Endless nags sprung out of her like a burst pipe. While I didn’t care for most of the things she said, she blurted out something that spiked my anger—I had three children, yet Elliot had never even been intimate with a woman.
Her condescending words made my toes curl in annoyance. I snapped at her, “Don’t you think it’s weird for someone his age to be unmarried?”
“What nonsense are you spewing! Why would your Dad and I intentionally cause you harm? We’ve already run a private investigation on Elliot, and it’s been cleared. He’s healthy as can be, so he won’t have any issues with taking care of you and your children!”
“The Stovall and Moore family’s assets are enough to ensure a comfortable life for my children and me. Are you really doing what’s best for me? Or are you just using me to secure a son-in-law’s financial investment into the companies under your and Zachary’s name? You’re using me as a chess piece to expand your business territory, aren’t you?”
The reality of things was often ugly. However, I had to accept my reality and face my family’s true nature, regardless of how rotten they were.
Cameron froze at my sudden retort. Her lips parted, but no words were able to form.
I held her gaze as disappointment twisted inside me. Turning on my heel, I shrugged her grip off my arm. “If you insist on using me as a business opportunity, then I’d rather us be strangers.”
My feet stepped with an unyielding force, marching out the glass door and past Elliot in the living room. I stormed upstairs to collect Summer, then we left without so much as a goodbye.
Anger throbbed inside me. I had finally put Summer to bed and needed to vent, so I returned to my room and video-called Ashton.
The camera captured my darkened expression, down to my crinkled eyes that frowned. As soon as Ashton picked up the phone, he saw my furious gaze that could burn holes through him.
His brows twitched as he flashed me an amused half-smile. “Have I perhaps done anything to upset you today?”
“Yeah, you ticked me off.”
We wouldn’t have faked our divorce if we didn’t need to get revenge. Then I wouldn’t get tricked into a blind date with Elliot, nor would I be thrown around as a pawn in Cameron and Zachary’s calculative ways.
Although these were only words of anger, it made sense that I would feel this way since an angered woman often acted emotionally rather than sensibly.
Ashton frowned. His face scrunched into confusion. “After coming back from the hospital, I was in the office the entire time and only came in contact with Joseph, the secretary who delivered my coffee. So who could have possibly gotten my honey’s knickers in a twist?”
Because he had a clear conscience, he spoke in a bubbly, almost joker-like manner that prompted laughter from me. His exaggerated frown made it hard to stay upset at him.
A giggle snuck out from my tightly clamped lips. “Quit acting so silly! I was trying to tell you that I got set up on a blind date.”
“A blind date?” Ashton’s eyes wiggled into a doubtful gaze. Then his voice sprang with an airiness that teased me, “Woah, it takes guts to go on a blind date with you. Who in K City could possibly be so reckless and not value their lives?”
I let out a deep chesty scoff. “How is dating me reckless? Am I really that bad?”
Deep laughter rumbled from Ashton. “You seem to have forgotten what I said during the Ziegler family’s anniversary banquet.”
This took me by surprise as I tried to recall that night’s events.
At that banquet, Thora almost successfully splashed her beverage all over me. It wasn’t a great experience, but at least Ashton publicly defended me and said that no matter what, we will always share a bond since we have children between us.
The pros to his words were that they discouraged anyone from purposefully making my life difficult in the future. At the same time, he eliminated the possibility of potential suitors around me. It deterred those who wanted my hand in marriage, as well as those who were after my powerful influence since I had the support of the Stovall and Moore family. This was because they would have to compete against Ashton, and given his pristine status, any competitors would be foolishly asking for social suicide.
Seeing him so smug, my lips pinched with annoyance. “How are you so confident that I won’t fall for another man?”
Ashton’s gaze narrowed on me. His eyes flickered to a menacing pitch-black. “It’s not that I’m confident. Rather, it’s because I know that you won’t tolerate messy relationships in your life. We’re alike in that aspect; fidelity is something that you regard highly, if not more than I do.”
His serious words struck me by surprise and left me dumbfounded.
He truly knew me like the back of his hand.
This was what I believed true love to be; a love where both parties were free to conquer their own domains, but the love between them would remain strong and unchanged.
