The Sapphire Affair (Jewel #1)

“We’ll see if I let you pay next time, too,” her mom said, handing the money to the waitress, then returning her focus to Steph. “Oh, I nearly forgot. I heard a little something about Eli and his nightclub business,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain as she mentioned her ex-husband.

Steph’s shoulders tightened, because these days her feelings for Eli were complicated. While she despised that he’d cheated on her mom and shredded her heart, the little girl in her couldn’t help still loving the only father she’d ever really known. Her own father died of a heart attack when she was three and Robert was four. That was why this internal tug-of-war hurt so much—it was a damn shame that Eli had been such a crummy husband, because he was never a lousy father. He’d been good to Steph her whole life. It was as if he were two men—the good dad she knew and the terrible husband her mother was more familiar with.

Steph raised an eyebrow. “What did you hear?”

“Andrew called. One of his former business partners.”

“This is the Andrew I did a dive tour for a few years back? Your old school friend?” Steph continued, making sure she was remembering the details.

Her mom adjusted her necklace and nodded. “Right. I introduced him to Eli when he needed someone with his skills, and I knew Andrew would be perfect. Anyway, Andrew has been trying to reach him, but he’s too busy in the Caymans with his new fiancée and his new club, Sapphire,” she said, narrowing her eyes as she breathed the name like it cost her something. “And I might as well have paid for that damn club. Because Andrew thinks Eli might have used money he stole from the business to start it up.”

Steph’s jaw dropped. That was taking underhanded to a whole new level. But Eli didn’t mess around when it came to his wants and wishes. The thought immediately hit her with a fresh wave of sadness. For a while, making Steph feel happy and loved had been part of those wishes. But that was a long time ago.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked her mom. If only it really were a bad joke.

Steph’s mom held her arms out wide. “That’s what they said. They’re looking into it and trying to figure out where the money the firm invested in a mysterious cocoa bean farm went,” she said, taking a final sip of her mojito.

“Into his nightclub in the Caymans?”

“Supposedly. They might send someone down there to look into it. Hey! I have an idea!” Her mom lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Can you lift his Rolex if you happen to see him next time you’re there?”

Steph laughed and draped an arm around her mom’s shoulder. “Gladly. He loves that stupid Rolex. If you teach me how to pickpocket, Mom, I’ll bring that watch back for you, no questions asked.” Steph grabbed her purse and slung it on her shoulder. “Actually,” she said as an idea took hold. “I’m going there for a tour this week.”

Her mom laughed as she set down her emptied drink. “You don’t have to steal his watch, sweetie.”

“No, but maybe I can find out a little bit more about the club and the money. I haven’t been there in several months, since the last time I saw him, but I still know a ton of people. I’ll ask around.”

Steph’s mom shot her a stern stare. “Focus on your tour. Not him. Besides, enough about him. Talking about my ex too much is bad for my chakra,” her mother said, tapping her heart. “That’s what my yoga guru would say. I need to focus on the path in front of me,” she said, pointing into the distance, as if to prove that she wasn’t caught up in the past. “Not the douchenozzle in my past who tried to bleed every last penny from me.” Her mother clasped her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said, dropping her hand. “I shouldn’t talk about your stepdad that way.”

“It’s OK. Sometimes you have to unleash the anti-chakra sentiments,” Steph said with a grin. She may not want to believe Eli could do something so terrible, but she’d never fault her mom for a little smack talk against the man who broke her heart.

Her mom shook her head. “Nope. I need to be a better person. Holding on to the past interferes with my prana. Or something like that.”

“Yeah. Something like that indeed,” Steph muttered, or maybe the prana needed someone to run interference.

For far too long, Steph wasn’t able to do a damn thing about her stepdad’s straying ways. She couldn’t stop his wandering, of course, and she couldn’t make him a better husband, nor could she convince him to play fair in the divorce, though she’d tried, begging him at times to back down. He was like a different person, though, when it came to matters of the heart, and it cut her to the core to see how the same man who’d taught her how to swim, how to multiply fractions, and how to change the tire on a car had turned a deaf ear to her when it came to her pleas about the divorce.

She’d seen her mom give everything for love—her heart, her time, and her money, since she’d given him the funds he needed to start his firm many years ago. The money was a gift; her mom had wanted to help make his dreams come true.