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Broken Vows

Page 147

by Olivia Radwell

I pull the blanket tighter. “I can’t see him. I blocked his number.”

“Good.”

“I keep wondering if he thought I was stupid the entire time.” My voice sounds flat. “All the little things I missed. All the moments I thought were real. Maybe I wanted to miss them.”

“Carmen.”

“I didn’t even know about the prenup. I don’t think I even read it before I signed it…how did I not see this?”

Diane’s hand stills on my back. “Because who the hell hires someone to seduce their own wife? That’s deranged.”

She doesn’t fully understand Maverick, or the scale of the divorce.

“There’s something I haven’t told you,” I say quietly. “Not because I didn’t trust you. It’s just…a lot.”

I look toward the kitchen counter, where one of Rod’s vitamin bottles sits beside the coffee maker. Whitmore Supplements. The label is painfully familiar.

Diane follows my gaze.

For a moment, neither of us speaks.

Then her face changes. “Oh,” she says. “Oh.”

I nod, strangely embarrassed. “Yeah.”

“I knew he was rich—you have very nice jewelry—but I didn’t know he was that rich.”

“I get nothing now.”

Diane turns fully toward me. “You can still fight it.”

“Maverick doesn’t fight fair. He’ll have twenty-seven lawyers on this, and mine didn’t even catch the clause.”

“Then you need a better lawyer.”

The simplicity of it almost makes me smile.

Before I can respond, a knock sounds at the front door.

I freeze.

Diane stands immediately, her whole demeanor shifting from soft friend to protective guard. She nods toward the guest bedroom.

I scoop Fifi into my arms and slip away, closing the door quietly behind me. My heart pounds so hard I can feel it in my throat. Fifi grumbles against my chest, annoyed by the sudden movement, then settles again with her chin tucked over my arm.

I listen as Diane opens the front door.

“Levi,” she says, cool and polite.

“You seen Carmen?” His voice hits me hard. I press my free hand against the wall to steady myself.

“No,” Diane says. “Not today.”

There’s a pause.

“She got Fifi last night?”

“Yeah, she came and got her. Is everything okay?”