Chapter 16
Aiden
She looks beautiful. My wife. The one I’m about to set free, so in a few months, once the paperwork is resolved, she’ll be my ex-wife. The idea of living without her is debilitating, but to win her back, I know, I have to let her go.
“Coffee?” she asks as she gestures for me to sit at the kitchen island.
“Yes, thank you.” The words come out hoarse. I hate this formality between us.
She takes her time making coffee.
I watch her, inhale her, consume her. I want her so badly. But this isn’t about what I want. It’s about what she needs.
She sets my coffee with just a little milk and no sugar in front of me. She stands on the other side of the island, sips her coffee, which she takes black.
“Thank you for talking to me.” There is that polite bullshit again.
She smiles at me—it’s hollow, cosmetic, the kind she gave to my family. Now, she’s giving it to me, othering me…making me a stranger.
“First things first. I don’t want a divorce.”
Her eyes widen.
“I don’t want it. I want my wife back. I want my life back.”
She takes a shaky breath and releases it.
“But I also know that’s not going to happen just because I want it.”
She sets her coffee cup down.
Her hands are shaking. She’s still hurting. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. We’re both hurting. The only difference is that she’s never caused me or anyone else pain. I am the reason she’s suffering, that we both are.
I clear my throat. “My lawyer will reach out to Katya. You will get half of everything. No contest.”
Her eyes snap up to mine. I see shock in them. It makes me feel worse. She thought I’d fight her demands. She thought I’d want to keep it all, give her nothing.
Is that how she sees me? Is that what six years of marriage have taught her about me?
“And…your father is okay with that?”
Now, I smile, and it’s not hollow. It’s full because every time I turn down a meeting with my father and ignore his calls, I feel good. I feel healthy. Living for his acceptance and working to earn his praise has, as Huxley puts it, “fucked me up but good.” Well, I’m working to un-fuck myself.
“My father can go fuck himself.”
Her eyebrows go up.
I grin. “Yep. I actually told him that when he brought in Ronald to talk about the divorce.”
“Your lawyer?”
“Not mine, baby. I have someone else, someone not connected to the Winter family at all.”
She nods slowly, like she’s having trouble processing what I’m saying. “And”—she swallows—"you’re giving me half of everything?”
“Yes. The house, the shares, everything.”
I see guilt swarm her. I know Mia. She doesn’t have a mercenary bone in her body. She only asked for this because she didn’t think she’d ever get it, and she wanted to screw with me and my family. She did it because she was angry, lashing out.
“You deserve it, Mia. I built the company while we were dating and married. You were there for me every step of the way. I could not have done what I did with Winter Financial if you hadn’t been there to hold my hand when I felt weak and—”
“She’s been holding your hand for the past two years,” she cuts me off, her voice thin, frail. “Maybe you should give her some of it.”
I want to touch her. Hold her. Comfort her. But I know she won’t accept it, not now. I’m going to have to earn those rights.
How stupid was I to have lost them when I’d had them—and more—with this remarkable woman?
“I want to tell you about Diana. Is that okay?”
A crease forms between her eyebrows, but she nods, giving me permission.
“Diana and I…you know we grew up together. A lot like you and Katya, in that she became part of our family after her parents passed, although she was much older than you were when yours did.”
I know she knows some of this already, but I need to lay the groundwork—tell her what I felt, why I did what I did.
I’ve practiced it all fucking evening with Hux, every word, every breath, praying that when I finally say it to her, she’ll still give me a chance. One I’m ready to fall on my knees for.
“She left for California, and she just sort of dissipated from our lives.” I stop because I see distress in her eyes. “Baby?”
She gives me a half shrug. “Go on.”
I know this will hurt her, but I can’t rebuild us—can’t even ask for it—without coming clean, without being as honest as possible.
“She came back. Dad hired her before he stepped down. She’s a good CFO.
She’s ruthless and ambitious. We have familiarity because of the years we spent together as children and teenagers.
” Now came the hard part. I straightened.
“I started to rely on her, especially when Dad poked at me for not being as good as him.”
Mia scoffs. “Nelson knows he’s not better than you—that you surpassed him years ago. That’s what makes him want to insult you, make you feel small.”
Even now, even after the shit I put her through, she’s defending me. My heart expands with love for her.
Suddenly, I feel even more desperate.
What if she turns me down?
“I started spending more and more time with Diana at work. She helped me. I had the best of both worlds. A wife at home who loved me and…a work wife who helped me with all things Winter Financial.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and I want to stop, but I know this Band-Aid needs to be ripped off the wound.
“I promise there’s a point to this, Mia. I want to tell you everything.”
She sniffles. “I know.”
Her generosity is one of the most beautiful things about my wife. Just one of many.
“I enjoyed her company. I looked forward to discussing work with her. It was such a relief to spar with someone, to get things done in the office. Have a partner. Bring in the big investors and clients. She was my work partner, and I’d been working alone for so long that she became important to me. ”
I drink some coffee because my throat feels dry. I’m taking a massive risk being this open with Mia, hurting her like this. There’s a chance, at the end of our conversation today, she’ll tell me to take a hike, and never talk to me again.
