Page 17 of Laws of Love
She had also never tried to make them work. Mia spent most of the last two years of their marriage before he left the house, telling him what he needed to do better, that he needed to get over not being able to play anymore. She’d been unsympathetic to his injury and his decision to retire. So much so that his mother stayed with them to help for a bit.
Even with that, he hadn’t withdrawn into himself. Knox had been there the same way he was before his injury. It was just that now they were in each other’s space more without him being off at training camps, doing endorsements, or playing away games. Being around one another more forced him to confront the problem he’d been pacifying. It also made Mia see he was not the man who used to give her everything when she threw a fit, and she was no longer his number one concern. That mantle fell to their daughter the day Mia informed Knox she was pregnant.
“I don’t recall you trying to make anything work. I recall you telling me everything you felt I was doing wrong, that you seemed to think I needed to be better at. I recall you telling me to get out and not come back, that you wouldn’t be with a man that didn’t grovel at your feet,” he informed her. There was no way he would let her live in that delusion or spout that nonsense without him correcting her. Especially since he was recording the conversation.
“I never said you needed to grovel at my feet.”
Knox shrugged. “I’m paraphrasing.”
“Listen, I know that you’re worth much more than you’d like me to believe, and we both know I deserve more than this insult you’ve attempted to hand me.”
“Do you know that the average salary in our area is fifty-five thousand dollars a year?” Knox questioned. He knew Mia and knew that wouldn’t be enough to keep up with her spending habits. “You could live off eighty thousand a year and be fine for twenty-five years with what I’m offering.”
Mia sucked her teeth before flipping straightened black tresses over her shoulder. “I should not have to curb my spending because you’re too cheap to pay me what I deserve. I want fifteen million.”
You don’t deserve a damn thing, Knox thought. However, it was what they’d agreed to in the prenuptial agreement, and he was going to honor it. He was sure that if he wanted to fight it, Aiva could find some way around it, some way to justify him not paying Mia. However, he didn’t want to go through the extra hassle because, with the way she was now, he knew she’d be even worse if he did.
“I’m being more than generous.”
Mia scoffed. “If you expect me to settle for that, then you better be ready to pay spousal support until I remarry, and trust me, I’ll make sure you pay for the rest of your life. Add child support on top of that, and you’ll wish you would have paid me what I wanted.”
Knox kept his face neutral at the mention of child support because he would not be paying her that. He also wondered if she’d read all the documentation she received because this was the first time she had brought up anything about Yasmine. Knox concluded that she probably hadn’t, because if she did, she’d be giving him an earful about that as well.
“I’ve secured one of the best lawyers, and Ms. Neel and I are going to take you to the cleaners,” Mia informed him as she stomped past him to the front door.
Knox couldn’t even turn to see her leave. Her words echoed in the condo as the door slammed behind her. He stood there for another moment before stopping the recording. Then he locked the front door before going to the living room and grabbing his phone from the coffee table. He pulled up the contact he was looking for, and it rang three times before she answered.
“This is Aiva.”
Aiva refrained from rolling her eyes. She’d been sitting in mediation for the past half hour, and they’d been discussing the same thing the entire time. The opposing counsel and client brought it up differently each time she shot it down. It gave merit to the fact that doing the same thing over again and expecting different results was insanity. Aiva wasn’t sure when they’d realized that her answer would not change.
She was sure her client’s soon-to-be ex-husband was continually bringing it up because he expected Sheila, her client, to fold and give in to his demands. It was fine that he thought that. You couldn’t blame a person for thinking, but it wouldn’t get him what he wanted because Aiva would not allow her client to agree to something that would not be beneficial to her and hurt her in the long run.
It wasn’t as if Sheila was being unreasonable or asking for the man’s weight in gold. She simply wanted him to continue paying for both of their children’s private education and monthly spousal support to supplement her income until their youngest graduated. Sheila would get about fourteen thousand dollars from him a year, which he could more than afford. Their children’s education would cost him quite a bit, but he was already paying that.
“Counselor, as I’ve told you and your client several times, the answer is no. Unfortunately, I cannot spin the same answer differently for you in the way that you keep asking the question.”
Aiva leaned back in the seat she occupied, taking in the stunned look on both men’s faces. She didn’t understand why they thought she wouldn’t call them out regarding the pressure they were putting behind the question. This also wasn’t their first mediation. The last one should have taught them that Aiva would not hold back when it came to advocating for her client every time they sat at that table.
From the corner of her eye, Aiva saw Sheila place her hand in front of her mouth to cover a smile. She’d done so several times throughout mediation, and Aiva was hoping that at some point, she would just outright laugh in Craig, her ex-husband’s face. As unprofessional as it was to wish such a thing.
Just from the information that was presented to her when Aiva took Sheila’s case, Craig put her through hell during their marriage. He micromanaged what she did and kept a tight grip on their finances. He would give her money for the household bills, groceries, and an allowance for things the kids needed. It caused Sheila to go back to work after staying home with her children for seven years until they started school.
Then, after coming home from work, Craig expected her to have the house spotless, take care of the kids’ needs, have dinner ready when he got home, and satisfy him at night. Aiva knew that women all over did that every day, and she wasn’t saying Sheila shouldn’t have. It was simply that Craig should have helped and micromanaged less.
On paper, the man was an asshole, but it was made abundantly clear the first time Aiva sat across the table from him. He’d thought he could intimidate her, to speak to her in any type of way, and she quickly put him in his place and let him know that was not how things went.
“What my client is asking for is more than fair, and before either of you opens your mouth to say she’s being unreasonable again, let me make something clear for you.” Aiva sat up, lacing her fingers together on top of the table. “You are the only ones being unreasonable right now. We all know Sheila is entitled to much more than she’s asking for. So, here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to send over a revised document. The two of you will look at it, agree to it, and sign it.”
Aiva closed the cover on her tablet, placing the manila folder on top of it along with her phone. She stood, signaling for Sheila to do the same before giving her full attention to the two men across from them.
“If you do not sign it, if we can’t get this worked out in mediation, we’ll see you in court. Where I will take you for everything you have. You will walk out of that courtroom with just the shirt on your back.” Aiva smiled at them before she and Sheila headed for the door. “Have a good day, gentleman,” she threw over her shoulder as they exited.
The two made it to the parking lot, stopping beside their vehicles which were parked next to one another.
“Do you think he’ll sign when you send it to him?” Sheila inquired as she unlocked her door.
“If he knows what’s good for him, he will,” Aiva responded, doing the same and leaning in to place her things in the passenger seat. “I’m going to change the document with your permission. I know you asked for one thousand two hundred a month in support, but we don’t want you barely scraping by just to keep him pacified. Asking for an even two thousand will give you some wiggle room, and it won’t hurt him at all. Though you deserve more.”
