Chapter 8 No.8

When Ellsworth opened the door, Cressie saw her.

Jolie was sitting on the white leather sofa. She had her shoes off. She was drinking an espresso.

"Oh!" Jolie jumped up, smoothing her skirt. "Cressie! I didn't know you were... visiting."

Ellsworth walked to his desk and sat down, ignoring the awkwardness. He gestured for Cressie to sit.

She remained standing.

"Sign the resignation," Cressie said, placing a fresh copy (she had brought two) on his desk.

Ellsworth picked up a pen. "I'll have payroll add a severance package. Three months' salary."

"Keep it," Cressie said.

"Oh, don't be silly," Jolie chimed in. She walked over, her heels clicking on the glass floor. "Everyone needs a little spending money. Especially now that you're... expanding."

Jolie reached into her oversized Birkin bag. She pulled out a long, velvet box.

"Actually, I have a little present for you," Jolie beamed. "I felt so bad about the hospital. I wanted to make it up to you."

She opened the box. Inside lay a string of pearls. They were large, white, and lustrous. But Cressie recognized the clasp immediately. The silver rose. It was the Winters family necklace. Her mother's necklace. The one they had been forced to auction off three years ago to pay the first round of warehouse debts.

Jolie hadn't just bought a gift. She had hunted down a family heirloom, bought it with Banks money, and was now offering it back like charity.

"Vintage," Jolie said. "I found them at an estate sale. I thought they looked... quaint."

"Here, let me," Jolie said, reaching for Cressie's neck.

"No," Cressie said, stepping back.

"Oh, come on, don't be rude," Jolie pressed. She lunged forward, trying to clasp the necklace around Cressie's neck.

"I said no!" Cressie pushed her hand away.

It wasn't a hard push. But Jolie was wearing six-inch stilettos on a glass floor.

She stumbled. She flailed. She grabbed Cressie's arm to steady herself.

They both went down.

Cressie fell hard on her hip. Her side slammed into the corner of the oak desk.

"Ah!" A sharp cry escaped her lips. Pain radiated through her lower back, searing and hot.

Jolie landed on the carpet, the pearls scattering across the floor with a sound like hail.

"Jolie!" Ellsworth was around the desk in a second. He knelt beside Jolie. "Are you okay?"

"I... I think so," Jolie whimpered, clutching her ankle. "She pushed me, Ellsworth. She just pushed me!"

Ellsworth turned his head. His eyes were blazing. "Are you insane?" he shouted at Cressie. "She was giving you a gift!"

Cressie was still on the floor, holding her side. He hadn't asked if she was okay. He hadn't asked about the baby. The pain in her hip was throbbing, a dull ache that made her nauseous.

She looked at the pearls scattered on the floor. One had rolled next to her hand.

She picked it up. She rubbed it against her tooth. Smooth.

Real pearls feel gritty. The Winters pearls were real. These were smooth.

Cressie realized then the depth of the insult. Jolie hadn't bought the real necklace. She had bought a replica. A cheap copy to mock the loss of the original.

Cressie pulled herself up, using the chair for support. She winced, clutching her side.

"It's a fake," she said.

"What?" Ellsworth snapped, helping Jolie to the sofa.

"The necklace," Cressie said. She tossed the pearl onto his desk. It bounced with a hollow plastic sound. "It's a knockoff of my mother's necklace. High-end costume jewelry. Jolie didn't buy the heirloom, Ellsworth. She bought a prop to humiliate me."

Jolie froze. Her tears stopped instantly.

Ellsworth looked at the pearl. He looked at Jolie.

"Jolie?" he asked.

"I... I must have been scammed!" Jolie stammered, her face turning pink. "The dealer promised..."

"You don't buy from dealers," Cressie said, her voice ice cold. "You buy from Instagram ads."

She looked at Ellsworth. "You prioritize a woman who brings you fake pearls over the woman carrying your real child."

She grabbed the signed resignation form from the desk.

"Goodbye, Ellsworth."

She walked out. Her hip was throbbing, but her head was high. She needed a doctor, but she wouldn't let them see her limp.

In the elevator, she found one stray pearl caught in the cuff of her trousers. She took it out and dropped it into the trash can in the lobby.

Fake, she thought. Just like his love.

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