“You were already making Winter Financial successful, even before you took over as CEO, Aiden,” Mia remarks quietly.
“I know. I get it now, in hindsight. But then, I was scared I’d fail. She was there with me, winning. I never had sex with her. Never wanted to. But there was chemistry between us.”
“Aiden, all of us have chemistry with people. I have that with Katya. You have it with Huxley. There’s nothing wrong with it,” Mia interjects. “This isn’t about—”
“I know. It’s about me giving her what is yours. My attention. My time. Paris.”
She doesn’t say anything, just looks down at the kitchen counter, as if my face is just too much for her.
“That night…she kissed me. She knew you were there. She did it on purpose, which is hideous. But I kissed her back, Mia. For a moment, I did. And then I pushed her away. That kiss made me feel guilty. I kept thinking whether I should tell you.”
She gives me a sorrowful smile. “I kept waiting for you to. I thought if you’d just tell me, then we could….”
If I could’ve been honest about my mistakes and admitted them, she’d have forgiven me. That’s what she’s telling me. That’s a wound I’ll carry forever.
“Will you sit here”—I pat the barstool next to me—"and let me hold your hand as I tell you the rest?”
She studies me for a long moment and then sits next to me, takes my hand in hers, and squeezes.
“I wish I had told you about it. I felt so guilty. It also made me realize that I can’t lose you. I love you so much. I was so scared. I was afraid that Diana would tell you. I never thought you saw the kiss, photographed it.”
“It was horrifying,” she admits.
I stroke my thumb over her skin, grounding myself in her touch.
“I started to see just how badly I’d failed you—not only because of that kiss, though it forced me to take a hard look at us. At me. In all the ways I let you down. Step one is obvious: stop letting my family treat you like shit. Stop pretending it’s okay when they act like jackasses.”
She huffs out a laugh but keeps hold of my hand.
“You waited six years to get to step one?”
“You didn’t push it, either, baby,” I remind her.
“I know. I tried, but…I thought not complaining about your family all the time was me being supportive. Didn’t realize that it just let you walk all over me.” A flicker of something broken passes through her eyes. “Stupid of me.”
“You’re not stupid. Never that. And…I did take you for granted,” I say firmly, locking my gaze on hers so she feels it.
“Which is why step two matters. I don’t just want to pay more attention to you—I want to actually listen.
To stop dismissing your needs or shrinking them down, because I see now that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. ”
The sharp intake of breath and the sound she makes are evidence that this is still a raw nerve for her.
“And step three is to become the man you deserve.”
She frowns. “What does that mean?”
“A man who’s your husband and not my father’s son. A man who respects you and treats you as an equal. A man who shows you, every day, he loves you, so you don’t ever feel you can’t complain to him about his family out of fear that he’ll leave you.”
Her expression folds in on itself.
“For the first time in a very long time, Aiden, I feel seen by you….” Her voice is husky, and I have to get close to her face to hear her words. “Thank you.”
My heart hurts at her words, at what I’ve put her through, how I have treated her, and the pain I have caused her.
Never again!
“Please don’t thank me, baby. I’ve always seen you. I just got tunnel vision with work these past two years. And I ignored every warning bell Diana rang on her way to that dumb kiss.”
Now, she pulls her hand away, and leans her elbow on the counter, angling a little to look at me. “What now?”
“I’m going to give you half of everything, as I said. I won’t challenge the terms of the divorce.” I pause for a moment to ensure I have her attention. “In return, I want twelve dates with you. Two for each year we were married.”
She scowls. “You want to date me after we get divorced? Why?”
“So I can woo you, show you I can be the man who deserves you so that we can marry again, but this time we’ll do it the way you—”
“Whoa!” She raises both her hands to stop me from talking. “Our divorce isn’t finalized, and you’re talking about our remarriage?”
“Mia, I don’t know if I can win you back, but I will do everything in my power to, because I love you. Madly. Deeply. Only.”
She squints as if trying to make sense of what I’m asking. It takes her a good two minutes to respond.
“Twelve dates are a lot.”
Euphoria jolts me. Her words are a live wire, touching me, making my pulse accelerate.
She’s considering it!
“We were married for six years. Two dates for each year….”
She rolls her eyes before shooting me a pointed look. “What does a date entail?”
“It has to be on the weekend and for at least six hours.”
Her nose wrinkles. “Is that because we were married for six years?
No, it’s because that means I have more time with you, uninterrupted, so I can show you, convince you.
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
She straightens and looks straight ahead, not at me. “I don’t want there to be any…physical stuff.”
Oh, baby, I want all the emotional stuff with you first. We’ll get to the physical stuff when I earn it.
“Of course.”
My heart is in my throat. Pretending I’m cool about this is hard when I want to jump up and down with glee.
She turns, looks at me suspiciously. “Six years, six dates.”
I hold back a whoop of joy. She’s giving me a chance. Fuck yeah!
“Ten.”
“Seven.”
“Nine.”
“Eight,” she counters.
“Deal.”
I have just earned eight chances to win my wife back.
I will not squander them.