Page 86 of Already At Risk
He cleared his throat a second time. “Yes.”
“And what about prior to your divorce and original custody agreement?” I questioned. “Who was the primary caretaker during your marriage?”
“We split those responsibilities,” he said, rather vaguely.
We’d fix that.
“Evenly?”
Korey hesitated. “My wife has always preferred to take the lead in matters involving childcare. And I have obliged her, until now.”
I stared at him for a long moment, wondering if he was going to correct himself. When he didn’t, I clarified. “You are referring to yourex-wife, correct?”
Korey’s lips flattened, his annoyance growing.
“Yes.”
I nodded, but he continued.
“Sorry.” He shifted in his chair, arranging himself in a way meant to convey nonchalance—leaning back, slung arm over the empty chair next to him. But his fingers balled into a fist, giving him away. “Divorce or not, I’ll always think of her that way. Old habits and all. You get it.”
I hated that I couldn’t punch him.
“I don’t.”
How Natalie had endured this man for so many years? Just the thought alone bothered me so much I had to fight a look of disgust off my face.
“Would you like to discuss the habit that constituted the grounds of your divorce?” I forced myself to ask.
His brows furrowed. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I’m referring to recurring habits of infidelity.”
“Objection,” Keller cut in, as I expected. “Relevance.”
But, also like I expected, Korey answered anyway. Because, of course, he just had to correct me.
“Recurring? It was only one woman,” he said, eyes glittering with a sort of dangerous spark now. Good. My goal today was to crack Korey’s facade and show the calculating, narcissistic man beneath the suit. “And no, I don’t believe that is necessary to discuss.”
“I only bring it up because that woman works at the same company as you, correct?”
“Objection.” Keller’s voice was harder this time, and I fought a smile. “Relevance.”
Korey heeded his lawyer this time but gave me a look like he wanted to know where I was going with this so he could somehow prove me wrong.
“When you say that my client chose to take the lead in childcare prior to your divorce, are you claiming that was a voluntary choice on her behalf?” I asked, continuing regardless of his lack of answer, and Korey muttered a yes. “So it had nothing to do with the extra hours you spent at work as a result of the affair you had with your coworker?”
The glint in Korey’s gaze intensified. I watched his fingers curl in and out of that fist and was disappointed when I realized it was probably out of the lens of the camera.
“No,” he said, but his tone was icy. “It had nothing to do with that.”
I lifted a brow. “You took an oath today to answer truthfully, right?”
Keller aggressively cleared his throat. “Objection, form.”
Dragging my gaze to him, I flashed an unimpressed look before turning back to Korey. I didn’treallyneed an answer to that one anyway.
“Why have you changed your mind to no longerobligemy client regarding childcare responsibilities?” I asked instead.
