Chapter 14
Aiden
"If a second chance is what you want, then prove to me that you deserve it."
Mia’s words play on repeat in my head. Her truth is pressing against my skull like a vice.
“Boss, you got time?” Jolene asks as I walk into my office on the second day of the year.
I usually like to start the new calendar year with a bang—but right now I have a stress headache combined with a hangover and a broken heart, so the only banging that’s taking place is in my head.
I’m hoping the ibuprofen I took with my coffee will kick in before my first all-hands meeting in a couple of hours.
The lights in my office seem harsher than usual. I set my bag on my desk and take a moment.
“Good morning, Jolene. Happy New Year.”
She walks in after me and shuts the door.
That’s not a good sign. Usually, she leaves the door open. We’re a boutique firm, small, and we don’t have much formality.
I unpack my laptop as I wait for her to say whatever she needs to.
“There’s a rumor that your wife left you because you’re having an affair with Diana Valentine,” she blurts out.
My hands still just as I’m about to press my laptop onto its docking station.
I set it in and turn it on.
I clear my throat, and take a seat. I set my bag on the floor as I think about how to respond to her.
“Aiden?” she urges.
I look at her. I can see the disappointment and hope warring inside of her.
Jolene has been my EA for a decade, since I started working at Winter Financial. We’ve grown up in the business together. I attended her wedding. She attended mine.
Over the years, she’s had two children, and I went to the hospital to see them hours after they were born. Jolene’s wife is not exactly a friend, but we know each other well enough that she can call me to ask why Jolene is upset when she won’t talk to her about it.
We’re the same age and have always had an honest and professional relationship, for the most part. I also think of her as a friend.
“Mia has left me.”
Gasping, her face falls. “No.”
Jolene is fond of Mia, very much so; whenever my wife comes to the office, she brings cookies and snacks, like she does with her kids at Little Luminaries.
Jolene shakes her head. “I thought…I thought she got busy and stopped coming when you took over as CEO. But—”
“I’m not having an affair with Diana,” I say, cutting her off, but it tastes like a lie.
I might not have fucked Diana, but I was spending more and more time with her. I used to look forward to spending time with her. I took attention from my wife and gave it to Diana. I kissed her. Sure, she may have initiated it, but I kissed her back, even if it was for a moment, I did.
“And?” She can see there’s more.
I lean forward, rest my elbows on the desk that used to belong to my grandfather and then my father. How proud I was when I moved into this office! How happy I was! Mia had helped me celebrate at home with Dom Perignon, which we took to bed, which I drank from her breasts and….
“But…we kissed, and Mia saw it.”
Photographed it. Gave it to me wrapped in the divorce papers.
Jolene crosses her arms as if she’s trying to hold herself together. “I can’t believe you’d do that. I thought you were different.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “Better than Nelson."
Her words hit at the same spot Mia’s did.
"Jolene, there was no affair. There was...one kiss. A mistake."
She looks at me like I’m a moron. She’s not wrong. Right now, I feel like a dumbass.
“I knew something was wrong. I felt it. She was always around…Diana, I mean.” Her eyes darken, her lips press into a tight line. “I never thought you’d be that man. Compared to Diana, Mia is so much more. She’s kind and sweet. Diana is….”
She shakes her head again, like she’s having trouble grasping my behavior. I don’t blame her. I feel the same way. I can’t believe that I turned out to be the man I swore I’d never be.
"It’s not about what happened behind closed doors, Aiden. It’s about what people think happened, what Mia thinks. You let that image fester.”
Her voice is not raised, it’s hushed, like the words are weighing heavily on her.
“When they called her your work wife, I told them not to, that it was wrong. But then you started calling her that.” She throws an accusatory glance at me.
“I know.”
How could I have been such a fool? So shallow? So fucking stupid?
Did I really tell Huxley that everyone has a work wife when he confronted me about it? Did I really think there would be no consequences for my actions?
“She left you?” Jolene can’t believe that; she knows how much Mia loves…loved me.
I nod. “Handed me divorce papers from under the Christmas tree.”
That brings a smile to Jolene’s face. “Good for her.”
And because I know she’ll appreciate it, I add, “Told everyone how Dad has a mistress. Did you know her name is Kitty?”
Jolene snickers. “No.”
