Rodney met my eyes. “About four hundred thousand. But doesn’t the fact that she was cheating on me from the beginning mean anything?”
“Not for distribution of marital assets. Under the law, she’s entitled to half of what you acquired while you were married.” Rodney’s face drained of color while his father’s turned beet red. “I’ll need your tax returns, and we’ll have to include this in distribution. What we will negotiate on is alimony.” I watched the anger rise in the senior Fuller’s eyes. “How do you know she was cheating?”
“I hired a private detective. Every Wednesday she met with a man—the same man—at his house for an hour.” Jonathan Fuller speared me with an angry look. “What the hell do you think she was doing?”
“I have no idea. Did you ask her?”
Rodney snorted. “My father said she wouldn’t tell the truth, so why should I bother?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. This kid was being led by his balls. “This is the best I can tell you right now. Let’s go back inside.”
When we returned, Jill was pale and looked as though she’d been crying. Her mother sat with a pinched face, as if she’d sucked on an entire lemon. Weston had left his clients sitting, and his long frame leaned against the edge of the conference table. I caught a whiff of his cologne and damned myself for my traitorous body’s response. I stepped away and set my jaw.
“Rodney, c-can I talk to you a minute?” Jill’s mouth trembled, and her eyes grew shiny. “Please?”
“Don’t listen to her,” Jonathan warned, but Rodney bit his lip, the longing obvious in his eyes.
“What is it?” Rodney asked, and sensing hesitancy, I prodded him.
Jill left her seat, and Rodney met her halfway. “Can we talk alone for a second? Without my mother or your father?”
I beckoned them. “You can use my office.”
“Jill, I don’t advise—” Weston began, but she whirled around.
“But I want to do this.” She and Rodney walked across the hall to the room, and I closed the door behind them and stood in front of it.
“Guard-dog duty, Brenner?” Weston sniped. “Is that your real job?”
“Don’t try to interfere with them. I’m sure they’ll pay your fee even if they do get back together.” My lip curled in a sneer.
“I don’t need some small-potato divorce case to make my bottom line.” He paused. “Unlike some.”
That insufferable, haughty gaze swept over the office. No, we weren’t a hotshot international firm, and we didn’t have a roster of multimillionaire clients like Walden, Booth, and Roth.Obnoxious fucker.Nothing had changed.
I brushed past him, but he grabbed my arm. “Don’t touch me,” I rasped, but he held on tighter.
“So you do remember.” His fathomless eyes left me breathless.
“Fuck you,” I grunted and pushed him off me, but he only laughed.
I stalked away to the restroom and shut the door behind me. My chest heaving, I braced my arms on the vanity. “I will not let him get to me,” I muttered and closed my eyes, inhaling and exhaling at a steady pace to regain control. Why him? Of all the damn lawyers in the city, it had to be Weston Lively. The one man who, no matter how I tried, always managed to worm his way under my skin. The operative word beingworm.
Since our first year of law school, Weston had been a scourge, a thorn I couldn’t extract. A perennial frat boy who sailed through life on his family’s name and wealth. At our first meeting, I’d thought he was another pretty face and was shocked that he was as brilliant as he was arrogant. No matter how hard I tried to beat him, he almost always came out one better than me.
When had he moved to New York? Last I’d heard, he’d been at his firm’s Boston office.
Last time.
Without much success, I’d tried to block out that wild night on the dance floor and my hotel room. A night that had released a side of me I’d never known existed. From the moment his arms came around my waist on the dance floor, I was lost. It was as if I’d been hypnotized and bound to his will.
Contrary to what Seth imagined, I did go out, more so this past year than any other, in an attempt to exorcise Weston from my system. I’d thrown myself into the dating pool, hoping to meet a woman who could make me forget a wicked grin, gleaming eyes, and the rasp of scruff on my cheek.
I’d failed miserably.
Seeing him today only steeled my resolve to push harder to find a woman and rid myself of furtive dreams I allowed only in the dark. No more. I was sober and smarter. I’d never put myself in that position again.
With a tug to my cuffs and a snap of my shoulders, I strode out of the bathroom. Of course, Weston was waiting for me, shoulder propped on the wall opposite the bathroom door.
