Chapter 3: The Bank

…They were like animals that night. They took each other to their heart’s content.

While they were hot and heavy, they didn’t mind each other’s touch and embrace. They both enjoyed that night together. They went on till morning dusk. How they held each other and whispered each other’s name. That night was the most magical night for her as all her dreams came true. She was finally with the man she dreamed of. All of her years of patiently waiting for him paid off.

“What? Too many memories for you?” asked Joshua, noticing she was holding onto the pictures.

Emily shook her mind free of the past. She put down the photos. Then her eyes caught several other pictures of her standing in front of the atm machine. She was taking out money from her bank. They both shared the same bank but different accounts, so it doesn’t matter if he taken picture of her. It was her money that she took, not his.

Joshua smiled at her and said, “That’s a photo of you taking money out of my bank account.”

“What?” asked Emily.

“You took out ten thousand dollars each time.”

Emily frowned as his words were indeed true. But how did he know. She never once told him how much she had taken out. And it’s always the same and exact number she takes out each time. She stared back at the photo. It was her and it was her at the bank. But the money she took is her own. She worked hard for it. Those money were her stock trading that she traded every morning. Since she doesn’t have much time, she only gets in about half an hour and out she goes of her trade. Making a good ten to fifty thousand dollars each time.

“So? It’s my money,” said Emily, firmly.

Joshua chuckled.

Vicky was clenching her fist tightly. “Do you know how hard Joshua have to work to get that kind of money every month.”

Emily turned her head to look at her mother-in-law. Yes, Joshua’s business is a growing business. He is slowly making his way up there with the top gunner. She knows how hard it is to start up a business, that’s why she didn’t ask him for any of his money. Instead, she worked on the side and used her own money instead.

Emily wanted to show him that she is also independent woman. She wanted to prove herself worthy by making her own income. She wanted to tell him when the time came that she was secretly working to make some additional money to help with any unforeseen costs. She wanted to help him when he needed her the most. All of her hard work is for him.

“You have been taking his additional funds when he needed it to expand his business.”

“What is this woman talking about,” thought Emily.

“Do you know how hard Joshua was trying to hide it from me?” asked Vicky with anger rising in her voice.

Emily stared at her with confusion.

“You-You were stealing money from him! From me. From my family. From our MacClare’s fortune,” said Vicky.

“What?” questioned Emily. She thought to herself. Joshua can make good money, but not as much as she does. She was a professional stock trader. She learned to trade when she was young. Learning all of her grandfather’s secrets. Reading the charts and understanding the movement of the candles. Interrupting the next move as success. She was making ten times the amount Joshua makes in a month. On good months she make nearly five hundred thousand. That was more than what he ever did in two years.

So, stealing from them is impossible. She has her own money. Her own resources. Why would she need to take his money.

Joshua leaned into Emily. He said, “Just because you’re my wife, I let it slip.”

“Humph! Even Joshua hid it from his grandfather. Even on his death bed he didn’t even tell him,” said Vicky, huffing angrily.

Emily frowned and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never took your money. It was my own money that I took.”

Joshua flipped out his three years bank statement. It was his bank account transaction. On the date that she took out the money correlated with the amount she took out each time.

Emily was confused. She thought, “What, how is this possible? How was it that I was taking out his money instead of mine?” She gasped as she was really taking out her husband’s money all these months and years. She bit her lower bottom lip trying to make sense of all the confusion. “Was there a mistake. Was I using his bank card instead of mine? She remembers that their card looked almost identical so it could be possible.”

“As husband and wife, you have half of my share.”

Emily looked at him, wanting to tell him that it was an accident. She really did mean to take out only her income. But because she was always in a rush, she forgotten to look at the bank card.

“You’ve been taking those money out on exactly the same date, same time, same month, for nearly three years now.”  

Emily shook her head and said, “Your mistaken Joshua, those money are mine.”

“Ha! Money doesn’t grow on trees you know,” said Vicky.

“I know. They’re part of your shares. But to take out that large amount of money each time is a bit excessive.”

“But, Joshua, the money I took out, I thought it was my own.”

“Your own?”

“Yes.” She

“Where would you get that large of a money every month.”

“Well…” Emily didn’t want to tell him about her true identity. She didn’t want to tell him that she was a professional trader either. The time isn’t right yet. She needed to hold on just a bit longer. She still needs to know that he loves her. Loved her with all of his heart before spilling her beans that she’s the heiress to a tri-billionaire companies. She was the sole heiress to richest man of the world. She sighed as she couldn’t tell him who she really was. Not yet.

“I thought so. No explanation.” Joshua was buttoning up his sleeves. “At first, I thought it was grandfather who gave you permission, and for you to take out that large of a mount each time. So, I didn’t say anything. But it turns out he didn’t know about you taking out the money either. For he didn’t say anything. But since he wasn’t doing so well, I hid it from him. I didn’t want him to be traumatized by your thieving mischievous.

Emily didn’t say anything.

“You’re mistaken.”

“Am I?” asked Joshua. “We’re a family. As a family we would share each other’s burden and share each other’s wealth.”

“But-Joshua, I’m telling you the truth.” She looked at the bank records again. She transfers all of her stock money into her bank account. She was sure she didn’t make a mistake. Those money are there. She was sure of it. It’s in her own private account. The money she taken should have been her own. But based on these bank statements, all those money… The money she’s been taking out these past three years isn’t her. It’s been his all along. She stared at Joshua.

Joshua looked coldly at her.

“Ha! Now you know why my son had to work so hard every single day while you stay home and enjoyed the ravishing life, he gives you.”

“Ravishing life?” thought Emily. “You made me clean the house from top to bottom. Do the laundry, fold the clothes. Cook for you at the butt crack of dawn till night falls. You wouldn’t even let me eat. You starve me. Thinking that I am not worth the meal. You make my life worse than a maid,” she continued thinking.

Joshua said, “I wasn’t going to let you starve and not share my wealth with you. You only had to ask.”

There must have been a mistake. She made an error somewhere along the way. This is the first time she ever did such a thing. Something she didn’t realize she was doing this whole time was taking someone else’s money. But she didn’t mean to. It was an accident. She didn’t notice that was his own hard earn money.

Then Joshua clenched his fists tightly and said, “But then I found out that you were using those money on something else or more like someone else. That is what makes me boils. That is what hurts me the most.”

“What?” Emily frowned at what he meant.

In the photos showed Emily in pictures with her uncles. They were all laughing and talking to each other. They were going out to movies and eating ice cream together.

“You were following me?” asked Emily.

“Yes. I needed to know why you were spending so much money. Especially when it’s not on the household.”

Emily frowned at him. “What I do on my own time I tell you.”

“Yes, you say that you were going out.”

“Yes.”

“But you never told me who you were going with or who you’re with.”

“So?”

“This whole entire time knowing you, you got no friends but probably me.”

“So what?” said Emily. It’s true she didn’t have many friends because she was so busy chasing him. She was so busy following him around that she didn’t have time to make any friends at all. All she wanted to do was be with him, so she forgotten to have companions along the way. Which she regrets truly now.  

“You’re mistaken, these are…”

“Oh, she’s a good actress,” said Megan. She had blond hair and brown eyes. She was in a white dress with her white high heels. She walked into the room looking sexy.

Emily’s eyes widened as she saw Megan. She looked at Joshua and he stared back at her. “So, this is why,” she thought. “You’re divorcing me because she’s back. Your lover have returned.”