“No.”
He chuckled and opened his door before unfolding himself with far more grace than a man his size should’ve been capable of.
“Show off…” I mumbled and opened my own door. Griffin scowled at me. He had almost made it to my side of the car to open my door. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he rolled his eyes.
“You can grab the bags!” I said sweetly.
“That’s very generous of you.” He deadpanned.
A loud snort escaped me as I tried to hold in my laughter, and I felt my cheeks redden.
Griffin chuckled as he opened the trunk, but the sound of my phone ringing interrupted whatever smart ass comment had been coming.
“It’s Penelope…” I said quietly and leaned against the car. He stood beside me and nodded for me to answer it.
“Hey Penelope, you’re on speaker I’m with Griffin.” I announced.
“That’s fine. I just wanted to let you know that I just had a very interesting conversation with your soon-to-be ex-husband.”
“Oh?” I glanced at Griffin, who looked very serious.
“Yes, it appears he skimmed the divorce agreement, and it wasn’t to his liking.” I could hear the smirk on her face through the phone. “According to Mr. Landon, he will not be agreeing to a divorce without a minimum of six months’ worth of couples therapy as he’s in therapy for his sex addiction.” I gasped, but Penelope continued, “and he also wanted me to know that if he doesn’t hear from you himself, he’s going to report you as missing because none of this is normal behavior for his wife.”
“S- sex addiction!” I hissed in a pitch that I didn’t recognize. Griffin winced and cleared his throat.
“Can he report her as missing?”
“He can try, but I’m going to reach out to the precincts closest to the house and his work after this call and give them your new number so they can call you if they receive any reports. He was furious when I informed him that your number had been changed and I wasn’t authorized to share it but could contact you if he was truly worried about your safety.”
“I repeat, sex addiction?” I growled. “He’s turning his cheating into a fucking disease?!”
“It’s the exact type of defense I would expect from Mr. Gatti.” Penelope sounded unfazed, “it will buy him a little leniencyfrom a judge but not enough to void the prenup. It might even backfire given how many partners it appears he’s had over the years.”
My stomach rolled at the thought of how many women my husband had slept with before he climbed into bed with me.
“Can he force me to do marriage counseling?”
“As I informed Mr. Landon, he can certainly request marriage counseling but there wasn’t a therapist in California that would force a woman to go through six months of therapy with a man after hearing what he’d done.” Her voice took on a thoughtful tone, “he didn’t seem to like that very much. Apparently, he’s been a wonderful husband other than his addiction.”
“Oh, for fucks sake.” Griffin grumbled.
“What does this mean for me?” I felt a little lightheaded and closed my eyes.
“Nothing right now. I told him that his lawyer could contact me if he wanted to negotiate but that the paperwork followed the prenup so there really wasn’t anything to negotiate. He told me that he was done talking to me and was going to find his wife.”
“Fuck.” I let my head drop back against the car with a soft thud.
“I imagine he will be looking for a flight to North Dakota. Right now, he hasn’t done anything that warrants a restraining order but if he does show up and doesn’t leave when he’s told you are not to engage with him, you are to call the police.”
“We will.” Griffin assured her. “Is there anything else we need to do?”
“If you can record any and all interactions that would be best.”
“Kyle had a full security system set up here ages ago. There’s nothing that will happen here that we won’t have video and audio footage of.”
“Once again, I find myself grateful that my brother and you are both nerds.” I mumbled, and Griffin scowled at me.
“The private investigator has been instructed to follow Mr. Landon even if he gets on a plane. Unfortunately, he will most likely stand out in North Dakota in a way that he does not stand out in LA. If your husband does show up and you notice a burly, Scottish looking man loitering, your most likely seeing Duncan.”
