Half Empty (First Wives, #2)(28)

“A couple?”

“Okay, five.”

“At what, thirty thousand each?”

Avery glanced at the ceiling. “No, more like twenty K . . . each way.”

“Two hundred grand on plane tickets.” Trina did the math.

“Right, not including first-class tickets everywhere else I went. When I wasn’t on Sam’s jet.”

Trina sat beside Avery on the bed. “Your money isn’t going to last if you keep burning it like that.”

“I know. I should probably invest some of it.”

“You should probably invest all of it and put yourself on a budget.”

Avery winced.

“Or get a job.” Trina smiled.

“I like my lifestyle.”

“Didn’t you say you married Bernie to get your parents off your back and out of your life?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think is going to happen if you run out of money?”

Avery leaned her head on Trina’s shoulder. “You’re right. I know. I’ve been living in la-la land for a long time.”

“Unless you want to shackle yourself to another sugar daddy, this time for real, I suggest you figure it out.”

“I’m not good at anything other than shopping and spending.”

“Don’t forget partying and making everyone around you smile,” Trina added.

Avery lifted her head from Trina’s shoulder. “My marketable skills are zip. I hated school, never really held a job. I’m about as privileged as they come,” she confessed.

Trina scanned the room full of Fedor’s things. Expensive things. The desire to call a one-stop auction house or estate sale agent was huge. But they would want a big cut, and the money sent to charity would be less. An idea started to form in Trina’s head.

She stood and crossed to the set of watches collecting dust. She picked up one she couldn’t name and handed it to Avery. “What do you think this is worth?”

Avery took it, rolled it around in her hands. “It’s an Omega . . . so somewhere between two and three thousand.”

Seemed like a lot of money for a watch.

Avery put the watch back and pulled out a different one. “But this, this is a Piaget. You can’t get out of that store for less than twenty grand.” She peered closer. “This has constellations, I’m guessing it’s one of their higher end models.”

“How high?”

Avery shook her head. “I have no idea, as much as a hundred grand.”

Trina squeezed her eyes shut. “For a watch?”

“Could be. I’ll have to look it up.”

“It was just sitting in his closet. I’m afraid to look in the safe.”

“Is there a safe?”

“Yeah, a couple of them, the biggest one is in his office.”

“Do you know the combinations?”

Trina shook her head no.

Avery looked around the room again. “This place is holding a fortune, not to mention the house itself. You sure you want to give it all away to charity?”

“Feels like blood money.”

Avery lost her smile and Trina looked away.

“You didn’t kill him.”

Her eyes landed on their wedding picture. “I didn’t save him either.”

“That wasn’t your job.”

“I was his wife.”

“Trina.”

She placed both hands in the air as if to stop Avery’s words. “I know it was in name only. I’ve still been dealing with that guilt for a year.”

“I don’t understand why you’re feeling guilty. You didn’t ask for this.”

Trina squeezed her eyes shut and felt moisture gather. “Fedor started having feelings for me.”

Avery paused. “Oh, no.”

Trina’s eyes started to mist. “At first I thought it was just our friendship. We seemed to be able to talk about anything. He was losing his mom, so we talked a lot about that. But he started lingering and looking at me differently.”

Avery set the watch down and placed a hand on Trina’s shoulder. “Did he say anything?”

“He started to one night, at dinner. I felt it coming and made a comment about how nice it was to have a male friend who wasn’t trying to make more out of our friendship. He got the hint. Not that it seemed to stop his feelings. If I had let him talk, or maybe tried to feel something more for him . . .”

“Stop it. This isn’t your fault.”

“I know that, intellectually. Still doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? We could have been working through this.”

Trina started to cry for the man she never loved. “I pushed it out of my head. Coming back here reminded me of all the conversations and little things.”

“We can close this down and come back another time.”

Trina shook her head. “No. I need this behind me.” She turned a full circle. “Who knows, maybe there will be something in this house to clue me in to why Fedor did this.”

“Losing his mom and falling in love with someone who isn’t feeling the same is a strong reason,” Avery pointed out.

“I know, but Fedor wasn’t that weak. Or at least I didn’t think he was. He was a man who found solutions. Even with his overbearing father.”