Page 18 of Scandalously Yours

Kristopher

There was nothing I hated more than having to deal with Hayley, but she wanted to talk to me about the children, which was code for needing more money. Her family used to be wealthy too, but after her father lost nearly their entire fortune through a series of bad investments, she looked at me to supplement her lifestyle. Since she’d never give me custody of the children full time, I would need to pay support for them, which didn’t bother me in the slightest. I’d rather have them with me, but she’d never allow that to happen. She was also wanting alimony for each year we had been married even though the terms of our iron-clad prenup indicated she would receive a set amount for three years, and that was it.

Her lawyers and mine had been fighting back and forth over the last several months. I paid him a ton of money to handle those conversations and tended to stay out of them until proposals were presented to me. I didn’t want to carry on those conversations with Hayley, especially in front of the children. It was only because of them that I hadn’t divorced her already. I had a few more months and this hell would be over.

Until then, I had to bite my tongue, which seemed to be the constant state of our marriage. As I took the elevator up to the penthouse I had once lived in with the three of them, dread filled me like it normally did. When it came to a stop, I stepped out into the living room which had naturally been redone once I’d left. In fact, she had done it before I could even remove her from my credit cards.

“Just where in the hell have you been, Kris?” she asked, before I could even remove my jacket.

I was used to that sort of greeting, and if she wasn’t a woman, my reaction might’ve been much different. Instead of losing my temper as she hoped I would, I simply glanced at the blonde and wondered how I had ever fallen in love with her. We met once I’d moved to New York City and officially became a Titan. I was at a point in my life where I was ready to settle down and have the family I had always dreamed of. We started dating, and in the beginning, everything was great between us. She said and did all the right things. Then, I found out that she was pregnant, and we got married before our son was born.

She had suffered with Postpartum Depression (PPD) after his birth, and I tried to be there for her the best that I could. I suppose that was when things started to unravel. By the time I realized how incompatible we were, and I was going to file for a divorce, she told me that she was pregnant with Kaylee. I tried to stick it out after for their sake, but as the years passed, neither of us seemed very happy, so it was time for one of us to cut the cord. I did but hadn’t been prepared for the hell that followed.

I had even agreed to a legal separation, but that did nothing to change my decision to divorce, and she knew it. Now, she was even more vindictive and hateful than she’d ever been because she was trying to hold on to something that was slipping through her hands. It wasn’t me she wanted. It was my money, and I knew she wasn’t against using our children as pawns to get it. For all of her outer beauty, there was nothing inside of her but a cold, dark heart.

“I was running late at the hospital. Did you not get my text message?” When she didn’t answer, I shook my head and got to the point of my visit. “Where are the kids?”

I wasn’t in the mood to play games with her, but her sneer indicated she felt the opposite. “They’re upstairs and...” she stated before pausing as she watched me head to the long, spiral staircase.

I had loved this penthouse and bought it right after Karter had turned two. Our current luxury condo on Park Avenue had become too small for the three of us, so I had snatched this up as soon it came on the market. While it didn’t have everything we told Elsa we wanted, it had the size and space, so I had it gutted to the studs, then redone it in exactly my taste. Hayley had made some suggestions, mainly for the wing she commandeered for herself, but left most of the other stuff alone. I was able to infuse some of my Texan roots into the place via the dark woods and traditional fixtures, but over time, they seemed to disappear, and I was now left with modern everything.

“And what?” I asked as soon as my hand hit the dark black iron rail.

“We need to talk about something first. I—”

“If this is about the latest terms from your lawyer, he needs to—”

“This isn’t about the lawyers, asshole. It’s about your children.”

That got my attention, and I lifted my hand from the rail, then followed her into the living room to talk. I sat down on the couch and looked over in her direction. She seemed relatively pleased with herself, although I didn’t know why. Something told me that I was about to find out.

“What is it, Hayley?”

“Kaylee has been complaining about headaches a lot lately. She—”

“Have you taken her to the doctor’s yet for that?”

I immediately grew concerned because she was a type 1 diabetic. My fears had my mind running wild with scenarios, and I looked up at Hayley, but before I could say anything, she stared back at me. “Why am I expected to do everything around here?”

I took a deep breath and reminded myself to maintain my composure. Maybe, this was for the best. I could persuade her to let me have them full time, then I could watch over them myself. “I am more than willing to help. In fact, why don’t I take them for—”

“Take them,” she spat out. “Over my cold, dead body. I didn’t call you here so you can steal my children from me. I only wanted to let you know that we need to keep a closer eye on her.”

“I’ll take her to the doc—”

“Daddy,” Kaylee cried out when she rounded the corner and saw me.

“Hi, princess,” I greeted her, then enveloped her in a bear hug. I finally let her go and pushed her away enough for me to give her a once-over. “Your mother was telling me that you’ve had some headaches lately.”

She nodded, then pointed to her head. “It will hurt, then I will fall asleep.”

“Fall asleep?” I knew rest was likely the best thing, but the way Hayley glared at me, it made me think there was more. “How so?”

My daughter, who had her mother’s same blonde curls, just shrugged her little shoulders. She was five so I didn’t expect her to be able to verbalize everything a certain way, but some sixth sense made me think I needed to probe her more.

“I go to sleep on the floor.”

I scrubbed my hand down my face, then looked over at Hayley. “Has she lost consciousness?”

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