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Elite’s head shook. “I’ma let her tell you about her actions. I’m only here to take responsibility for mine.”
Baxter stood and cocked his gun. “So you admit you beat my daughter?”
“I didn’t. The man she cheated on me with did.”
With wrinkled brows, Baxter slowly lowered his gun. “The man she what?”
Not repeating himself, Elite allowed a few seconds to pass so Baxter could process his words. “I came here because I promised you I would love and protect your daughter when you gave me her hand in marriage. You told me if the day came that I felt like I couldn’t love her right, to give her back to you.” Elite released a shaky breath as his eyes watered. Because the truth of the matter was, he didn’twantto lose his wife. He didn’t want his marriage to be over. They had just started to work their way back to one another. Small steps, but with progress. And now… it was over. “So I’m here to give her back to you. We’re divorcing, so… she’s yours again.”
Shaking his head, Baxter ran his free hand down his face. “You wanna come in and talk, son?”
“Nah. There’s nothing to talk about. It’s over.”
“If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
Nodding, Elite turned and headed back to his car. Talking would make him wonder if he was doing the right thing and doubting himself at this point would be dangerous. He had boundaries and requirements to protect himself. Requirements that Jacintha was fully aware of. She crossed a boundary, and it was up to Elite to protect them both by ending their marriage before more damage was done.
??????
Jacintha had called Elite several times, and he figured it was because her father told her about their talk. The only reason he hadn’t blocked her number was because he wanted to give her the chance to tell him she was dropping the charges. As much as he hoped that was the case, he couldn’t even answer the phone to hear her voice. When she called again, Elite finally sucked it up and answered with, “Yeah?”
“Oh.” She paused. “I wasn’t expecting you to answer.”
“Well, you keep calling, so…”
Jacintha sighed. “Obviously, I wanted to talk to you. Have you calmed down some?”
He laughed. “Calmed down? You cheated on me, got pregnant, then told the police I beat you. How calm do you expect me to be, Jacintha?”
“Calm enough to talk to me. Can we talk, Elite? Please?”
“About what?”
“What I did. How we move forward. What you said to my dad.” She sniffled. “You’re giving me back?”
His mouth hung open and head shook as he stared at the wall. Since his release, Elite had been staying at a hotel. He’d gone home long enough to grab a few things and was grateful Jacintha wasn’t there.
“Didn’t I make it clear we were getting a divorce? You cheated. Ain’t no coming back from that.”
Jacintha huffed. “Can you just come home so we can talk?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, but you can say whatever you have to say over the phone.”
“Fine.” She groaned, and Elite had to grit his teeth from smiling as he sat at the small table by the window. “I just… wanted to explain what happened and why.”
He wanted to play hard and tell her it didn’t matter, but his mind had been going crazy trying to figure out why she’d done what she did.
“Go ahead.”
“I was unhappy, I told you that. I wanted fun and excitement because you and I were struggling. Yes, I could have left or put forth the effort to make us better, but I chose the easy way out instead. There’s no real excuse other than the fact that I just wanted to try something new. I wasn’t expecting things to last between me and him for as long as they did, and it was never supposed to be serious. After you and I agreed to really give us a chance, he and I were going to call it quits, but he kept calling and texting me.” She sighed. “I found out I was pregnant, and I told him, and he said he couldn’t be in the child’s life because his wife would leave him if she found out. After I told him I would make him suffer if he didn’t do the right thing, he attacked me.”
As angry and hurt as Elite was, he was still her husband. A man. It would eat him alive if he didn’t go after the man that had violated his wife and marriage in more ways than one.
“Are you going to tell me who he is?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
