Chapter 6
Outside the County Clerk Office, Jake stood there gripping his divorce papers, staring at his phone screen where his last message was marked with a bright red exclamation point.
He kept staring at the notification: Message sent but rejected by recipient. Something metallic and bitter rose in his throat.
“Jake!”
Riley came clicking after him in four–inch heels, her perfectly made–up face twisted into a sick smile.
“She’s already gone. You really think that little slut is coming back to beg for you?”
The glass doors reflected his bloodshot eyes. Riley’s manicured fingers barely touched his sleeve before he violently shook her off.
The force of Jake turning away knocked Riley’s Chanel scarf to the ground. She stumbled against a marble pillar, hearing his voice shake with barely controlled rage:
“Are you done with your act yet, you psycho bitch?”
“What did you say?”
Riley’s eyes went wide.
“Twenty–seven times.”
Jake suddenly burst out laughing. The sharp edge of the divorce papers cut into his palm, drawing blood.
“In the twenty–seven days Chloe was begging me, you had twelve stomach aches, seven car breakdowns, four domestic violence incidents, and even your damn Chihuahua got food poisoning four times–Riley, did you really think I was that stupid?”
A few couples getting married in the lobby started sneakily recording with their phones.
Riley went pale as a ghost, her perfectly styled curls sticking to her forehead with cold sweat:
“You were the one who agreed to help me deal with my family! Now you’re acting all lovesick? Where was this
energy when Chloe was-”
“Shut the hell up!”
Jake punched the electronic display screen. Cracks spread instantly across the surface.
“You knew her mom was…”
The shattered screen reflected his twisted expression as all the moments he’d deliberately ignored came flooding
back:
21:00
Just a Stand In?! My Billionaire Hubby’s OTHER Wife…
68.8%
Chapter 6
Chloe hunched over the printer at 3 AM fixing designs, her trembling fingers clutching medical reports by Mom’s hospital bed, and the sound of her suitcase wheels rolling across the floor the last time he saw her.
Riley was so freaked out by his expression that she took a step back, then forced herself to stand tall again:
“Why are you acting all heartbroken now? When she was begging you to marry her, you said she was annoying. Called it ‘emotional blackmail with a terminal illness‘…”
“I said shut the fuck up!”
His roar scared the sparrows off the windowsill.
When security rushed in with their batons, they found the usually composed CEO pinning his ex–wife against the wall by her collar, her expensive cashmere coat wrinkled and dragging on the tile floor.
21:00
