Page 44 of Boxer Next Door

“That is where I was,” Mike said. “And Bryson knew. Because I was allowed to let him know that much.”

Fuck. This guy had to be spewing bullshit. What was this crap about being ‘allowed’ anything? Did he think he could just explain away why he left his family behind? I looked over at Lydia, sure I would see my skepticism mirrored on her face.

Instead, I found her looking stunned and disbelieving. She was considering he might not be lying out of his ass.

“If you want more proof, I have something to show you,” Mike went on, and we both turned back to face him. He’d pulled some papers out, and unfolded them.

I’d been dealing with enough of them recently to be able to tell they were bank statements. The numbers in them were flooring.

“This,” Lydia whispered, reaching for one of the papers, only to hover her hand above it, not touching it. “Mike. This is way more than the money you left us with. Where have you got all of this money?”

“I took as little as possible when I left, only what I needed. I’d known for a while that we couldn’t keep on the way we were. I wanted to prove to you I could properly provide for the family we’d intended to build. Remember how you’d always said you wanted at least three kids? It wouldn’t have worked with the funds we had. So I went to make more.”

I wanted to say something insulting because I knew Lydia was falling for it. But just because she’d asked me to be there didn’t mean she wanted me butting into her business. Besides, I couldn’t claim he was lying because unless he’d robbed someone, there wasn’t an easy way to make that kind of money. I was getting profits from the studio, but I knew that even if it took as long as this man had been gone, and if I put the money away without touching it… it wouldn’t come up to even half the amount I was looking at.

But then, Lydia scoffed. “This is… all well and good, Mike. But if you’d known you would be coming back, why divorce me in the first place? If you just said you’d be on a long trip for work…”

“Would you have been okay with that, though?” Mike interjected. “I wouldn’t have been able to have any contact with you, or even send you money until my contract was over. If I’d told you that, without giving any details, and disappeared for so long… Tell me the truth, Lydia. It would have worried you, wouldn’t it? Then you would have tried to use your connections to track me down when you should be concentrating on yourself and our son.”

I rolled my eyes at this guy’s logic. Wasn't he saying he hadn't put a lot of trust and faith in Lydia? Instead, he divorced her, hurt her, disappeared for more than a year, then came back after she’d moved on with threats? Yeah, man. Good plan.

Lydia seemed to think so, though. She wasn’t telling this guy to go fuck himself as I’d hoped. Just seeing her expression, I knew she was wavering between believing him and throwing him out.

I looked right at her and became worried. Because the Lydia I was seeing in front of me, was wearing another face I hadn't seen yet. I didn’t like this one.

From her expression alone, because she was such an open book, it was easy to tell that Lydia felt… guilty.

20

Lydia

“Lydia…”

I winced as Ken called my name, his voice quiet like he knew what was coming. I couldn’t even look at him, and I hadn't since Mike left because I needed to think things through. Because, if what he said was true, then I’d been accusing him wrongly for some time now.

Thank God I never badmouthed him where Bryson could have heard.

My little man, who knew where his father was the whole time and what he was going to do. It was probably why he’d acted lonely for a bit then recovered quickly. I knew his depression could have lasted way longer than a couple of months, and when he started to come back into himself, his teachers had praised me, saying I must have done something right.

Oh. I did absolutely nothing. Can I even say I acted as a good mother, getting rid of everything that reminded him of his father because I thought it would be best?

My chest ached just thinking about it.

“Lydia.”

Ken called my name again, more firmly, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts. This time, I turned to look at him instead of ignoring him. He was frowning at me, looking distressed, but I didn’t think I could tell him what he probably wanted to hear.

“Can we talk about this?” he asked.

I laughed, and the sound came out hollow. My body shivered, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

“What’s there to talk about? You heard everything he said, didn’t you? I don’t understand a lot of it, but… when you think about it, even if he went about it in the wrong way, all Mike was doing was being a good husband and father.”

“He still divorced you,” he argued. “Legally, he’s no longer your husband, and you have the right to do what you want with your life. I get letting him see Bryson because the two of them were obviously close. But don’t tell me you’re thinking of giving him a second chance?”

I blinked rapidly, my arms tightening around my body. I hadn't quite thought that far. I wasn’t even sure exactly what was going through my head at the moment because there were too many thoughts clamoring for my attention.

“I don’t know,” I muttered, looking away from Ken.