He looked down at his boots. “I guess there’s nothing left to talk about then.”
“We could talk about this bullshit custody case,” I said pointedly. “We could talk about doing the right thing for the kids’ sake.”
“Nah,” he drawled. “I’d rather talk about it with the judge.”
I took in the petulant expression on his face and the way he bristled with anger. He was such a fucking baby when he didn’t get his own way. He always had been, and it gave me the total ick.
Thank God he wasn’t my problem anymore.
“If you’re not gonna play the game, Ro, I’ll play it for the both of us,” he bit out.
I cocked my head, taking in his attitude, and it propelled me back in time to when we were together. I’d forgotten how spiteful he could be and how ruthless, and being reminded of it now made a thought occur to me.
“You’re jealous,” I blurted out.
He stared at me.
“That’s what all this is about.” I waved a hand between us. “I don’t mean this interaction; I mean the custody case. You don’t want the kids; you don’t give a shit. This is all to teach me a lesson. I left you; I thrived without you. I got stronger, and then I met someone else, someone decent and successful. And you can’t stand it because you’re still exactly the sameperson you were fifteen years ago. The interaction at the house got you pissed too, didn’t it? Donovan’s everything you aren’t, and it made you feel inferior. That’s what all the PI shit was about, right? Trying to make me and Donovan look bad to make yourself bigger?”
Evan’s body bristled again, and he retorted, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Drop the case then,” I challenged, tilting my chin. “Prove to me you’re better than this.”
He snorted. “I don’t need to prove anything to you.”
“Right,” I said resignedly, realizing that Donovan had hit the nail on the head when he called Evan a narcissist.
That was exactly what I was dealing with.
The door pounded again, and that time, Kennedy’s voice called out, “Rosie. The judge is coming out.”
I looked up at my ex-husband and murmured, “Last chance. Prove the kids come first, Evan. Show them they’re your priority.”
A smirk flashed across his face, and he shrugged. “I miss my kids. I want them with me, and I’m afraid you’re a bad influence, Rosie. I need to think of their well-being.”
“Right,” I whispered.
Fuck Evan. He was about to go down, and everything that was about to unfold he’d brought on himself.
Game on.
—————
The courtroom setupwas much like the one at Nebraska when Donovan fought for custody of Imogen. Evan and I were sittingat a long table before the judge, with our lawyers between us, and a court official standing to the side.
Freya had gone off to find Maureen with Gabby and DJ. Donovan, Atlas, and Sophie had permission to stay in the room because they were carers for the kids and Sophie was their family doctor. Colt had pulled some strings (or hacked some system somewhere—who knew?) and was there in an official capacity, and Evan’s parents sat behind their son with Rachel.
I don’t know what had happened, or why, but my nerves had faded. Maybe it was Evan getting me in that room on the pretense of finally doing the right thing for our kids, and then playing the fool, but suddenly, I was done with him and his bullshit.
I didn’t cower to anyone, and I may have been going through something with my mental health, but Evan had lit a fire in my belly that had made my perspective do a complete one-eighty.
Fuck my ex-husband.
Fuck him.
We all stood when the clerk announced the judge by name. The air filled with a sense of anticipation as a stocky, thick-set man swept in, dressed in a suit covered by an unbuttoned, long black robe.
He was a ‘good ol’ boy’ if ever I saw one, and a pang of unease hit my belly because the good ol’ boys of the world tended to take one look at me (and my chest) and either think I was only good enough to flirt with or just dismiss me outright.
