15
K nox looked at his phone as it rang. Mia had been calling him almost nonstop for the past two days. He knew it had nothing to do with Yasmine since he had her for the next couple of days, and she was at school. If something had happened to Yasmine, the school would have called him. So, he knew that wasn’t the reason. He sent her to voicemail for what felt like the hundredth time. She’d left him a few messages, but he hadn’t bothered listening to them.
He was sure that she just wanted to get him to give her more money or criticize him for not giving her what she was worth. However, if he did that, she wouldn’t be getting anything. Knox knew that was a fucked-up thing to say, considering he’d married her and had once truly loved her. That was before he realized the person she was, which took him some time to see, but he eventually had.
Knox also knew they weren’t supposed to communicate unless it was about Yasmine. He figured this was not about their daughter because when she wanted to contact him about Yasmine, which was usually to get money out of him for something Mia claimed their daughter needed but didn’t, she would call and then text him when he didn’t answer.
Honestly, he was ready for the entire process to be over with. He knew that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have to continue to deal with Mia. After all, she was still Yasmine’s mother, and while he wanted full custody and for her to have supervised visits, he didn’t want to keep their daughter from her. Knox just knew he would have to deal with her less, which would be a breath of fresh air for him.
Knox put his phone on silent, placing it on the coffee table as he stood. It was almost noon, and he decided to make lunch. He went through his refrigerator and took out everything he needed to make a turkey wrap. He’d just finished washing the vegetables and tomato when there was a knock on his door.
He went to the door, looking through the peephole to find Ezra standing on the other side. Knox opened it, stepping aside to allow him in.
“Hey, what’s up?” Knox asked, closing and locking the door back.
“Nothing. I was in the area and thought I’d stop by.”
The two went to the kitchen, and Knox washed his hands as Ezra leaned against the bar. “You want a wrap?” Knox asked, gesturing to the ingredients he’d pulled out.
“Sure,” Ezra responded. “How are the divorce proceedings going?”
“They’re going. We had one mediation where Mia showed her ass, but Aiva shut that down pretty quickly. We’re waiting on Mia to either take the prenup offer or try to see if she can get more out of court.”
“Which one do you think she’ll do?”
Knox sliced the tomato. “Mia is greedy, but she isn’t stupid. Even if I weren’t her client, I still would have known that Aiva was serious when she told Mia if we went to court, we’d be asking for child support from her, and she’d be risking getting a fifth of the prenup settlement.”
“I don’t know. Sometimes, greed makes you do crazy things.”
“That’s true,” Knox agreed as he chopped some lettuce. “I do think she’ll ask for more, and I have a number I’m prepared to concede with to have it all over and done, but it’s nowhere near what she wants.”
Knox was still prepared to pay her the larger amount that he’d told Aiva he was comfortable with, if it came to that. That hadn’t changed. He would see where they ended up and play it by ear.
Once Knox finished making the wraps, he put them on plates and grabbed two drinks from the fridge. He and Ezra went into the living room, and Knox unmuted the television. He wasn’t sure what was playing since what he’d initially been watching had gone off before Mia’s last call. Whatever it was, he figured it would be fine for them to watch as they ate.
When they finished eating, Ezra told him about a graduating senior his agency was looking to represent. The young man was Wolfe-approved, so Ezra wanted him. Knox couldn’t blame him. As a sports agent, having athletes on your roster approved by The Analyst was an accomplishment. Ezra was damn good at his job, and keeping his commitments to his clients helped him seal the deal.
Ezra stayed until Knox had to leave to pick up Yasmine from school. Since it was Friday, he would stop by the indoor trampoline park and let her play for a bit before taking her to whatever restaurant of her choosing for dinner.
They had plans to visit his parents on Saturday, and Knox knew Yasmine was excited to help in the garden for no other reason than to get dirty, he was sure. He also knew that his father would have a new birdhouse for her to paint. Knox felt that when his dad knew they were coming to visit, he made sure there was a birdhouse ready. His daughter had his parents wrapped around her little finger, but he assumed that was how it was supposed to be with grandparents.
Knox pulled up outside Yasmine’s school, waiting in the pickup lane. There were only a few other cars, so he wasn’t too far back in line. He waited the next ten minutes for school to let out and for the children to come outside.
He saw Yasmine coming out, and Knox got out to help her into the car. She skipped to him, greeting him excitedly before taking her backpack off and tossing it into the back seat. She got in, sitting in her booster seat, and Knox watched her strap herself in. He checked to ensure it was secure before closing the door and getting back into the car. As they pulled out of the pickup lane, Yasmine told him about what she’d done that day in school, and Knox maneuvered through traffic to their first destination of the afternoon.
