Chapter 4
four
Christian.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" The sound of my ex-wife's voice would normally grate my nerves, but today it provided an insanely unjust amount of happiness. She was pissed and her anguish brought me joy.
"A lot, apparently, so you'll have to be more specific, Aja."
"I called the bank and they said I no longer have access to my money."
"I have no control over your access with the bank. Take that up with them."
"It's not a bank issue, Christian, it's you . I'm not stupid."
"No, far from stupid. Manipulative, hateful and bitter, yes, but you're quite intelligent. It's one of the few qualities I used to love about you."
"I'm not here to discuss my intelligence. That's my money. I earned it. One million for each year I suffered being married to you."
"We both suffered, but my suffering was far more extensive than yours. Unlike you, I was honest about my expectations for our marriage. You were not."
Her mask slipped briefly before the rage was back.
I had to give it to my ex-wife, I hadn't expected her to fold so soon.
I assumed she would exhaust all legal options before showing up here.
Only twenty-four hours had passed since I removed access from the account that held the ten million I was strong armed into giving Aja as a term of our divorce and she was already here.
"Call the bank or I'm calling my lawyer.
You don't want issues from me, Christian.
You already know how that ends." The arrogance in her stare was amusing.
I had been very strategic in dealing with my ex-wife after I learned how truly manipulative she could be.
I was about to make very clear what little pull she had with me or over my life.
"If your plan is to attach my name to another bogus ass sex trafficking accusation then don't waste your time. You have neither the connections nor the funds to make anyone listen to you." I smirked at the mention of her current financial situation.
"I have my father. He has resources. Don't let your ego get in the way of logic."
"Tomorrow morning, your father will announce his retirement from the FBI. Were you aware?"
She wasn't, but I still asked to make this more entertaining at her expense. Aja's mask didn't slip this time, it completely fucking shattered, which had me leaning back comfortably in my desk chair.
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not. Unlike you, I don't lie to get what I want."
"My father wouldn't retire. The Collective needs him." she spoke with very little confidence.
"They need me more. You both fucked me over. Did you really believe I would let that shit slide?"
Her defeated expression had me smiling internally.
I assumed seeing that look in her eyes would bring me some type of satisfaction or contentment, but nothing would erase the devastation I felt after finding out what she had done, what she had taken from me.
Not once which was hard enough, but three times, she denied me the opportunity to have the unconditional love that she would never fucking give.
She aborted our children. That shit still hurt.
I hated her in ways I could never recover from.
I hated myself even more because I failed to protect our unborn children from the bitch that helped me create them.
"The Collective would never…"
"Never what, Aja? Choose me over your father?
They didn't have a fucking choice, because after you fucked me over, I did the work to ensure they would never have the opportunity to do so again.
Aside from taking my life, there's not a thing they could do to me anymore and killing me isn't going to help them with future recruits.
No one wants to feel expendable, sweetheart.
" My eyes met hers and I smiled arrogantly.
"But you fully understand feeling expendable, don't you?
I would assume that's how you feel at this very moment. "
"The terms of our divorce are legal and binding. That money is mine."
"You're correct. The terms are legal and binding."
"Then you do realize breaking the terms of our agreement means legal ramifications for you."
"I haven't done a damn thing to break the terms, but you have."
I leaned forward and opened my top desk drawer, removed the stack of photos I had been holding onto for the past couple months, and tossed them across the desk.
Aja's eyes lowered to the scattered images then lifted to mine again.
There were more than enough pictures of her and the man she loved our entire marriage.
The man she wanted instead of me but her father would have never approved of handing her off too.
"You're spying on me?"
"Nah, not spying. Collecting evidence of your poor judgement."
"If you think this justifies anything, you're wasting my time. The terms were that I remain single. I’m guessing you thought placing that stipulation on me would somehow work in your favor to ensure I remained as miserable and unhappy after our marriage as I was during those torturous ten years.
I'm still very much single. I will never make that mistake again.
