Her head jerked back like I slapped her, and I could tell by the look on her skeletal ass face that my anger surprised her, but she recovered quickly. She stood up from one of the leather chairs in the waiting area on my floor and walked toward me.
“Well, that’s no way to greet a lady.” She lifted her chin in defiance.
I couldn’t believe this lying hoe had the audacity to be upset about how I spoke to her but something I learned about people like Eva was that the one thing they always had in abundance wasthefucking audacity. I couldn’t believe that I was standing face to face with my ex-wife. After I left her grandmother’s house in Tennessee with my heart shattered, I thought I was never going to see her ass again. Yet, here she was standing in front me wearing a pinstripe business suit; her pencil skirt looked alittle baggy on her because it didn’t hug her hips like Bailey’s did because Eva has always been thin.
Her hair hit her chin in a straight bob that was parted down the middle, and her impossibly high heels had her almost eye level with me. She was wearing more makeup than I was used to seeing her in, but it blended with her mahogany skin flawlessly and her cat-shaped eyes looked mischievous. Eva still looked beautiful, too bad I hated her fucking guts.
“I’m sorry for my rudeness, I meant to say what thefuckare you doing here?” I felt my eye twitch and knew I was losing my patience.
“I remembered back when you were starting your company you liked to always be the first to arrive, especially when you had an important meeting.” She smiled and I felt my anger rise. How dare she stand here and remember shit about me? Like we were friends or some shit. But a suspicious idea was starting to form in my mind.
“Answer my question, before I have security escort you out of here.” I felt a headache building behind my twitching eye and I felt myself about to snap.
“I’m your first meeting,” she answered quickly, and it felt like the ground opened underneath my feet.
“What do you mean you’re my first meeting? My first meeting is with Brandon Moore.” I felt numb like I was having an outer body experience.
“He’s out of town on business but I’m co-owner of Moore Technologies. Brandon is my husband,” she said, lifting her left hand to flash a large ring.
“Hold the fuck on, I’ve never seen your name onanyof the documents I looked over when he sent over his investment proposal.” The headache behind my eye was starting to spread to my temples, and I wanted to get the hell out of here, but I couldn’t because this wasmyoffice.
“I’m a silent partner but I develop the software for the drones.”
“This is bullshit, you know damn well I do not want to work with yo’ skank ass. I’m going to have to speak with Torrence,” I said, side stepping her and walking off to my office.
“Wait! Titan please!” Eva’s heels were clicking behind me. “This deal means so much to Brandon and the future of our business. When he wanted to apply for the grant, he was nervous because of our history. But it was too big of an opportunity to pass up, I couldn’t bear to break his heart so I told him that working with you would not be a problem, but I told him to leave me off the paperwork. He was so excited when he got the news that you agreed to invest. I couldn’t tell him I haven’t spoken to you since our divorce.”
“Well, ain’t that funny,” I chuckled sardonically, “how you can give a fuck about breaking someone’s heart if a deal falls through, but not when lying about a child being your ex-husbands?!” I felt my temper reaching a level that it hasn’t reached in a long time and the pounding in my head was getting worse. When I entered my office, the sensor lights came on and I squinted from the sudden brightness. My eyes quickly adjusted, and I went across the room to the bar cart and poured myself a glass of brown liquor. I didn’t give a damn that it was almost seven in the morning I needed to calm the fuck down.
“Titan, I’m sorry.” She had the nerve to sound sincere, but I wasn’t buying that shit. Eva has always been cunning.
“Fuck you and that whack ass apology, Eva,” I said before knocking back my shot. I clenched my teeth as my chest burned as the liquor went down my throat. Unfortunately, the drink didn’t do shit but make me angrier. Without looking in Eva’s direction, I went to my desk and dropped into my leather chair. I drummed my fingers impatiently against my desk and loosened my tie with my other hand.
My head was a mess. I never thought I would ever see Eva again but here she was, standing in the doorway of my office and also standing in the way of an investment that could do remarkable things for me and the company I was awarding it to.
I rubbed my hand over my face and let out a deep breath. When I turned my head to say something to Eva, my eyes stopped on the framed picture of me and Bailey on my desk. Immediately I felt myself calm down. One minute my temper was so high my head was pounding then one look at the selfie I took of Bailey’s smiling face while I licked her cheek made me calm down a little. Now that I was thinking somewhat with a clear head, I came to a decision.
“I’ll tell you what, Eva, I do not want to see you alone ever again and have your husband call my assistant to reschedule to see me when only he’s available. If he asks why? Then tell him the truth about us but I doubt you will.”
“He’s been so busy he may not be available for another three months.” I raised my eyebrow because she sounded anxious all of a sudden.
“Sounds like a personal problem. I’m not going anywhere. Now, have him call to reschedule or I pull out of this deal before the final paperwork is signed,” I said with a shrug.
“Are you serious?!”
“As a heart attack. It’s not my problem that you’re obviously still a liar if you can’t tell your husband the truth. But whatever story you tell him as to why he needs to reschedule, is not my problem. But I don’t want to meet with you at all. Now you may leave.”
Since she was still in the doorway of my office, I hit a button on my desk that closed the door and watched it slam in her face. I can’t lie; it felt too good slamming the door in Eva’s face. After all these years the sight of that woman got under my skin.
I looked down when I felt my hands shaking because now my anger was back. Seeing Eva ripped the band aid off an old wound I thought had healed and that was the wound of the boy that was supposed to be my son. I still remember how happy I was to be a father, and Eva’s lies took that away from me. We still had mutual acquaintances, so I found out on social media that her son’s name was Justin. He was four now. Suddenly a question I always wanted answered popped into my head, and I jumped from my chair and ran toward the elevators.
When I got off the elevator once it reached the ground level, I saw Eva walking toward the exit.
“Eva, wait!”
She turned around quickly, and her expression looked hopeful.
“Who is Justin’s father?” That was the one thing I never knew about Eva’s betrayal. I never cared to understand why she cheated on me but call me a glutton for punishment because I always wanted to know who the father of her son was. However, I could never bring myself to ask her back then, just in case it was someone I knew. I watched her expression completely fall after my question, and suddenly she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here as she started shifting from foot to foot.
