The Good Twin(40)

She’d noticed me! He felt his heart begin to race. Charly had been pretty, but this woman was in another league altogether. Model pretty. Maybe even an actress. He surreptitiously glanced at her left hand. No rings. He’d wanted to be free of Charly so that he could marry Lisa. Now he began to think he shouldn’t rush into that. He’d often marveled at men, wealthy but otherwise unappealing, who’d attracted women who should have been out of their reach. Soon he would be that man. With $1 billion, he could have any woman he wanted. He’d keep stringing Lisa along until the money was in his bank account. Then he’d hold out for someone like the woman sitting opposite him.

He smiled back at her. “I’m Ben. What’s your name?”



Back at work after the gym, Ben had just gotten off the phone with a client when Manning popped into his office.

“I heard from Rick’s estate lawyer. He told me Rick’s given me ten percent of the company.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I spoke to Charly and let her know how much I appreciated it. I also asked her how involved she wanted to be herself, going forward. She told me you were going to represent her interests.”

“That’s right.”

“Look, I know we haven’t always gotten along. I admit, I saw you as a freeloader, taking advantage of being the boss’s son-in-law. But I also saw you really stepped up your effort when Rick took sick. We both want this company to do well. How about we bury the hatchet?”

Ben wanted to tell him he was an insufferable prig, that he’d rather bury him than bury the hatchet. Instead, he smiled and held out his hand. “Absolutely, Ted. Clean slate.”

After Manning left, Ben turned back to his client list, but he couldn’t concentrate. Ever since the meeting with Goldfarb, he’d kept thinking about his payday, his reward for putting up with Charly as long as he had. He’d been irritated, at first, when he’d learned Rick was giving Manning 10 percent of the business. Now, he realized that could work for him. With a piece of the pie, Manning was more likely to stay on even after he watched Ben take control of the business. Somehow, though, he couldn’t square Mallory getting as much as he did. He’d suffered for years. She’d just come on board four months ago.

The business was supposed to be his share of the marital assets when he and Charly split. Maybe he should take some of the cash and stocks, too. After all, it would be imprudent to have everything tied up in just one place. What if the business tanked? He could convince Mallory of anything, he figured. She’d grown up with nothing, so even half of what he’d promised would be a windfall to her. Well, really, that amount of money would be extraordinary to anyone.

Although he’d have no claim to the townhouse in a divorce, since it was a gift from Rick in Charly’s name only, Mallory would have no use for it. She needed to stay away from New York, preferably far away. Otherwise, she’d risk running into people who knew Charly. She’d said she wanted to travel, to perhaps study art in Paris. That’s where she should go. He should keep the townhouse. He’d need a place to live in New York while he ran Jensen Capital. And the beach house, too. The summer crowd knew Charly and Rick. Too chancy for Mallory to stay there and maybe run into someone she was supposed to know. Mallory should be grateful for any of the money. Two hundred million. That seemed like the right amount for her. She wouldn’t know what to do with more. If she balked, he could tell her she’d get nothing. After all, what could she do? Go to the police? Hardly.

He’d explain to Mallory that he wanted to start a charitable foundation, give money away to deserving groups. Maybe more programs to feed the hungry. He believed in charity, in doing good deeds. She couldn’t object to that. And he really would start a foundation. It would be another thing he could point to that would make others want to do business with him. Of course, he wouldn’t put the whole $300 million that he was holding back from her into the foundation. She didn’t need to know that. Ten million seemed like a good sum. That could feed a lot of men and women. Children, too. Especially children. In fact, by giving so much money, he could cut out his volunteer work and still look good to clients.

Maybe Mallory didn’t need to stay on for the estate to be settled. After a month, she could say she was traveling, relieving some of the stress from the past few months. Or scouting out new talent. He’d call her back whenever something needed to be signed. Or just FedEx documents to her. That would be good. One month together, and then just he and Lisa—or someone new—would have it all to themselves.

One hundred million. A nice round number. That’s what he’d give Mallory. Really, she didn’t deserve more.



Two days later, Ben had just stepped outside his office to grab a cup of coffee when his secretary stopped him.

“Your wife is on line two.”

If you only knew, Ben thought as he stepped back inside and picked up the phone. Mallory had seamlessly moved into his life as Charly Gordon. No one suspected she was anyone else. No one had any thought that Charly was dead, her body disposed of someplace far away. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Danny Clark stopped by. He said he needs to see you.”

“What the hell! I made the final installment, left it in a postal box at Mail Connections, just as he instructed me. What’s the guy trying to do now? Shake me down for more?”