of it.

I called her. I listened as she stepped off to an empty patch of ground and lowered her voice.

"Honey."

"Ursula," I reminded her, "there's still an hour and a half."

"There's time."

Her tone went impatient.

"Stop rushing me."

"I already sent you my flight."

"I promise I'll be there."

I hung up and looked at the countdown to the IPO bell, and the birthday banquet Ursula had once arranged for me, and Grandma seated at the head of the table. Through the surveillance feed, I heard Ursula warn him.

"Don't say anything stupid."

Arthur followed after her, grudging.

"I know, I know."

Ursula laughed and pinched his cheek, then walked to the banquet hall doors, fixed her appearance one last time, and reached out to push them open. The moment she did, the color drained from her face.