Chapter 15
Natalia
It was the annual VIPS Gala, and Maxwell was on the board.
Appearances were more important than ever since our family would be under more scrutiny than usual.
As much as I hated it, this was why having Sophie and Eloise come was so important.
People seemed in awe of Sophie’s ability to “co-parent” with Max.
Rolling my eyes, I felt bitter as I realized just how many lies we constantly surrounded ourselves with. Manipulation and fabrication were the ties that held us together, wrapped around us like a gossamer life preserver that kept us afloat, alive. But it wasn’t sustainable.
One night a few weeks before, Max came storming home, drunk and in a rage. He wouldn’t tell me what had happened, but the next day, I heard him on the phone with his lawyer, asking about the custody arrangements for Eloise.
Max didn’t pay attention to his daughter. I honestly didn’t think he knew much about her. Eloise’s birthday was marked on the calendar. His secretary coordinated the presents, just as she did for Christmas and any other holidays or events.
So I didn’t know how to feel about Max’s sudden interest in parenting Eloise.
It was the first time we had seen either of them since Sophie had started dating that new man, and each time he was mentioned, it was like nails on a chalkboard.
It set me on edge, and there was a knot forming in the pit of my stomach.
“And then Mommy took me to the firehouse to see Linc, and I got to meet everyone! Even the captain!” Eloise had been talking nonstop.
It felt like she was desperate to tell everyone and anyone about Linc, much to my dismay.
From the thundering expression on his face, it was souring Max’s night as well.
And Sophie… Well, I hated her more than ever. She looked amazing. Everyone at the party had commented on it. There was a glow about her. Sophie walked around like she knew a secret no one else did. Like she was above us all.
The people in our social circle—the ones I’d spent all my life mirroring and trying to gain the interest of—flocked to her. Employees from years earlier ran up to greet her like long-lost friends. Walter’s friends and acquaintances looked at her like she was Mother Teresa.
Despite Max’s earlier protests, I had a feeling we were both keeping tabs on the new man in Sophie’s life.
It had been nearly four months since that first photo at the carnival, and just like I had dreaded, the large man had become a regular presence in her life, or so it seemed from afar.
Sophie didn’t post on social media often, but when she did, I studied the images for hours—days, even.
Looking for something—anything—that would show me she was suffering or that she wasn’t the saint everyone thought she was.
“And then Linc took us bowling, and we got a strike! Nat, do you know what a strike is? I knocked ALL the pins down. It was so cool!” I looked down at Eloise.
Her hair had slipped out of the braid it had been styled in, the bow slightly tilted.
She was all worked up and was starting to look disheveled.
“Where’s your mom?” I asked, trying to find Sophie, only to spot her in a corner, alone with Max.
“Daddy pulled her away and said they had to talk. He told me to go and find you.” I looked down at the girl and sighed.
A feeling of deep unease crawled down my spine.
That knot in my stomach doubled in size as I saw Max’s furious face as he confronted Sophie, who just looked bored.
I looked down at Eloise with frustration.
Seeing Deidra, Max’s secretary, I pulled Eloise over to her.
“Deidra. Eloise’s hair is a mess. She looks unkempt.
Can you take her into the bathroom and fix it?
” The older woman smiled sweetly at Eloise, who looked as if she were about to cry for some reason.
Deidra took her by the hand and steered her out of the ballroom, giving me the freedom to try to find out what Max and Sophie were discussing.
Slinking around the back of the party, weaving between servers and guests, I couldn’t help the growing feeling of doom that was expanding through me.
No one noticed me. No one was looking for me.
Parties used to be my specialty. I held everyone’s attention and always made a big entrance.
Whispers followed in my wake… Where did she get that dress?
I heard those earrings belonged to Jackie O…
I still had the best of everything—the height of haute couture—but somehow, it didn’t matter anymore.
I had spent the entire morning at the spa, making sure I looked flawless.
I’d been waxed and buffed to a high shine before the layers of war paint were carefully applied.
My hair was styled, my nails painted bloodred, my makeup done by a professional.
