AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her lawyer assured her it was.
Thank goodness Pete had jumped the gun. He’d had her followed, but his private eye had snapped pictures of the wrong man; she’d been consoling the husband of a client who, due to horrendous preeclampsia complications, had lost her baby and had a stroke. The incident left Pete without the proof he needed to enforce the prenuptial agreement, while alerting Julia that he was trying to obtain it.
But it still left her in this awkward situation, with hidden credit cards and borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
Her other phone buzzed. A text from Rick:How’s the unpacking going?
Her mood lifted, and she leaned playfully against the counter.Slow, but getting there.How’s your day going?
Missing you. About to head out to the gym, thinking it’d be great to christen your new place after.
Warmth swept through her hips. A bottle of wine and an evening of lovemaking would be a defibrillator to her flagging energies.
Not yet, she replied with a longing sigh.
She watched for his dancing dots, but they didn’t come; his anger and frustration were palpable in the delay.
When it came, the response was simple and searing.When?
Fear stabbed at her stomach. She was walking a line uncomfortably close to the fire. He was rapidly approaching his limit, and a text wouldn’t cut it. She put through a call.
He picked up immediately and she spoke without preamble. “Not until it’s safe.”
The familiar sounds of his café murmured and hissed behind him. “Itissafe. You’re separated, and he asked for a divorce.”
“He’s still looking for proof.”
“So what?” An employee called out a pumpkin spice latte. “Separated means you can do what you want.”
Her temple throbbed. “He’s not stupid. If he finds out who you are, he’ll dig and find out we’ve known each other for months. His lawyer will check your phone records and my burner number will show up. Then they’ll trackthat.” And once they found her burner, they’d find her other affair, too.
“Come live with me. You won’t have to pay rent, and I’ll be able to take care of you. You don’t need him or his money.”
Another call beeped over the line. She ignored it.
She put on her soothing, sexy voice, the one that’d been getting her what she wanted since puberty. “Someday we’ll live together, and it’ll be amazing. But right now, there’s a lot more I have to pay than just rent.”
“I can’t buy you designer dresses, no. But I can take care of you.”
She winced—his pride was hurt. But at the end of the day, Rick barely made enough money for theinsuranceon her Mercedes S-Class, let alone the payment. She could do without designer dresses, but there was a limit to how far backward she was willing to go. She wasn’t getting any younger, and there were other complicating factors. “I need a space where Ethan can come see me without him having to show up to another man’s territory. Remember how you felt when your mother started dating after your parents divorced?”
He blew out a frustrated sigh. “I get that. But I need a timeline.”
“Once the judge grants the divorce, we should be fine. So, a couple of months?” She crossed her mental fingers. “By then the SMS data from the old burner phone won’t be recoverable anymore, so they’ll have no way to trace it back to me.”
Something metal clanged. “Maybe we can use the trick we used before?”
Six months ago he’d moved into the same apartment complex her friend Celia lived in; that way if a private investigator followed her, she appeared to be innocently visiting her friend. But Celia had moved recently because she got engaged. “Her new complex doesn’t have any apartments, and you have six months left on your lease.”
“I could get out of it,” he said. “Maybe we should look for another complex we could both move in to.”
Why couldn’t he understand it was too complicated? Because he didn’t know Pete, that’s why. “I’ll try to think of something else.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with, too. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She disconnected.
But as she set the phone back down, it rang—and her entire body went cold. She sank into the nearby kitchen chair, staring at the number she’d hoped never to see again.
