“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 andcaused 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 arenota 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 thoughthe 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?
