Green-Eyed Monster by Gill McKnight Page B

anger.
    Mickey looked over with a nonchalant shrug. “I had to adapt.”
    Ginette snorted. “That’s a new word for it. But I see you survived the frostbite.”
    Mickey turned to see Ginette gloating over a seething Victoria, who sparked like flint. Mickey was more than glad the little wolverine was chained to the stove. She had a feeling there wouldn’t be many recognizable parts of herself or Ginette left if Victoria broke free.
    She frowned, not really understanding Ginette’s jibe. Victoria was anything but frosty. The woman was full-on lava flow. An iceberg would melt away to nothing just sitting in the room with her, no time for frostbite. She decided the comment spoke more to the breakdown of their personal relationship than the current state of affairs.
    “You don’t really know her.” Ginette glanced over. “She charmed you, Mickey. Another twenty minutes and you’d have forgotten whose side you were on. It’s one of her secret weapons.”
    Mickey felt as if she’d been slapped. It was hardly a lie.
    Hadn’t she been prepared to surrender everything and beg for a fresh start? Was it a Victoria Gresham negotiation trick, or was Ginette upset at what she had seen in the hall? She was the acrimonious ex, after all.
    With a steely undertone, Mickey asked, “Where’s my money?”
    “It’s in the car. Just a minute.” Smiling smugly, Ginette withdrew to the hallway.
    Mickey and Victoria stared at each other. Mickey held Victoria’s gaze unflinchingly. Victoria’s eyes were luminous with rage, and something else. On a deeper layer, in a secret place, Mickey could almost imagine she saw dismay and abject hurt. When she encountered that, her gaze fell away. She was ashamed.
    “Here. Two hundred and fifty grand as agreed.” Ginette breezed back in and dumped a gym bag on the table, unzipping the top to expose neatly banded hundred-dollar bills. “You finally get the money she owed you for your work. Good for you, Mickey.  It’s hard to get her to play fair, but we managed it. Honor even, I do believe. Do you want to count it?”
    “Nah.” Mickey shifted off the countertop she leaned against and cast a glance into the bag.
    Victoria’s eyes widened with surprise . Mickey was accepting only the bonus her company would have paid for Mickey’s code?
    Hadn’t she offered twice that amount for the partial recovery of her assets? A task apparently just this minute completed? What the hell was going on? Why was Mickey settling for less?
    And how come this was the ransom amount? The ransom notes she’d seen asked for a million. Ginette had obviously aided and abetted in the kidnapping, but Victoria was beginning to suspect even her ex didn’t realize there was a sinister undercurrent to this plan. Dammit, the moment she thought she had a handle on this entire mess it slipped through her fingers.
    “What about my money?” Ginette demanded warily, now that the deal was actually going down. As if to emphasize her point, she zipped up the bag, shutting the stash away from Mickey’s casual gaze. Mickey reached in her pocket and brought out a printed list.
    She handed it to Ginette. “These are the details of your new Swiss account. Everything has been moved from the domestic accounts to here.” Her tone was flat. “You can check it online.  The computer’s in the next room.”
    Ginette glowed with achievement. Waving the list in Victoria’s face, she crowed, “See. Every damn thing you thought you could keep from me has gone into my new Swiss account. I cleared out our funds, and whiz kid here hid it all away. You’ll never touch it. This is my alimony and it’s going to kick-start my new life.”
    Victoria’s perplexed look only encouraged Ginette to explain how clever she was in the greatest detail. “Did you really think I’d settle for your ‘good-bye, darling’ sweeteners? A nice house?  A good job? Oh no, sweetheart, not after I’d been living like a freakin’ millionaire for years.