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Chapter 16
“How could you do that?” Melanie demanded. She’d had a hard time debating which of these two men she was angrier with, but the closer she got to her ex-husband, the more obvious that choice became. “What the hell, Wilder?”
He stepped uneasily from foot to foot, guilt on his face, but then decided to brazen it out. “What do you mean? He hit me!”
She scoffed. “That’s not what I was talking about, and you know it! How could you take Rhys?”
“He’s my son!” He looked indignant and decided to turn it around on her. “Matter of fact, how could you take him? All the way over here to this weird freaking country? They speak another language, for Chrissakes!”
If she hadn’t been so mad, she’d have laughed at the silliness of that point. But she stood her ground. “First of all, I notified you by certified letter that I was leaving the country with our son, so don’t pretend you didn’t know. Second, I brought him here to give him a better life—”
“No,” he retorted, “you brought him here to give yourself a better life—”
“Which always comes back to him! At least when I’m here, I can earn a decent living, get him the things he needs. Because God forbid I rely on you to do any of that!”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, not that again. I told you, the economy is down. Not a whole lot of people spending money in casinos these days….”
She waved it away. The last thing she needed right now to was to get into a conversation about Wilder’s lack of financial support for his own child. “That’s not the issue. The issue is that you flew all the way out here without even saying anything to me—”
“Free country—”
“And took him without my permission. I had no idea where he was or what happened to him. Do you have any idea how that feels?”
He gave her a nasty, triumphant grin. “What, do you think I kidnapped him? I have news for you, wife—”
“Ex!”
He shrugged. “Whatever. I just want you to know that my son and I text regularly. Couple times a week, at least.”
Melanie blinked. She had no idea. But that wasn’t a terrible thing, was it? She didn’t see the need to heavily monitor Rhys’s phone activity; he’d never in the past given her any reason to. And it was perfectly normal for a kid to check in with his dad every once in a while, even if the relationship was rocky.
“And furthermore,” he continued, “my trip to France was planned—between Rhys and I. I told him I missed him, and he asked me to fly over. We arranged to meet up here today.” Wilder smirked in victory at her stunned expression. “How do you think I knew he would be here? You think I had nothing better to do that follow your stupid daily ramblings on that crazy broad’s web stream?”
Melanie was at a loss for words. She wanted to say something, anything, but her mind drew a blank. Rhys had asked his father to meet him? He’d voluntarily dumped his phone and camera so he could slip away unmonitored?
“Yeah. I see you’re getting it now,” Wilder sneered. “Slow on the uptake, as usual, but you get there.” He cocked his head to one side and examined her face. “You’re just going to have to admit to yourself that once you take away the cameras and get you away from all your fancy furniture and your pretty-boy lackey, you’re still so dim I have to spell stuff out for you, just so you can get a grip. Still the same old boring, dumb, Melanie—”
“I am not dumb!” she burst out. Thoughts of Rhys were relegated to the back of her mind for now. It was time for her to defend herself. “I have an excellent degree and a fine brain. I’m good at what I do!”
He was still looking her up and down, with the attitude of a man who was mildly amused by the antics of a silly child. “Sure you are.” The patronizing note was clear.
He took her in, from her newly frosted tips to her light makeup, new clothes, and the healthy tan she’d acquired in the past couple of weeks. “And by the way? You might look a little more fancy than normal, but don’t put too much stock in it. If you really think that Frenchman sees you as anything more than an opportunity to be noticed and to build his brand, you’re fooling yourself. French woman are some of the most beautiful in the world. With all that’s available to him out there, do you really think you stand a chance with him?”
The truth of his words was a knife under her ribs. Look at Corbin, was the whisper in her head. And then look at yourself.Kiss or not,did you really think he’d be into you?
Wilder must have homed in on her pain, in that uncanny way that bullies do, and jammed a thumb into her fresh wound. “I guess you think that just because you’ve got yourself a tan, and a cut and color job, that you’re going to be moving up in the world. But no matter how much you fluff your hair, you’ll still be the same chubby little second-tier nobody I married… and you know darn well I only did that because nobody else would.”
Melanie didn’t realize she had slapped Wilder until she heard the crack of the echo. “That! That’s why I left you. Because you get so much pleasure from tearing me down. You come at me, and come at me, and why? Because it makes you feel better about yourself. And you never stopped at breaking me down; you did the same to our child. He was never good enough for you. The things he was interested in didn’t interest you. Instead of encouraging him in his passions, in exploring the world around him, you made him feel bad. You called him a nerd and a sissy!”
She could feel her eyes stinging. Old Melanie would have backed down and hurried away long ago, especially under his poisonous glare, but this time, she was letting him know she had had enough. “Well, guess what? I will never let you speak to our son like that again. If he misses his dad, and wants to see you, you will do so with my permission and under my supervision. You may never have him again without my knowledge—and when you do, you will not tear him down! Do you hear me? It’s time you start to appreciate how wonderful he is, how smart and kind and sensitive. And if you can’t look into those eyes and see all that, Wilder, well, then I feel sorry for you.” She folded her arms and got up in his space, so he would know she meant business. “If you can’t uplift him, stay away from him. Clear?”
She swallowed hard and glanced in the direction of Corbin’s car. It was idling silently, waiting for her, and as mad as she was with him right now, she could still feel the effects of his quiet strength and the confidence he had instilled within her almost since they’d met. The man sitting over there would never make her feel small. Never, as Wilder had done, try to convince her that she was so unworthy of love that she had to settle for a facsimile of it.
She went on, “As for me, I know who I am and what I’m worth. I feel sorry for the girl I used to be, who was so insecure that she let you break her down and consume her. But that girl is dead, Wilder. And the woman who replaced her doesn’t need your approval.”
Part of her wanted to stick around and see the effect her words had on him, but the greater part was so disgusted that all she wanted to do was put some distance between them. So she left it at that, spinning around and walking away from him after dropping her metaphorical microphone.
“Go girrrl,” whispered a voice coming in from her bodycam, and that was how Melanie learned that Queenie had been there with her every step of the way. She couldn’t help but smile.