“Apparently, Tristan was banging the nanny. Betty fired her. And Gianna lost her job, and Patrick all their money.”
Jolene sits up, her eyes bugging out. “Everyone knows about your father. Even Edith, though she pretends not to. But Tristan? Really?”
“Like father, like son,” I say with a heavy heart. “I’m no better, am I?”
“You are better, Aiden, because you feel guilt.” She looks at me with kindness that I don’t deserve. “But that’s not enough, you know that, right?”
I tip my chin in acknowledgment.
“You have a choice. You can be the man who deserves the woman you married, or you can be like your father, in which case you’ll probably have to find yourself a Kitty, ‘cause Mia is not going to hang around like your mother."
When Jolene leaves, I sit at my desk, staring at the framed photo of Mia and me on our wedding day. Her smile is beautiful, but tight; her eyes are uncertain, even behind the makeup.
I’m beaming, oblivious.
She’s in a couture gown she never wanted, surrounded by 300 people she barely knew. She’d asked for something small—just us, a few close friends, something quiet. I gave her a spectacle. A performance for my family and their world. Not a celebration for us.
And now, looking at that photo, I finally see it for what it is: the first time I didn’t listen.
If I want to win Mia back, I have to start by showing her that I respect her—and that begins by listening to her. And to do that, I need to let her go on her terms.
The thought gnaws at me all day—what I need to do, what I wish I could do, and how the hell I’ll manage it when the chance shows up.
Dad walks into my office at around five, flanked by Ronald Dempsey, our family attorney.
The ambush is as old-school as Nelson Winter himself.
“Son, have you gone through the divorce papers?” Dad demands.
No hello, how are you doing? How is life now that the wife gave you the old heave-ho?
“No,” I lie.
I did finally read through the documents Katya sent me via email last night. I’d read the prenup after Dad did his end run around me and had thought it was lopsided, but I hadn’t cared. Then, I couldn’t imagine Mia and me ever getting divorced.
“Well, I have,” he sneers.
He must’ve read the one Mia handed to me on Christmas Eve.
I nod, steepling my hands, as my plan to win my wife back starts to solidify.
“She’s coming after Winter Financial,” he roars. “The bitch has some nerve.”
“You call her that again, I’m going to pound my fist into your face.” The words come out soft and menacing.
I have never in my life stood up to my father—never threatened him. I wish I had before, because the look on his face makes it so fucking worth it. The man is about to piss his pants; he’s so furious.
“What did you say?” He emphasizes each word like he used to when I was a kid, shit scared of him.
“I said that if you ever use that kind of language when referring to my wife, I will—”
“Gentlemen.” Ronald raises his hand, cuts me off, trying to play peacemaker.
He’s been around the family for decades, but even he’s shocked by my behavior. It’s freeing, I realize, to just say what I think—so freeing that it makes me see how much of a prison I lived in until now.
“Make him see sense, Ron.” Dad glowers at me. It has absolutely no impact. Even I’m a little surprised at how he can’t get under my skin.
I had put up with all of it. But with Mia gone, I can’t see the point. What the hell am I trying to protect if she’s not there?
“Since you haven’t read the petition, let me give you the highlights,” Ronald begins, and when I jerk my chin in acknowledgment, he continues.
“Your wife is invoking the equitable remedy clause tied to breach of marital trust. Since the prenup waives alimony, she’s requesting fifty percent of all marital and personal assets in accordance with the infidelity provision—this includes your equity in Winter Financial, the primary residence in Burlington, your investment portfolio, vehicles, and any other assets in your name acquired during the marriage. ”
“There’s no infidelity. He just kissed Diana and that’s about it…actually, we’ll just say he didn’t and that she used AI or some shit to doctor the photo,” Dad spits out.
Ronald shifts uncomfortably. “Ah, Nelson, look…I’m not going to commit perjury or let any of you do that, either.”
Dad glares at him.
He smiles back uneasily. “Aiden, I have drafted a reasonable counter to the divorce petition.”
“We give her some money and shut her up,” Dad interjects.
I huff out a sharp breath. “Dad, can you let Ronald do the talking?”
Ronald puts a restraining hand on my father’s shoulder. “We say that we can give her half the house, which is listed at”—he rifles through his papers—“one point two million. After the mortgage is paid, she’ll get around two hundred.”