“A iva,” Finx stated over the phone intercom. “Harvey’s on the phone for you.”
Aiva rolled her eyes because the last thing she wanted to do was speak to him. She’d just returned half an hour ago from mediation with one of her clients, and the woman’s husband was almost as headache-inducing as Mia. It felt like cruel and unusual punishment to deal with the other woman’s lawyer on the same day.
However, Aiva would rather have whatever conversation now instead of pushing it off until Monday morning and potentially starting her day wrong. She’d much rather end it that way because she could use the weekend to cater to and pamper herself.
“Send him through, Finx,” she stated, mentally preparing herself for whatever Harvey wanted to speak to her about. Aiva’s phone rang a few seconds later, and she picked it up, bringing it to her ear. “This is Aiva.”
“Hey, Aiva. It’s Harvey. How are you on this beautiful Friday afternoon?”
“I’m good, Harvey. How are you?”
“I’m doing well. How’s Meila? I haven’t spoken to her in a while, and I didn’t get to see her on my last visit.”
Aiva rolled her eyes. She knew he was going through the pleasantries and attempting to butter her up so that whatever he had to say wouldn’t receive the response she would have for him. That he was going through the process just meant that he knew she wouldn’t like it.
“She’s good. What can I do for you, Harvey?” She didn’t see a point in this conversation taking longer than necessary. At this point in his career, Harvey should know that ripping the bandage off was sometimes the best tactic.
“Right. Well, as you’ve probably guessed, I’m calling on behalf of Mia. She’s interested in sitting down for another mediation to see if there is some flexibility regarding the prenup.”
“There is not,” Aiva answered. “That’s why it’s called a prenuptial agreement. Both parties agree to the terms outlined in the document before marriage. Therefore, my client will not be changing or bending on them post-marriage.”
Harvey fell quiet, and she figured he was trying to come up with something to say. Aiva wasn’t sure why he hadn’t prepared a counter ahead of time. They both knew that she would say no. So, it isn’t as if he didn’t have time to prepare before he called her.
“My client is being more than generous by giving her the marital home, even though that was not a stipulation of the prenup. He’s also willing to pay her the settlement immediately after the decree is received. Mrs. Chandler is letting her greed blind her, which will cost her.”
“Mr. Chandler’s net worth now, as opposed to when the prenup was signed, has grown significantly. My client feels she’s getting the short end of the stick, and I think we both can agree that’s unfair.”
Aiva pulled the phone away from her ear to look at it, wondering if he’d just said that to her. She would not be complaining if someone was willing to give her two million dollars.
“Harvey, please let your client know I will follow through with everything I said in mediation. Since I’m receiving this phone call, I take it she doesn’t want to settle. So, on Tuesday afternoon, I’ll be filing for a court hearing and proposing my terms and a request for child support.”
“Aiva, if we could just—”
“Have a good day, Harvey,” Aiva interrupted him, hanging the phone up.
She didn’t have any clients for the rest of the day. So, she filled in the documentation to file for their court appearance. She was booked with appointments all day Monday and had a mediation session on Tuesday. She could file the paperwork that afternoon, depending on what time they finished. If not, she was going to do it first thing Wednesday morning.
As Aiva filled out the paperwork, her mind drifted to her father’s birthday party the next day. She didn’t want to go and did an excellent job of not allowing her younger siblings to talk her into doing so. However, Edison really wanted all of his children there because he pulled out the big guns and had her grandmother call her.
Aiva always found it hard to say no to her, and she knew that even though her grandmother knew what her father did was wrong, he was still her son, and she just wanted the family to get together for occasions and spend time with one another. Aiva believed she could do that without going to events her father was at, let alone those for him or at his place of residence.
So, she hadn’t told her grandmother no, but that she would think about it, and honestly, she was leaning far towards not going. Yes, she would get to see her siblings, but it wasn’t as if she couldn’t see most of them whenever she wanted to, and they had a trip planned in a few months.
Aiva decided she would get with those of her siblings who were old enough to go out; they could have a night out on the town. She would do something with Tara alone since she was the only one in her age range, and then she would get the youngest siblings and take them to do something of their choice. That way, she wouldn’t feel bad about not seeing them, and it would keep her from having to see their sperm donor.
With a solid plan in mind, she focused her attention back on the task at hand. She made a mental note once she got it done to call Knox and let him know when she would file the paperwork. By the time she did so, Mia would have had a week and a half to respond, which was all Aiva was willing to give her.