Page 42 of The Billionaire's Special Relationship

“Yes. But not for long. I’m working to wrestle it back.”

“But how?”

“I only need two votes to regain majority ownership. I have the money to pay for those two votes easily, and Alan doesn’t, at least not at the rate I can pay, but that’s not what I’m going for. I once had seventy-five percent ownership before the courts forced me to give up twenty-four percent to Nora.”

“Who’s Nora?”

“My ex-wife. I was married at twenty and divorced at twenty-nine.”

“It lasted nine years?”

“We were separated by year four. Just after my daughter was born. The courts gave her custody of Alan and Clare, our son and daughter, when she successfully argued that I was an irresponsible party boy.”

Tabby stared at him. She could see that in him. “Were you?”

“I was an irresponsible workaholic,andan irresponsible party boy. So yes. She had every right to get custody. I didn’t dispute that. But she had no right to be given twenty-four percent of my struggling business. She got it in the name of the children: Alan and Clare received ten percent each, and she got four percent, but she knew she would control all twenty-four percent. And she did until she turned it over to Alan.”

He exhaled as if it was still raw to him. “At the time of the divorce, my business wasn’t worth a damn. I bought it when it was already in foreclosure. At that time it was this poorly-run watersports rental company on the Jersey Shore that rented out Kayaks and surfboards and wetsuits and other water equipment. I bought it for pennies on the dollar, but I also had to assume all the debt. Which was substantial. But I knew me, and Nora knew me. That was why she wanted a stake in my business. Back then, it was like owning twenty-four percent of a junk bond. But when it blew up big just a few years later, which she and I both knew it would, that twenty-four percent was worth a fortune.”

Tabby stared at him. “Are you bitter about that?”

“I was very bitter. Especially when the courts were making me pay child support too, as if all that money rolling in from that twenty-four percent that she and the children owned didn’t count. But that was a long time ago.”

Tabby turned back around, but he could sense she had another, more personal question. “You can ask me anything, Tabitha.”

Tabby decided to ask it. “Did you love her?”

There was a long hesitation. “I did, yes.”

“Did she love you?”

“Hell no.” No hesitation there.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Oh her actions made that clear. She was cheating on me within four months of our marriage. I didn’t know it at the time. I was too busy working. But it was a constant issue.”

“Wow.”

“And you know what she told me after we divorced?”

Tabby turned her head back around. “What?”

“She told me the only reason she married me was because she wanted pretty children.”

Tabby could see the pain in his eyes just recounting that. “Wow,” she said again. “Now that’s a cold bitch.”

“A son and a daughter was what she wanted out of the deal, and that’s exactly what she got. Along with twenty-four percent of my blood, sweat, and tears.”

“Then she kicked you to the curb?”

“Figuratively and literally, yes.”

“That’s real cold, Stuart. For real for real. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad she showed her true colors early enough for me to pick up the pieces and move the hell on.”

“Did you marry again?”