And yet, instead of standing out, I had never blended in more.
It was Sophie in her simple navy dress, her hair loose and carefree, who held everyone’s attention.
Even from far away, her green eyes looked huge, a natural flush to her face.
Glossed lips in a neutral color, she looked effortlessly beautiful.
The only piece of jewelry she wore was a heavy necklace that looked familiar.
As I finally approached the bickering couple, I had to stop short, dizziness hitting me.
That necklace was the Townsends’ most prized heirloom.
It had belonged to Walter’s wife, Eloise.
I had only ever seen it in pictures. It was something Helen had told me about when Max and I first started dating; how Walter kept it locked away, and wouldn’t even let Helen wear it on her wedding day.
Yet there Sophie was, not even at the biggest event of the season, wearing the necklace like an afterthought.
The depth to which Walter truly supported her hit me hard in that moment, especially with the new knowledge that he had harbored resentment toward me throughout my entire marriage.
I needed to figure out what exactly he had seen.
How can I repair this fracture that no one else seems to care about? What else is Max hiding from me?
I needed to know everything, and I was unable to trust him to give me the full story. Knowledge was power, and it was time to hear whatever was going on between my husband and that woman.
Maxwell
“Do you have no shame?” I asked Sophie, who had the audacity to roll her eyes at me.
This was the first time I had seen her since the night I saw her out with that man.
It hurt to look at her; she was radiant.
There was no other word for it. She looked relaxed and happy, and I hated it.
To make it worse, since the moment they had arrived, Eloise wouldn’t shut up about that oaf.
“What are you going on about now?” Sophie asked dismissively.
“Sophie, don’t play dumb with me! You know how important this event is for me. Having my daughter walking around, telling everyone about the guy you’re fucking isn’t exactly a class act.” Sophie’s eyes snapped to me, her face going cold.
“Really? Should we poll the guests? Ask them what’s more tasteful, me having a happy and healthy relationship with my boyfriend, or the twisted mind games you and Natalia have been up to all these years?”
Boyfriend. After that first meeting went so poorly, I felt desperate to know everything about the man who had his hands all over my wife.
That night lit a fire within me, seeing the two so close together, their touch speaking of an intimacy that had been previously reserved for me and only me, even after the divorce.
“How you left me at home with our daughter so you could go out and fuck your girlfriend? Talk about a class act…” she continued. I snapped.
“Why drag up old history, Sophie? That was years ago! You are the mother of my child, my responsibility. Besides, you signed an NDA,” I reminded her, and she outright laughed. Her gaze became frosty, her voice colder than I had ever heard it.
“I absolutely did not. You really should pay more attention to the documents you sign, Maxwell. I agreed not to share those specific photographs with anyone, and I haven’t.
So stop with these empty threats. I know you tried to get your lawyer to come after me for custody.
” I froze, remembering that incredibly frustrating conversation.
My lawyer assured me that if I were to try and renegotiate anything to do with custody, it would not end well for me.
He mentioned several lawsuits he knew Sophie had prepared to launch against me if I tried.
Asshole basically said that if I seriously tried to pursue it, he wouldn’t help me, and I would have to find new counsel.
Feeling backed into a corner, I hired my own PI to follow both Sophie and this Lincoln Carson.
Every new photograph was a glimpse of Sophie that only wet my appetite, doing nothing to ease it.
I had been counting down the days until this event, for an opportunity to speak to her.
She wouldn’t answer any of my calls, texts, or emails.
She actually had her lawyer call me to ask what it was I was so desperate to tell her.
As if I needed some middleman to talk to my family.
To my dismay, there wasn’t much my investigator could find on that possessive ape she insisted on seeing.
He came from a family with strong ties to their town.
Upstanding citizens with their own impressive reputations to rival my family.
The only avenue I hadn’t fully explored was his ex-wife.
From what I could tell, they hadn’t spoken in nearly a decade.
But everyone had a price, a secret. You just had to know when and where to push.
“Look, I’m not trying to fight with you.” I decided to switch tactics, scrambling to get control of the situation.
