“He didn’t…it wasn’t him who came to see me.” She groaned, a frustrated, scared sound. Part sob, part growl. “When I returned from Arizona, I was met at the airport by agents the government. An investigator and a lawyer, they said. They’d received an anonymous tip that I was fraudulently trying to help one of my father’s employees get permanent status through marriage…” Her whole body shook, for a second. “It was terrifying. And they warned me I couldn’t communicate with you about the investigation.”
His brain felt like it had been flooded with ice water, and he was hearing her from a distance. “Your father set it up,” he said, his words sharp. “They probably weren’t—”
“They were legit. I checked them out.” Her voice was small, and sad, but sure. “I had those same thoughts. And now…of course, I knownowthat my father was behind it. But the first thing I did was call a lawyer, and they put a halt to the conversation, and then confirmed the tip was real. And then my father showed up. In that moment…” Emotion clogged her words briefly, but then she continued. “I was terrified. And he said all the right things to the agents to make them go away. Then he promised me he could protect you, if we got an annulment. If we did that, then it would be like the violation never happened. He assured me that money could fix this, and you wouldn’t be in trouble and could keep working.”
As her story spilled out, Josh felt himself turn to stone. Her two fingers were still hooked over his, and she felt warm and real and desperate for him to believe her.
And he did.
It all made sense now.
But he couldn’t squeeze her fingers and reassure her that he understood, because he didn’t.
He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t have told him.
She was twenty-one.
He didn’t understand why it took this long—
But then he did. He saw it.
His voice sounded like it was pure gravel when he finally spoke. “When you found out we were still married, you knew the investigation couldn’t have been serious. Because if it had been real, we’d have been in deep trouble a long time ago.”
“Yes.”
He slowly, carefully, rolled away from her and swung his legs off the bed. “You must be angry with your father.”
He felt her shift on the bed, getting up behind him. “I was already angry with him, Josh. I had been for a long time. This? This is a betrayal that I wish I’d seen three years ago. And all I can say is, I see it now. So I want to make things right. And in a way…this is better.”
He laughed hollowly. “How on earth is this better?”
“California is a community property state.” Six solemn words. Quiet. Clearly considered.
This is what she’d come all this way to say to him.
She wanted a divorce…not for her own reasons. But for his.
“No,” he said, not caring that his voice was hard and cold and awful. Of all the thoughts rocketing around in his head right now,nowas the kindest thing he could possibly say.
At the end of the day, if she thought she could buy him off, she was no different than her father.
21
“Money,”Josh said slowly. “You want to buy me off.”
“No.” Monica’s stomach went into free fall as he shoved to his feet and stalked out of the bedroom.
She scrambled off the bed and followed. “Josh—”
“Go back to bed.”
“No.”
He yanked the blanket off the couch, then stopped and whirled around, glaring at her. “Why did you move my couch?”
She gaped at him.
“There was nothing wrong with where I put it.” He hooked his hand over the arm of the couch and hauled it savagely back to where it was. “You don’t need to come here and fix anything. You don’t need to save me. I’m fine.”
