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But I stop myself before I give her more ammunition to use against me, taking a deep breath to work through the acid crawling up my throat.
“You can’t take Elijah away from me. I love him. He’s my son. I give him a great life when he’s here.”
“You give him a nanny. He needs his mother.” Natasha pauses, plastering on a mask of pain. “You’ve already hurt us both so much with your negligence. I won’t let you continue.”
It’s a preview of exactly what she’ll do in front of the judge, and I have to hand it to her. She’s a good actress.
But why is she doing this? If anything, I’m the one who should be out for revenge.
“Why are you doing this, Natasha? What did I do to piss you off so much?”
“Oh, please. You’re not about to make me feel sorry for you. From the start, you’ve always been a tight ass, holding on to your money like it’s going out of style. Well, this is what you get for not sharing or giving me the life I deserve. I’ll fucking take it. Even if that means finding someone else who’ll do right by me while you’re too busy working. Two years, and you didn’t even notice.”
My stomach falls through the floor, and sweat breaks out over my forehead. “What?”
“That’s right, Mr. On Top Of Everything. So don’t pretend like you cared so much about me. You clearly didn’t care enough to notice I was getting off elsewhere.”
The burn in my stomach intensifies, and I look back at Henry, who just stares down at the floor as guilt colors his skin red.
“I was never going to be good enough for you, was I? You just wanted someone you could boss around to get what you wanted.” I exhale sharply. “No, Natasha. I won’t give you half. I won’t give you Elijah. I’m not giving you anything. Take it to the judge. I don’t care. I won’t let you do this.”
The simmering rage that was just beneath her smug exterior bursts free, and Natasha throws her arms up, snatching her purse from Henry, who’s been conveniently silent this whole time.
“Oh, you’ll just see what I can do with the judge! You’re in for it now, Noah!”
She shoves past Henry, who stumbles to follow after, flinging the office door open wide and storming off through the house, still screaming at me.
“You’re gonna pay dearly for this, you hear me! Just you wait, you son of a bitch! You think I was playing hard before? You just fucking wait!”
I stand in my office, ready to punch the wall and maybe vomit. Then, after a bit longer than I expect, I hear the front door slam.
I should probably see what that was about, so I step out of my office and head for the foyer. When I get there, I find Liv standing just past the door, and she looks like she’s ready to scream.
Great, Natasha has done it again.
Chapter 25
Olivia
I don’t really have time to process everything when I check the time and realize I need to go get Elijah from school. Being late to pick him up would look so bad, so I retrieve the test from the toilet bowl and toss it in the trash.
Exiting the stall, I go to the sink and wash my hands. There’s still a single test left in the box, so I shove it in my purse, unsure what else to do with it.
I can’t look at the clerk as I leave the store, so I stare at the floor, plowing into the door as I leave and head for my car.
Usually, when I pick up Elijah, I leave the radio off, but today I need something to fill up the silence until he gets here.
Driving the few blocks to the school, I turn into the parking lot pickup line and wait for Elijah to come running for the car. He’s outside after just a few minutes, and I push the button to unlock his door so he can jump right in.
“Hi, buddy. How was school?”
I hear his seatbelt click into place and then proceed forward through the lot, coming around to the street again and heading for Noah’s house. Even thinking his name in my head makes my stomach pinch.
“It was good. Troy got in trouble for doing splits across the desks when Ms. Turner was outside. It was funny. He fell on his butt when she came back in and caught him.”
“Oh, well. He really shouldn’t be doing that, should he? Consequences of his actions.”
Am I talking to myself right now?