“What is it that you want, then, Max? You’ve been trying to reach me nonstop since the last time you confronted me and caused a scene.
This is getting real old, real quick. Does Natalia know about your sudden desire to play family man in real life?
You seem to be taking far too much interest in me, and not in the woman you’re actually married to.
” It was like a slap every time she threw Nat in my face.
No matter how much I tried, I could never really move on from Sophie.
I always assumed she would wait, that she would come back to me somehow.
My relationship with Natalia was something twisted, dark.
We needed each other, like parasites. We attended all the right events, we smiled for photos, but that was it.
At home, we lived like strangers who did little more than fuck.
My body still craved Nat, responded to her on a baser level, but I always hated myself a bit more after.
I resented that she still had any power over me.
My relationship with Nat was a constant power struggle, and the only way I could get through the day was to remember what it had been like with Sophie.
I had even started sleeping in the guest room recently, unable to fall asleep with the oppressive scent of Nat’s perfume all around me.
Now, I fell asleep to visions of what my future would have looked like if I had stayed with Sophie.
Her warm, smiling presence would fill all the empty spaces that existed in my life now.
Family, laughter, joy—that’s what I could have had with Sophie and Eloise.
Not the sterile, distorted world I now clawed my way through.
“Sophie, please listen to me. I don’t want to talk about Nat or your—anyone else. This is about you and Eloise. I want my family back!” I snapped, panic surging through me as I felt her slipping further and further away from me.
“Stop this right now, Max. Listen to me, and listen good. We are not a family. Eloise is my family. Walt is my family. You’re just the sperm donor that ties us all together.
I’m tired of letting you fuck with my life!
I’m sorry that me moving on is triggering whatever midlife crisis is happening to you right now, but that’s not my problem!
I am happy. Lou is happy. If you can’t be happy for us, then maybe things do need to change.
” I backpedaled. Why does she never respond the way I hope?
Why does she act like she doesn’t care for me at all?
“Soph, baby, please. I made a mistake. I know that now. I miss our life together. I miss you,” I told her, reaching for her arms, only to have her step away, eyeing me with disgust. I was shocked at the level of contempt I saw on her face, but before either of us could reply, Eloise came running over.
Ignoring me, she went straight for Sophie, wrapping her arms around her legs. You could see that her face was red from crying before she buried it into her mom’s skirt.
“What’s wrong, baby? What happened?” Sophie bent down to console Eloise, who finally spoke between hiccupping breaths.
“Mommy, what does unkempt mean?” Eloise asked, and Sophie froze.
“Where did you hear that, honey? Sophie asked.
“Nat said it. She didn’t like my hair.”
Silence. Hiccup.
“She made Dede take me to the bathroom to fix it.” My assistant looked at me with dismay.
“I’m sorry, Sophie. I didn’t know how to redo the braid, so I just put it in a ponytail,” Deidra replied, looking even more upset.
“That’s fine. I think it’s about time we go anyway. What do you say, Lou? Wanna get out of here and stop for some ice cream?” she asked, and I bristled.
“It’s barely eight! You can’t leave.” Sophie stood up from where she had been crouched in front of Lou. Taking a step toward me, anger radiated off of her. Her rage called to me. She couldn’t have that much passion and not have any feelings behind it. I knew she still cared.
“I think you’re right, and it’s time we look back at the arrangement.
I’m not going to subject my daughter to any more of this negativity.
We’re leaving now. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” she told me evenly, full of restrained fury, before turning a false smile to Eloise as she grabbed her hand to leave the ballroom.
All I could do was watch them walk away, feeling as though the distance between us was widening with every step. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Natalia’s retreating form.
Was she listening to our conversation?
Does it even matter? This is her fault. She brought this down on us, on herself. The albatross around my neck. Finally, I could see things clearly, could see her for the snake she was.
Anytime I got close to succeeding, she pulled me down.
It was the foundation of our relationship, a history we couldn’t escape.
I would never get ahead if I was shackled to her.
Our relationship had peaked before it even started, and everything since our youthful tryst had been a mistake. It was time to end this mess.