Chapter 41
I swallowed. “There was an incident in the supply closet.”
“You’ll need to clarify ‘incident,‘ Jane.”
I felt my face go hot for the first time in this entire meeting. “It wasn’t anything really. We were just talking.”
“Who saw?”
“A janitor. He walked in on us. But somehow… Mia got a video.”
“Let me guess.” She leaned back, drumming her fingers on the desk. “Grainy footage, looks extremely suspicious.”
I nodded. “The supply closet was pretty small.”
Hailey didn’t say anything for the next couple of minutes. She turned her attention to her computer, typed for a bit, then shifted her gaze back to me. “Do you have anything on Xander? Something we can actually use?”
“There’s the home security footage, some of it’s saved in the cloud. There are office cameras too. And… he froze my account.”
Her eyes lit up slightly. “That’s useful. Financial control is something the court will take seriously.” She tapped her fingers on her keyboard again before turning back to me. “Now I have to ask the question you’re not going to like.”
“Anything.” I braced myself.
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“Are you seeing Aaron Lorenz?”
I shifted in my seat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. I’d expected it. Our relationship was questionable. Still… I didn’t particularly enjoy discussing it.
“No,” I said quickly. “I mean… we’re not… I’m not an adulterer.”
“But you’re living in his house?”
“It’s not like that. I just needed somewhere to stay. I had no money, no home. That’s all.”
She tapped her fingers on the chair, staring down at the document. “I believe you,” she said finally. “But the court won’t.”
Silence stretched between us, and then… “That’s why I need you to move out of Aaron’s place.”
*Jane*
Hailey continued, “You need to move out, Jane. The sooner, the better.”
Lucky whined. The thought of being far from Aaron didn’t sit right
with her.
“But why?” I asked. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Look… no one cares about what’s true or not, as long as the opposing party can always spin things to suit their narrative.”
”
I said nothing, so she went on.
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“If we’re going to play this divorce game by Xander’s rules, then we don’t give him a single advantage. Right now, you’re living under the
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same roof as another man. That’s all the ammunition they need.”
“Cohabitation during proceedings with Aaron is reckless. To the court, the judge… it’s tactical suicide. You have to be disciplined, clean, no skeletons in your cupboard.”
I didn’t respond. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I thought it would just be a civil end to a terrible marriage. But now we were talking strategy as if we were on the battlefield.
“Get used to this kind of discomfort. If Xander wants a war, then we’ll give him a damn fantastic show.” Hailey folded the documents into a file… my case file, ending our meeting.
I left her office without another word. She had a point, living with Aaron could backfire terribly. But I didn’t want to play by Xander’s rules anymore. He wasn’t in charge.
By the time I slid into the backseat of the waiting Uber, my jaw was set like stone.
George was right. The Blackwood family would never go down without a fight. And now, because of this counterclaim, I was being told to pack my things and move out as if I owed Xander anything.
I wasn’t going to do it. If Xander wanted to twist everything into a scandal, he can go right ahead. It didn’t matter to me.
And honestly, it wouldn’t be the end of the world either. There were worse things than being branded an adulterer by Xander Blackwood.
Lucky howled in approval. She definitely agreed that this was the right
move.
“Jane. We need to talk.”
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My gaze snapped up at the driver, wondering where the voice had come from. It took a second to realize what was going on, but when the voice came again, I knew it was Xander’s mindlink.
Did Xander know I’d just been to see my lawyer? I wanted to curse at him, but I suppressed the urge. Xander was already suing me, I didn’t need to give him a reason to add more charges.
“It wasn’t me, Jane. It was my mom. She’s pushing the counterclaim. I never wanted it to go this far.”
I nearly laughed out loud. Of course. Of course he’d put all the blame on Amelia like he didn’t plan it right along with her, or sign every page fully aware of what that would mean for me.
