My Ears Remembered

Chapter 2

When I refused to move my hand, Chloe sighed softly.

She suddenly pressed her fingers towards her temple. Her face went pale, and she swayed toward Ryan.

"Ryan... my head hurts..."

He immediately put an arm around her shoulders, his voice full of concern.

"Chloe, do you need a hospital? I told you not to push yourself so hard. Your health comes first."

When he looked back at me, anger flared in his eyes.

"Mia, if Chloe gets sick because of this, you'll answer to me."

"Ms. Bennett," I said without taking my hand off the keypad, "the owner of this account is a member of a cross-border fraud ring. You need to cooperate with the investigation."

"And why should she listen to you?"

Ryan straightened and planted himself between Chloe and me.

"You're in street clothes. You don't have an ID badge or authorization papers. Who the hell do you think you are?"

He was right.

I had taken the day off. I wasn't in uniform, and I hadn't brought my work ID.

My identity was in a classified personnel file, and I wasn't allowed to keep any work credentials on my phone.

When I said nothing, Ryan scoffed.

"You pull the same stunt every time, Mia. You pick a fight, go silent once it gets out of hand, and then blame everything on my temper."

People waiting in line began to whisper.

"Who does she think she is? What business is it of hers where someone sends their money?"

"Her husband helps his ex-transfer some money and she loses it. Talk about petty."

Chloe smoothed her hair and patted Ryan's arm. "Stop arguing. She's only worried we'll get scammed. How about I explain everything to the teller and let the bank verify the account? Would that make everyone happy?"

Her composed, generous tone made me look like a raving lunatic.

Ryan's gaze softened even more when he looked at her. "At least you're reasonable."

Smiling, Chloe turned to the teller and slid her ID across the counter.

But as she did, I saw her hook the completed transfer form back toward herself with her little finger. Her other hand had already found a blank form inside her purse.

She was going to switch the form.

She meant to use a clean account and get the money out first.

I pinned her hand to the counter. "Don't switch the form."

Ryan exploded.

He shoved me hard. I stumbled back two steps and slammed my lower back into the writing counter behind me.

A dull ache spread through my waist, and cold sweat broke out across my skin.

Ryan never even looked at me. He picked up Chloe's purse and escorted her toward another counter.

"Ryan Foster, stop."

He paused, then turned with an impatient sneer.

"Are you done yet, Mia? You want the truth so badly? Fine.

"I regret marrying you. Is that enough? I've regretted it for 2 years."

He said it in front of the entire room as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

I took a step back.

Was this really the same Ryan who had knelt beside Grandma's hospital bed 2 years ago and promised to take care of me for her?

Standing beside him, Chloe looked down at her phone with a mocking curve to her lips.

I had seen far too many pictures of that smile in the photo gallery on Ryan's old phone, each one more painful than the last.

"Ma'am," the bank manager said as he hurried over. "Several customers have reported that you're causing a disturbance and interfering with bank operations."

Ryan immediately pointed at me. "She's my wife. There's something wrong with her up here."

He tapped his temple, disgust written all over his face.

"She's always been like this. She gets suspicious over nothing. The moment she sees me talking to another woman, she has an episode."

The manager frowned at me. "Ma'am, please cooperate. You can't disrupt service for our other customers."

Bracing myself against the writing counter, I straightened. Cold sweat had soaked through the back of my clothes.

"The owner of that account is a member of a cross-border fraud ring. Your bank received the watchlist last week. It should be in your system."

The manager hesitated. "Who are you?"