“I swear I’m not trying to make this worse,” the woman said, glancing around the aisle.
“Victor, Ethan’s father, passed away the year before you two met. There was a huge fight over his estate — a legal mess between heirs and assets.”
“Ethan was broke and buried in debt. His father’s attorney came to him with this plan.”
“What kind of plan?” Sofia’s voice sounded distant, as if it were coming from someone else.
“He said if Ethan married you — Nina’s granddaughter — it would help his claim.”
“Something about closing off Victor’s past and proving a legitimate family line through you: doing that would silence the other heir who was contesting the will.”
“You were the symbol of Victor’s clean legacy.”
Sofia stared at the shelves of butter and cheese, willing them to make sense of the words she was hearing.
“I didn’t think he’d actually do it,” the woman went on.
“But he agreed. And when your grandmother recognized him, he panicked. Not out of guilt about your feelings. He was afraid you’d find out about the deal.”
The basket in Sofia’s hand tipped.
A tub of yogurt rolled across the floor.
She didn’t move to pick it up.
“He was going to go through with it,” the woman said softly.
“If your grandmother hadn’t said anything, he would’ve married you. Lied to your face and walked out with everything.”
“I know all of this because I’m close with a co-worker who is friends with Ethan. He tells me everything they talk about.”
“When I saw you, I thought it right to check in.”
Sofia felt herself nod once.
She barely remembered driving home.
When she arrived, she sat in her parked car for ten full minutes, staring at the steering wheel, her heart pounding as if she had just sprinted up a hill.
And then, with a clarity she hadn’t felt in months, she turned the key and drove straight to her grandmother’s house.
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