“Last week, when you begged me, I gave you a month to find a job.” He pauses and looks at my phone. “Is that still on?”
I want to ask him to take his demands and get lost, but it feels good to have him on my side, literally and metaphorically, against Diana.
“Yes.”
He tilts his chin in acknowledgement. “You’re fired, Diana, as of right now. HR will be in touch with you. Don’t come to the office.”
“Come on, Aiden.” Diana flings her hands up in the air. “I spoke to Nelson, and you can’t fire me without permission from the board, and they’llnevergive it.”
“Actually, when you commit fraud, which you just did by lying about having a sexual relationship with me to my wife, with whom I am currently in divorce proceedings—I can.”
Aiden’s never looked sexier.
He’s in a dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up. His suit pants are perfectly ironed. He’s left his jacket in his car or maybe his office. The blue of his pants brings out the blue in his eyes, and the white shirt contrasts against his tanned skin. Someone’s been skiing.
But it’s not about how he looks, it’s about how he’s talking to Diana, how he’s defending me, defending us, that’s the sexiest.
Diana scoffs. “The board is going to fire you as CEO.” She looks at me. “Did you know that he’s told his parents he’s never talking to them again?”
Color me entirely surprised!
I narrow my eyes at Aiden. He winks at me.
“Get out, Diana,” he says pleasantly. “And leave my wife alone. She will be filing for a restraining order against you, just like she filed one against my mother.”
Did I do that? Really?
I huff out a breath as I conclude that it must be something Katya did on my behalf.
“You’ll lose your job…your company,” Diana warns. “You need me by your side.”
Aiden presses his palms against the counter, leans, and smirks. “Diana, I don’t care if I lose my job. And the only person I need by my side is my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” she snaps, so I don’t have to.
“I don’t care what the legal status of my marriage is. Mia willalwaysbe my wife.” He looks at his watch. “Now, I think you should leave. If you don’t, John is waiting to hear from me so he can tell the cops in the car outside to forcibly remove you.”
John, as in Police Chief John Frizzell?
Who was this man, and what had he done to my husband?
Aiden is a lot of things, but he isn’t aggressive, not like this and not with family and friends. He’s a peacemaker.
What happened?
Maybe just like you’re out of fucks, so is he, Mia.
Diana spins around and marches out. I turn to look out the window, and yep, won’t you have it, there is a Burlington PD cruiser outside.
After Aiden sends a message, I imagine, to the police chief, I watch the cruiser slowly pull away.
When did they become best buds?
My body is still humming with tension.
My adrenaline hasn’t settled.
I cross my arms and lean against the counter, still feeling the sting of Diana’s words.
