“How many other times have you cheated on me before this?” I asked.
“Oop,” Claudia murmured.
Blake scoffed. “What?”
“How many other times has it happened?” I asked plainly.
He blinked. “You can’t be serious.”
“Evasion. Not a good look,” Claudia said.
“You shut the hell up!” Blake barked as he whipped around on her.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me,” Claudia said as she put her phone to her ear, “you don’t have to worry about me.”
“That would be her calling the police,” I said.
Blake turned back around, his face etched with fury. “I have three more minutes of your time.”
I reached for my door. “No, you don’t. You don’t get me back without answering the hard questions, and you’ve never been good at those if it doesn’t make you money in court.”
I tried to close my condo door, but he jammed his foot in between the doorway and the wooden door itself.
“No lawyer in this state will help you after I’ve made my calls,” he glowered.
I tilted my head. “Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a promise,” he said as he removed his foot and placed his hand heavily against the door. “One phone call from me explaining all of this bullshit and no one will take on your case. You’ll be stuck with me until you come to your senses, I’ll make sure of it.”
Claudia poked her head back out her door. “Police are on their way. I suggest you file a report.”
“Can you stay here a bit longer? I want to make sure I’ve got a witness,” I said.
Blake growled. “Get inside. Now.”
“No,” I said hotly.
Claudia brandished some sour patch kids. “This is better than WWE Smackdown.”
“Go inside!” Blake barked.
“No!” Claudia and I yelled together.
Blake’s nostrils flared as sirens screamed in the distance. “You really want to go through all of this? The pain? The humiliation? The money spent in divorce proceedings while I rake you through the mud for all you’re worth? Tell me, how can you afford this condo on your own? Your graphic design business has barely made it off the ground most years.”
I grinned. “Maybe you should’ve made me sign the prenup that your best friend wanted you to make me sign.”
“Oooooh, girl,” Claudia said, “take him for all he’s worth.”
Blake ground his teeth together. “Rose, just listen to me.”
“No, you listen to me,” I said as I puffed out my chest and backed him out of my doorway, “you may think that you’re allowing me to stay here until I stop being upset with you, but the truth of the matter is that I’m entitled to half of everything you own. I’m only taking what’s rightfully mine. It’s not my fault that you thought you could control me for the rest of your life while fucking around behind my back like the bigshot you think you are. So, go ahead. Try to ice me out from every divorce lawyer in the state. That simply means I’ve got forty-nine other states to pull from when it comes to finding a lawyer. You got that kind of influence in this country?”
“Yes, girl. Tell him,” Claudia said.
Blake whipped around. “If you don’t shut that fucking fat-ass face of yours, I swear to hell on high—”
And that was when Blake met Rocky for the first time.
