Heartless People |Book 3|

Chapter 9

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything

Together in perfect harmony."

—Colossians 3:14

LISA

She'd played me.

She didn't want a divorce, I knew she didn't.

I wanted to be pissed at her. I wasn't over the last five months, and yet as hard as I tried, I couldn't muster the energy to keep fighting. I'd fucked it out of my system...and that was what she'd wanted. It had been two days and I couldn't be around her without wanting to bury myself inside of her. We didn't speak to each other; all we did was look over every last sale in the five months that we'd been away. Neither of us was surprised that we were bleeding money, but that didn't mean we were going to accept it. There was so much work to do, and on top of that, Avian was the anvil hanging over our heads waiting to crush us.

Walking into our room, I stopped. To my knowledge she had only ever come in here to bathe and change before leaving. She spent her nights barely sleeping in the corner of Ethan's room. There were more than a few times that I wanted to pick her up and take her to bed. But instead, I settled for sitting across from her. Now she sat in the center of our bed, with Ethan in the space between her legs. She looked so relaxed in her shorts and silk top while reading through what looked to be work related files.

Hearing me enter, she glanced up and stared at me. Taking off my jacket, and shoes, I walked over to my side of the bed and leaned over to kiss Ethan on the head. He smacked my face with his little hands as if to say, "Leave me alone so I can concentrate." He was trying to put the square peg into the circular slot. Moving his hand, I tried to help him place the square into the square slot. He stared at it for a moment and then at me. Frowning, he took the square and once again tried to fit it in the circle.

"He's a hardhead. I wonder where it comes from?" Jen muttered softly.

I smirked, as I glanced up at her. "Both of us? Which means we're screwed when he gets older."

"I'm never letting him grow up then," she replied as a small smile played on her lips.

I think my father used to say that about me.

We fell into silence for a moment, and I fought the urge to pull them both to me and just sleep. It had been a long day.

Should I say something? I didn't want to fight. Not in front of Ethan at least.

"Victoria gave me a very long list of interviews for tomorrow," she said to me as she handed me a piece of paper.

"Dear God." Who weren't we talking to? "Did they send a list of questions?"

She nodded. "They did, but it's bullsh—"

Pausing, she stared down at Ethan who looked up at her. "They did, but it's just a front. They're not going to stick to it."

Grinning, I bit back my comment as she glared at me. No cursing. Got it.

"What's our story then?" I asked her as I ran my hand over Ethan's feather-soft hair. I wasn't sure if we would've been able to have this conversation if he wasn't here. He kept us both calm and highly entertained.

"You knew the entire time where I was and stayed in jail to protect our family. I can't talk about the investigation in any great detail for national security reasons, but I'll go on about how terrible I felt and how scared I was...something along those lines. I've also called President Myoi to make sure our story is backed up."

I waited for the anger. Surprisingly, it didn't come. "Okay."

"Okay?" she asked, as she me wearily.

"It's your story, Jen. You planned it, and I trust that it will work." Because nine times out of ten, it did.