Ficorpio
Chapter 1
While on a premarital getaway with my fiancé, we were lured into a roadside booth by a Pana Tarot psychic.
According to her, the cards showed that I would ruin my fiancé’s financial fortune and sabotage his career. Fortunately, she claimed to know exactly how he could turn his bad luck around.
He simply had to dump me and be with her instead.
I later learned that she knew nothing about Pana Tarot. It was all a ruse to snag herself a wealthy man.
What she didn’t know was that my fiancé owed every bit of his wealth and success to my family.
“I’ve never seen such a terrible spread,” the psychic declared. “You’ll drain your future husband’s financial fortune and destroy his career.”
Her eyes brimmed with contempt. She had been targeting me from the moment we stepped inside.
“I’m going to ruin Ethan’s finances and career?” I gave a cold laugh. “You really will say anything.”
The instant she made that claim, I knew she was a fraud.
After all, Ethan Sterling only had money and a career because of me.
“Ms. Bennett, you drew the cards yourself. I’m only telling you what they say.”
Then she turned to my fiancé, and her scornful expression transformed into a fawning smile.
“Mr. Sterling, you’re wearing a Rolex and designer clothing at such a young age. You must already be very successful.” Her gaze swept over him admiringly. “Surely you wouldn’t want a woman to destroy your financial fortune and career.”
Ethan smiled awkwardly and took my hand.
“How could she? My career only began taking off after Claire and I got together. She could never hurt my financial fortune or my business. She’s my lucky star.”
Ethan was right.
I was his lucky star.
I was a wealthy heiress who had fallen for a man who’d started with nothing.
Ethan had a great deal of pride, so I had never told him who I really was. Instead, I had quietly established a separate company and used it to make an angel investment in his startup.
My family had opposed our relationship at first. But I refused to give him up, and when they saw how ambitious and hardworking he seemed, they finally relented and agreed to our marriage.
The real purpose of this trip was to make secret arrangements for an island destination wedding.
I planned to reveal my identity at the ceremony and surprise Ethan.
So when this so-called psychic claimed I would ruin his wealth and career, I almost laughed myself to tears.
The sight of Ethan holding my hand made jealousy flare openly in her eyes.
“Mr. Sterling, some warnings shouldn’t be ignored,” she said with false concern. “My cards have already revealed that Ms. Bennett is only interested in your money. Look at the designer clothes she’s wearing and the handbag on her shoulder. Together, they must have cost a fortune. If you keep allowing her to spend like this, sooner or later she’ll ruin you. I suggest cutting your losses early, before you live to regret it.”
Chapter 2
“What exactly are you trying to do?” I demanded. “We came here for a Pana Tarot reading, not so you could sabotage our relationship.”
“Why are you getting so upset, Ms. Bennett? I’m not the one saying it. The cards are.” Her mouth curled into a sneer. “I’ve met plenty of gold diggers, but you’re the first one shameless enough to refuse to admit what she is.”
“I’m a gold digger?” I laughed in disbelief.
I gestured to my clothes and handbag. “Ethan bought all of this for me because he wanted to. Ethan, do you think I’m a gold digger?”
He hesitated, then shook his head.
“Of course not. I bought those things for you willingly.”
“You may have spent the money willingly, Mr. Sterling, but only because Ms. Bennett knows how to manipulate you.” The psychic looked down her nose at me as if I were beneath contempt. “She has two hands and is perfectly capable of working. Why doesn’t she earn her own money and buy her own clothes and handbags? That alone proves she wants to depend on a man and squander his wealth.”
She continued tearing me down, speaking as though I were utterly worthless.
I grabbed Ethan’s hand and turned to leave.
The psychic hurried after us. She rushed to Ethan’s side and caught hold of him.
“Mr. Sterling, every day this woman remains beside you is another day she puts your fortune at risk. Take this.”
She slipped a folded note into his palm, pressing her entire body against him as she gave him a suggestive look. She didn’t care in the slightest that his fiancée was standing right there.
Her voice turned sickeningly coy.
“You can come to me anytime. I can help you turn your bad luck around.”
I thought that was the end of it. When I asked Ethan about the note the Pana Tarot psychic had slipped him, he claimed he’d already thrown it away.
Two days later, Ethan and I attended the Seaside Music Festival. In the crush of the crowd, someone managed to pry his Rolex off his wrist.
The outdoor venue had no usable security footage, and filing a police report got us nowhere.
Ethan brooded over the loss, so I went to comfort him.
“It’s only a watch. I’ll buy you another one.”
“Only a watch?” he snapped. “How can you say that? Do you have any idea how much it cost?”
“And where did you get the money for a Rolex? Everything you spend comes from me!”
Ethan exploded without warning and flung my hand away.
For a moment, I was speechless. In my frustration, I’d nearly revealed the truth about my family.
Still, what he’d said left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Ethan, in all the time we’ve been together, have I ever asked you to spend money on me?”
Chapter 3
“That’s because you’re clever about it! You manipulate me into offering before you even have to ask.”
His words sounded disturbingly familiar.
Wasn’t that exactly what the Pana Tarot psychic had told him?
Had he actually believed her?
Anger simmered inside me. Just then, Dad called and asked me to meet him at the wedding venue to discuss a few arrangements. I made up an excuse about needing to buy something and left.
When I returned, I was stunned to find the psychic inside the Sterling Villa.
Ethan had invited her.
The note she’d given him contained her contact information. He had never thrown it away.
As soon as I walked in, the two of them released the hands they’d been clasping tightly together.
Panic flashed across Ethan’s face. He hurried to explain.
“Claire, don’t get the wrong idea. I only asked Vanessa to come because I need to turn my bad luck around. There’s nothing else going on.”
Vanessa Vale. So that was the psychic’s name.
I hadn’t been gone long, yet the two of them were already on a first-name basis.
“Turn what bad luck around? She’s a fraud, Ethan. You actually believe her?”
“Claire, don’t say that. You saw what happened—my watch was stolen. Vanessa warned me I was going to suffer a financial loss, and she was right.”
He rushed on, “But don’t worry. I would never break up with you. Vanessa says there’s another way to change my personal fortune.”
His expression brightened with excitement.
“You have no idea how incredible she is. A vice president from Weston Holdings contacted me just now and said he wants to invest in my startup. Weston Holdings, Claire!”
“Weston Holdings?”
My family’s company?
A vice president? Which vice president had the authority to make an investment that large? My father was the chairman, and even he hadn’t heard a word about it.
Vanessa swayed over to Ethan and pressed herself against his side without the slightest hesitation.
“Ms. Bennett, I understand that you doubt my abilities,” she said. “But results speak for themselves. My gift for turning bad luck around is beyond anything an ordinary person like you could understand. If you don’t like what you see, you’re free to leave.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I stared as Vanessa looped both hands around Ethan’s arm with shameless familiarity.
“Ethan, get her hands off you.”
“Claire, stop making a scene!” he snapped. “Don’t you want us to have a better life? Don’t you want more money? Vanessa can help me!”
“How exactly is she going to help you?”
“I’ll be with Vanessa, but don’t worry. I won’t cross any lines.”
His voice faded as he spoke. Even he knew how guilty he sounded.
When I’d walked in, they had been holding hands. Worse, there was a smear of lipstick on Ethan’s lips.
And he expected me to believe they wouldn’t cross any lines?