Page 66 of Second Chance Husband

“Oh, that’s rich. Oh wait, she’s the rich one. Wasn’t she?”

“It’s a setback for the Bartons for sure,” my mother said, trying her best to sound reasonable. “However, there are options.”

“The Bartons are richer than God in their opinion, isn’t that what your mother always said, Jacob?”

Jacob cleared his throat, looking far more awkward than I’d seen him in the past. Interesting and not unpleasant. “We are fine financially, but as news of the broken engagement will hit news waves by tomorrow, your mother and I have come up with a new platform.”

“What? That you and I have decided to get back together? How on earth is that going to help you? You flip-flopping between wives isn’t going to help you stay firm on your political stances. That’s not how things work. And I’m not going along with it.”

“You will. For the good of the family.”

I rounded on my mother, moving along the side of my desk. “Are you serious right now? What family? Dad is gone. You hate me other than what I can do for you. I’m not going to be your prom queen. I’m not going to be Little Miss Oregon. Just leave. I’m not going into whatever schemes you think you need.”

“I made you who you are today,” my mother barked. “Without me, you would have no ambition. I was the one that pushed you for those scholarships, for those connections. If you had done what you had wanted to all those years ago, you wouldn’t have this business. Those business deals would have ended before they’d even begun if you had stayed with that little teacher. If he hadn’t come to the realization that you needed someone stronger like Jacob. Now he needs you, and you need him, and you could be the power couple of the century. Yes, there was that little bump of divorce, but you could use it to talk about family connections and finding love after pain. We have ways.”

My mother and Jacob kept rambling, but things started to click. Things that should have clicked long ago. Yet I hadn’t thought that August would have let them. Or perhaps, I hadn’t given my mother that much credit.

“What did you say to August all those years ago?” I asked, my voice oddly strong even though I was screaming inside.

My mother stiffened, as if she hadn’t realized she had let those words slip. “Nothing. He left you, and that was great. It was good for us.”

She was lying and I needed to know why. “What did you say to him to make him leave me?” I was guessing at this, but I had a horrible sinking feeling.

“If I could have said anything to him to make him leave, he would’ve been a little weakling.”

I shook my head. “No. Because he loved me. What did you say to him that he had to protect me?” I asked, guessing, and yet fearing.

“Oh, stop being such a drama queen,” Jacob snarled, and I whirled on him.

“Excuse me? You don’t get to say anything. You get to leave here and go grovel back to your other fiancée, or just leave in general. I don’t want to see you again. In fact if you set foot on these premises again, I’m filing for a restraining order. How will that do for your publicity and your pretty little family?.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Watch me,” I said so swiftly that he took a step back. And then I whirled once again on my mother. “What did you do?”

She lifted her chin in a gesture that reminded me so much of myself that bile rose in my throat. “What had to be done. If you would like the details, you can talk to him. But just know he was the one who left. And from what I hear, he left again. You don’t need a weak man.”

“I don’t want to see you again. You know nothing about August. Nothing about me. I’m done being your puppet. If you want Jacob and his money so much, you marry him.” I laughed then, pure joy writhing through me. “Oh yes. Be the cougar that you’ve always wanted to be and fuck my ex-husband. I don’t care what you do. Maybe it’ll be good for you, Jacob. Someone to mother you when I was never going to be that person. And my mom can have the connections she wants. I don’t care. Just get out of my office, get out of my life, and never speak with me again. I’m done.” I went to the door and opened it, gesturing for them both to leave. “I’ll call security right now. To get you both. Neither one of you is welcome in my office, my life, or in my general vicinity. And, Mother? I will find out what you said to August. And I will deal with him later. But you do not get to dictate my life ever again. I should have stood up for myself long before this. And that’s shame on me. But shame on you for thinking you could ever try it again. Get the fuck out.”

I hadn’t realized that people were staring, until a couple of people let out claps and a holler, and I nodded at them, before glaring back at Jacob and my mother. “Well?” I asked, gesturing once again.

Heads high, both walked out the door, and I knew that I would probably see them again, but I would deal with it legally.

I was done. Oh so done.

“Jessa, can you hold my calls for the day and change my meetings? I have to go fix something.”

“Go get him,” she said, and I snorted.

“No, I’m not quite sure that’s going to happen, but I need answers. And I’m done being the sideshow for the day.”

“It has been getting quite boring here,” Arnold, one of the partners said as he walked by.

I sighed and grabbed my purse. “I’ll call everyone soon about the gala, but I need to go yell at someone else.”

“We won’t warn Addison and Devney though,” Jessa said. “Just so they don’t warn him.”

I held back a snort. It seemed that I wasn’t being as discreet as I’d thought. Everyone knew my business, but maybe I’d use that for good. Because I was going to get the truth out of August even if I had to growl it out of him. “That sounds like a plan.”

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