Marriage is the worst possible decision anyone with half the damn sense God gave them could ever make. One I will never willingly make again."
Me either, thanks to you…
"It's interesting how much I know you and how little you know me. This just further proves you never fucking cared because if you did, you would have been smarter and less careless."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You wanted to fuck me over so badly that you didn't consider that I wanted the same. You thought I was so desperate to find a way out of the bullshit you put me in the middle of that I would blindly accept your demands."
"You did."
"In a sense, yes, but not without protecting myself." I angled my head to the side and delivered the final nail to the theoretical coffin where my marriage resided. "Single…not in any intimate, romantic, sexual relationships with either a male or female."
"What?" I could see her pulse quicken via the pulsating vein in her neck.
"That's the definition of single listed at the end of the divorce decree, which I know for certain you did not read based on your behavior over the past six months."
"That wasn't…there's no way…you're lying."
"Call your lawyer."
Her expression twisted in confusion and I decided to assist so we could move this along. Again, I hated this woman. I would rather have teeth pulled with no anesthesia than spend time with my ex-wife.
I reached for my cellphone and made a call, which I placed on speakerphone. "You've reached the law offices of Yates and Long, how may I direct your call?"
"Raaj Arman, please. Tell him it’s Christian Devereaux."
"Yes, Sir. Hold please."
"Did you pay off my lawyer?" she asked at the mention of Raaj who had represented Aja after she insisted on securing her own lawyer.
"No, but I would have. You need to be glad, Raaj is more ethical than me."
"Then why are you calling-"
"Christian, how can I help you?" Raaj's voice cut Aja off.
"I'm at my office with Aja and she seems confused about the terms of our divorce. Since you represent her, I decided to give you a call to see if you could help provide some clarity."
"I'll try but she was very clear on the terms. I asked multiple times and she-"
"You never clarified Christian's definition of single ," Aja rushed out and I was highly fucking amused, already knowing of how this would end.
"Mrs. Devereaux…"
"Ms. Malo ," she hissed. "I'm not married to him anymore."
Another term I insisted on. She was no longer allowed to carry my name. She didn't fucking deserve to have or utilize the privilege attached to being a Devereaux.
"Ms. Malo, I advised that you read the definitions. They were simple but very relevant to the terms of the divorce. When I asked if you followed my advice, you assured me you read them and thoroughly understood each one as listed in the document that you later signed."
"You're the legal professional. You should have gone over them with me."
"The eight definitions in the back were simple, had any of them expressed legal ambiguity I would have thoroughly explained them to you, but again, I asked multiple times if you understood the definitions."
"Thanks, Raaj. I think we're done here but I would guess you can expect a visit from Aja. She's going to have more questions."
"Tell her to make an appointment and I'll be more than happy to sit down with her but she needs to be advised of my hourly rate."
A thousand dollars an hour which she could no longer afford…
"Will do."
I ended the call and if the devil himself had been reincarnated into a female form, I would bet she'd look exactly like my ex-wife at this very moment.
"I can't believe you would stoop this low."
"Would you really like to compare gutter behavior, because if we're discussing low, you've been to hell where I'm concerned."
I kept my eyes locked on hers in a visual standoff before she backed down.
There was not one damn argument she could offer.
She'd denied me a family. She lied, attempted to ruin my name and livelihood.
The consequences she was receiving barely scratched the surface of the crimes committed but it was all I had. The only justice I would ever receive.
"What am I supposed to do?" she sobbed seconds before the tears began to fall. I wasn't affected. Her tears didn’t mean a damn thing to me.
"Your father's a very rich man…" I remained unmoved.
"For now ." If I could find a way to take every dime he owned, I would.
She had better pray he wasn't as careless as she had been.
"Get out of my office, Aja, and don't come back or I will have you arrested for trespassing.
There's nothing else for you and I to discuss. "
"Christian…." she begged and I simply stared, emotionless, not saying a word until she refused to leave.