Page 6 of The Carver

He absorbed that accusation with no reaction. “Out of principle, you should take it. Just because he earned the money doesn’t mean it’s not half yours. But more importantly, this divorce will be over much quicker if you just accept it.”

My eyes narrowed. “So you know Adrien wants me to take it.”

“Antony told me it was in the paperwork he filed. It’s obvious he’s trying to drag this out.”

Bastien hadn’t even been in the courtroom, and he’d figured it out. He didn’t even know my husband, but he knew his endgame.

“You don’t need his money, not when you’ve got a much richer man to take care of you. But you should bleed him dry as payback for what he did to you. He obviously cares more about money than you.”

“But I cared more about him than I ever cared about money—and that’s the point.”

“You would rather be righteous than vindictive?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t you?”

He stared at me for a while before a smile formed on his lips. “Piss me off, and I’m the most vindictive motherfucker you’ll ever meet. If it were me, I’d take him for everything. If it were me, I would wait until he got serious with someone new before I told her what a lying, cheating sack of shit he is. And then I would do it with the next girl…and the next girl…until he dies alone.”

He didn’t threaten me at all, but the tension in my arms made me feel like he had. He said it all with a smile, but that made his words more terrifying. Adrien warned me Bastien was dangerous, and I was witnessing a hint of that firsthand. “What will you do to me if I piss you off?”

His smile was wiped clean off his face as his eyebrows furrowed at the question. “You’re immune to my wrath. All women are.”

“But what if I cheated on you? You would do that?” Taking half of what was mine was one thing, but to sabotage Adrien’s future happiness was ruthless.

“I’d kill the guy who touched you, but I would do nothing to you.”

That answer just made me more uncomfortable. My eyes shifted away from his face to the window, the cold evening seeping through the cracks and hitting my bare skin. The waitress came over to bring our first course, which was lucky timing because I needed a moment to figure out how I felt about all of this.

Bastien stared me down while the waitress served us. He didn’t say thank you before she walked away. Just stared hard at my face like his eyes were bullets. When she was gone, he spoke. “I’ve upset you.”

I kept my eyes aimed out the window and ignored the soup placed in front of us.

“What did I say?”

Despite how cold the window was, I was flushed with a searing heat that burned my cheeks. It was the first time I’d felt afraid of him because it was the first time I’d seen a version of him I didn’t want to see. “I would like to leave, please.” My voice came out quiet, calm, even though I was nothing of the sort.

He just stared at me.

I rose to my feet and grabbed my coat off the back of the chair before I put it on.

He continued to sit there. “Are you going to answer me?”

“I—I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

He cocked his head slightly, the flames in his eyes igniting. “Sit down.”

“I said, I want to leave?—”

“Sit your ass down.” He slammed his closed fist against the table, and the plates and silverware made a distinctive clatter. “Now.”

I dropped back into the chair, my mouth dry with discomfort. “I asked to leave?—”

“You can go after we talk,” he said. “Now, tell me what the fuck I said to offend you so deeply.”

My eyes went down to the soup again, hot in the jacket.

“Look at me.”

I forced my eyes to his.

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