“And you think that’s equitable?” I ask, holding his gaze.
Ronald looks at Dad and me. “Well….”
“I told him to do that because that’s all I want to give that”—he pauses, grits his teeth—“woman.”
Well done, Dad! You didn’t call her a bitch again. Bravo!
My phone beeps, and I pick it up. There’s a message from Huxley. He wants to know if we’ll have dinner. I type a response in the affirmative, and set my phone down.
“Dad, Ronald, thank you so much for coming here. Let me explain how this is going to work. First, I have a lawyer who will be handling my divorce. So, thank you, Ronald, for the work you’ve put in, but it was unnecessary.”
Before Dad can shoot his mouth off, I raise a hand and he falls silent, but his eyes are warning me that there’s going to be hell to pay. Like what? Mia left me. Does he think he can do anything that could be worse than that?
I stand up, put my phone in my pocket. “Second, I’m going to give her fifty percent of everything.”
"Excuse me?" Dad barks.
I meet his eyes. For once, I don’t look away.
"She gets what she wants. The shares. The payout. The house in Burlington. Everything."
Dad’s face turns red. "Are you out of your goddamn mind? That’s my money. That business—"
"I rebuilt it," I remind him coolly. "Tripled its worth. I took over when you couldn’t lead anymore. So don’t talk to me about what’s yours."
Ronald clears his throat. "Aiden, you should listen to Nelson—"
"Ronald, I’m not my father. And I’m not negotiating with a woman I betrayed. She doesn’t have to fight for what’s hers."
Dad slams his hand on the desk. "You fucking idiot."
“Now, see, it’s not nice for you to call me names,” I condescend. “And until you can clean up your act, Dad, that's the door, see yourself out. When you think you can speak civilly to me, you can come back.”
His jaw clenches.
I plant my hands on Granddad’s desk, leaning in until my face is inches from his. “Until then…Go. Fuck. Yourself.”
Dad stares at me, thunderstruck.
Ronald clears his throat again, this time more nervously. "I'll…are you sure about your formal position, Aiden? That’s a lot of money you’re giving away."
“My money.” I pack up my laptop. I’m ready to get the hell out of here and talk to Huxley, lay my plan out. “Oh, and Ronald, consider this your notice. I’m not your client anymore. Dad and the others in the family can do whatever they want."
Instead of looking hurt or angry, Ronald surprises me by looking relieved. “You take care, Aiden.”
He fumbles with his briefcase, closing it. He stands up and looks at my father. “We’ll talk later.” And with that, he walks out of my office.
Dad fixes me with a sharp, venomous stare. “Are you out of your mind?”
“No, Dad, I have not only found my mind, but also my morals, my values, and my integrity.” I sling the bag strap over my shoulder.
“I’ve worked so damned hard to win your favor, your acceptance, have you praise me—and you never did.
Not when I was growing up, and not when I turned the company, that you were fucking up, around. ”
Dad bangs his fist on the desk. “I gave you this company,” he snarls.
“No, Dad, the board did ‘cause you were screwing it up,” I say easily.
It’s a truth I never dared speak before—God forbid it upset him.
Now I don’t give a damn.
Years of keeping the peace, waiting like a fool for my father to finally say, ‘Good job, son’, cost me the one person who ever mattered. My wife. The woman who wanted nothing from me but myself, who loved me, flaws, failures, and all. I repaid her by breaking her heart.
“You ungrateful—”
“Dad, it’s done,” I say softly. My tone stops him cold. “You and I are finished. I’m finished with Gianna, Tristan, Mom…all of you.”
He looks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time—like I’ve suddenly grown horns.
Then, because Nelson Winter is nothing if not a mean bully clinging to relevance, he sneers, “I’m going to make you regret this.
You think being CEO is going to save you?
I know the board. I am the one with the power. ”
I feel a laugh bubble up, unexpected and genuine. I flash back to a night Mia and I were curled up on the couch watching The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
“Dad.” I grin. “As Tuco wisely put it: When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”
His brows draw together in confusion. “Huh?”
“Do what you’ve got to do, Dad. But stop standing in my office, talking about it like the villain in a second-rate spaghetti western.”
I walk past him, a man who doesn’t fully understand that he’s lost his grip on the reins, feeling a sense of accomplishment I’ve never before experienced.