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More sarcasm. I let it roll off me. She never liked how quiet I was, but I didn’t give a shit then and I don’t now. “What do you want?” There, is that enough speaking for you?
She perks up, smiling and crossing her arms. “I want to get back together with you.”
I shake my head.
“We’re good together, Dalton. You know that.”
“Do not try to tell me what I know.”
She’s miffed, scowling outright. “You do know it though. We’re good together. You make plenty for both of us, so I can devote my time to making you look good like the trophy wife you need for someone in your standing.”
I hold back a bark of laughter.
“You’ve got that huge apartment that sits there so empty.”
Now I crack, scoffing. “You mean the apartment you broke into?”
“I didn’t break in.”
“Did you have a working key?”
She blushes and frowns.
“Let me guess. You offered to blow the doorman to get inside and snoop through my desk to find that application?”
She bristles. “I would never.”
I laugh, not even feeling mean about it. “You wouldn’t blow a doorman but sleeping with my rival was okay?”
“That’s in the past, Dalton. We need to think about the future.”
I sigh. “You realize it won’t work.”
She furrows her brow. “What won’t?”
“That application. It’s too old. I’ll never agree to show up at a courthouse with you to obtain a new one and have it signed. Basically, like I’ve explained multiple times, I’m done with you. I’ve been done with you for more than a year now. We. Are. Over.”
None of the reasons she listed for why we should get back together have to do with love. As I sit here realizing I’m an idiot to hear her out, I doubt she’s ever loved me. Not like Aubrey does—or did.
“You can’t deny the fact we make a good couple,” Johanna argues. She stabs her finger to the table, as though she’s stamping it into reality. “We could build a dynasty together.”
“The only thing I’ll build is a case against you for lying and trespassing into my home to take my personal documents.”
She flinches. “You wouldn’t.”
“Here’s what I am doing.” I sit back in my chair, relishing the satisfaction I have of putting her in her place. “I’m retiring. I’m selling my company. I’m cashing out my stock.”
Her jaw drops, yet her expression doesn’t allow for much shock to show, she’s had that much work done—cosmetic “touches” that I paid for.
She blinks quickly and shakes her head as though that movement will rattle the confusion out of her mind. “But, but…Why?”
I tap my finger on the edge of the tablecloth, impatient to get out of here and get away from her. Johanna has only ever wanted me for my money and social standing—two things Aubrey didn’t care about at all. The woman seated across from me holds such low value in me, superficial and materialistic to the core. Johanna is nothing but a vindictive, cheating user. She’s a gold-digger, and I hate that I didn’t accept that before. I wanted that rosy future of having a wife so bad, I let myself stay disillusioned to her real identity.
Shame on me, then.
“Does that change how you feel about me?” I challenge. “Do you still want me without my money or fame?”
She balks, stuttering on incoherent sounds that might resemble a flimsy lie if she could string words together and pull it off. Her answer, if given honestly, would be a no. I see who she really is, and she’s a mean woman who wouldn’t care about me without my wealth.
