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He glared. “Let’s negotiate. What can I give you to stop you from showing so much skin?”
“When are you going to get it through your spoiled little rich boy skull? I’m done making deals. This isn’t your game anymore. I call all the shots in my life now.”
That week he was the one that did the cursing out and stormed off before our hour was up.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
On week sixteen post-divorce I got a strange phone call from a strange number with a strange man on the other end of it.
Fatima’s estranged husband, Antoine Beauchamp, wanted to meet me. I said yes mainly out of curiosity, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a heavy peppering of spite factoring somewhere in the decision.
We met for dinner at a swank restaurant uptown. For all intents and purposes, it was a date. It certainly looked like one. Camera flashes clocked me from the moment Chester handed me out of the car until I’d walked into the establishment. Someone had tipped them off. Obviously Antoine. I wasn’t the only one here operating out of spite. Both of our exes would likely know about our dinner plans before we even touched a menu.
I’d heard a snippet somewhere that Antoine was French nobility, a Count or something, and the moment I saw him, I could picture it. He was tall, slender, and elegant down to the tips of his toes. His dark hair was slicked back attractively, bringing out his large black eyes. He was quite handsome and reeked of old money.
One would think Fatima was out of her mind unless one had seen just what this man was competing with.
He greeted me with a kiss to both cheeks. Camera flashes told me our paparazzi hadn’t been limited to the sidewalk outside. I didn’t even comment on it. He’d gone a bit overboard, but I could appreciate more than anyone the extreme degree of Antoine’s vindictiveness.
We sat down opposite each other and he shot me an appealing, crooked grin. “Noura. Nice to finally meet you. You’re even more beautiful in person. I should have reached out earlier. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we have a few interesting things in common.”
I laughed. “I heard you were a Count. I didn’t hear you were a Diplomat.”
His eyes smiled warmly at me. “Our exes are fools, aren’t they?” he mused.
I liked him instantly. “They are.”
“I have a list of every time I could gather that they were together while she was married to me,” he said, like he was just bursting to get it all out. “It’s fairly staggering. Everything is dated, so you can get an idea how many times he was with her when he was married to you. Would you like to see it?”
I was agonizingly tempted, but I reined it in, with effort. “I don’t think I need to see that at this point. I’m just trying to move forward.”
He was on his phone as I spoke, his fingers moving like a flash. “Well, I’ve sent it to you, in case you’re like me and you sometimes need reminders to hold onto your resolve.”
He looked up at me, stashing his phone back in his pocket. “At first I wanted to kill him. A part of me still does. But it was both of them. And frankly she’s the one that made vows to me. She’s the one that deserves the brunt of my contempt for this betrayal.”
Something bitter must’ve run across my expression because next he remarked, “You probably hate her. I don’t blame you. But remember that it was him that betrayed you. Don’t make the mistake of vilifying her and giving him a pass.
“Oh trust me, I won’t.”
“But you’re still seeing him.”
I didn’t question why he thought it was his business. I didn’t really care. I just responded, “Yes, but not because I’m taking him back.”
“I thought perhaps you may have been swayed by the news that it wasn’t his baby.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m done. What about you? What will you do if it’s yours?”
“You didn’t hear? She got rid of it as soon as she found out that Banks wasn’t the father,” he said with unmistakable bitterness. “To be honest, I’m not sure she didn’t fake the whole thing. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing could have kept us together. You two were still newlyweds, and I can’t say what your marriage was like, but she’s been lying to me for years, years that I blindly trusted her. Everything I thought we had has been poisoned by her betrayals. Everything about us was a lie. I’m done.”
I didn’t really know what to say to him. We were virtual strangers with one painful thing in common. I liked him, but didn’t particularly want to share any more of my feelings with him.
“Anyway,” he continued, waving a hand in the air. “I have leverage over Fatima. So does Banks. Between the two of us, we can guarantee she won’t try to hurt you again. We’ll use her pride to rein her in. I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thank you,” I said simply. For someone who owed me nothing, he sure had a lot to offer. It was surprising and oddly endearing.
“One more thing about that file I just sent you. I know, I know,” he said hurriedly as I began to shake my head. “You don’t want to look at it, but just so you know, they were still hooking up for almost a month even after your wedding.”
