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That had to be why she’d worked herself into the ground to take on her old man’s company. She’d never had any interest in it back then. He didn’t doubt she was good at her job—she’d always been smart and conscientious, and it seemed she’d added a new layer of ball-buster to the mix since then. But if she enjoyed it so much why didn’t she have a life outside it?
He knew how easy it was to lose sight of your personal life, your personal well-being when you were building a business. He’d done the same in the last few years. Hell, he’d only managed a couple of short-term hook-ups since they’d split. But his company had been his dream right from when he was a little kid and he’d hung around down by the marina to avoid his father’s belt.
And he was a lot tougher than Xanthe would eve
r be. Because he’d been born into a place where you hit the ground running or you just hit it—hard.
He knew how to take care of number one. He always had. Because no one else had wanted the job. Xanthe had always been way too open, way too eager to please. And it bugged him that she was still trying to please a dead man.
He didn’t like seeing that hollow, haunted look lurking behind the tough girl facade. And she was still his wife until those papers were signed.
After getting dressed, he picked up his cell phone and keyed in his attorney’s number. He’d promised to sign the damn papers, but who said he had to sign them straight away?
‘Jack, hi,’ he said, when his attorney answered on the second ring. ‘About those papers I sent over yesterday...’
‘I had a look at them last night,’ Jack replied, cutting straight to the chase as usual. ‘I was just about to call you about them.’
‘Right. I’ve agreed to sign them, but I—’
‘As your legal counsel, I’d have to advise against you doing that,’ Jack interrupted him.
‘Why?’ he asked, his gut tensing the way it had when he was a kid and he’d been bracing himself for a blow from his old man’s belt. ‘They’re just a formality, aren’t they?’
‘Exactly,’ Jack replied. ‘You guys haven’t lived together for over ten years, and two to five years separation is the upper limit for most jurisdictions when it comes to contesting a divorce.’
‘Then what’s the deal with telling me not to sign the papers?’
Jack cleared his throat and shifted into lecture mode. ‘Truth is, your wife doesn’t require your signature on anything to get a divorce. She could have just filed these papers in London as soon as she found out about the failure to file the original documents and I would have gotten a heads-up from her legal representative. That’s what got me digging a little deeper—I got to wondering why she’d come all the way to Manhattan to deliver them in person and that’s when I found something curious buried in the small print.’
‘What?’ Dane asked, the hairs on his neck standing to attention.
The fact that Xanthe hadn’t needed to bring the documents over in person had already occurred to him. That she hadn’t needed to bring them at all seemed even more significant. But the anxiety jumping in his stomach wasn’t making him feel good about that any more.
‘There’s a codicil stating that neither one of you will make a claim on any property acquired after the original papers should have been filed.’
‘Then I guess I can quit worrying about her trying to claim back-alimony.’ He huffed out a breath. He was not as pleased with the implication that Xanthe had made a point of not wanting any part of his success as he ought to be.
‘Sure, but here’s the thing—it goes on to state all the assets that can’t be claimed on. Why would she need to itemise those in writing? She’d have a hell of a legal battle trying to claim any of your property on the basis of a separation made years before your company even began trading. But that’s when I got to thinking. What if it wasn’t your property she was trying to protect but her own?’
‘I don’t get it. I couldn’t make any claim on her property.’
Did she think he wanted her property? Her old man had once accused him of being a gold-digger. Of getting his daughter pregnant and marrying her to get his hands on Carmichael’s money. Had she believed the old bastard? Was that why she’d let him go on believing she’d had an abortion? To punish him for something he hadn’t done?
Anger and injured pride collided in his gut, but it did nothing to disguise the hurt.
‘Turns out you’re wrong about that,’ Jack continued. ‘You’ve got grounds to make a claim on her company. I just got off the phone with a colleague in the UK who checked out the terms of her father’s will. A will that was written years before she even met you. One thing’s for sure—it answers the question of why she came all the way over to Manhattan to get you to sign her divorce papers.’
As Dane listened to Jack lecturing him about the legalities and the terms of Charles Carmichael’s will his stomach cramped and fury at the sickening injustice of it all started to choke him. The same futile fury he’d felt after the beating he’d taken all those years ago because he’d wanted to see his wife, to know what had happened to his child.
Each word Jack uttered felt like another blow he couldn’t defend himself against. Suddenly he was furious with Xanthe as well as her old man. For making him feel like that again. Worthless and desperate, yearning for something he couldn’t have.
She’d planned to play him all along by coming here. How much of what had happened in the last day had even been real? She’d said she didn’t want to spend any more time with him. And now he knew why—because once those papers were signed she’d have the guarantee she needed that he couldn’t touch her father’s precious company.
She’d lied. Because she’d decided he didn’t deserve the truth. She’d even accused him of not caring about their baby. And then...
He thought about her whimpers of need, those hot cries as she came apart in his arms. She hadn’t just lied to him, she’d used his hunger for her against him. Turned him back into that feral kid begging for scraps from a woman who didn’t want him. Then she’d slapped him down and offered to pay him off when he’d had the audacity to ask for one more night.
He signed off with Jack, then sat down and waited for her to come out of the bathroom. The bitterness of her betrayal tasted sour on his tongue.
