Page 49 of Finding Forever

“What are you talking about?”

The rage building inside of me at the disrespectful gesture had me shaking. How dare he come to my job with this foolishness? After everything he had put me and Mycah through, this was the path he wanted to take?

I’d never regretted my decision not to go to court more than I did in this moment. I’d been so caught up in playing nice and keeping the court out of our business, but he hadn’t thought twice about blindsiding me in an instant.

“Do you seriously think that the court is going to take one look at you and give you custody?”

“I have a really good lawyer, thanks to Victoria,” he shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the emotion drenching my words.

I was hurt. I was angry. I was fed up. How could he do this?

The question repeated over and over in my head while angry tears began to sting my eyes. I held them at bay, refusing to let him see a single tear shed. I wouldn’t give him the sick satisfaction that he was clearly looking for. Now I was standing, intent on being at eye level with him even though my desk still separated us.

“You’re probably just doing this to impress her,” I deduced, wringing my hands. “Can’t you step out of your selfish shadow for a second and think about how much this will hurt Mycah in the long run?”

Chris said nothing, but avoided my eyes.

“Answer me!” I shouted, forgetting where I was.

That soon came to an end when Sera slinked over to my desk with a smirk on her face.

“Gina, dear.” She paused to look Chris up and down. “The workplace isn’t really the proper setting for personal matters to be discussed.”

No thought crossed my mind before I uttered my next words. “Sera, shut the fuck up.”

As quickly as she’d arrived, Sera shuffled off somewhere, leaving me alone with my infuriating ex-husband.

“Maybe I’m doing this because I’m tired of seeing Victoria get hurt by your power-hungry boyfriend.”

Confusion broke up some of the rage I was feeling. “What? This is about Maverick?”

Chris shrugged.

Had he really gone all the way to the courthouse, filed a document andpaidfor it just to prove a point about the man I was currently dating? The level of insanity was rapidly boiling my blood.

“Listen, Victoria just wants to see her kid. Maybe I can drop the case if you can convince your guy to allow Victoria more child support.”

If he said the word “maybe” one more time, I was going to explode.

“You need to leave,” I pushed out through clenched teeth. There had been a lot of low moments in our marriage and subsequent divorce, but I’d never felt as disgusted as I did now.

Chris correctly read the contempt in my eyes and left before I had to ask him again. As soon as he was gone, I plopped back down in my desk chair and snatched up my phone. Mad at the world, I impatiently waited for Maverick to answer.

“Hey, love. I’m in the middle of—”

“You know, ever since I met you, I’ve had more communication issues with my ex-husband than I ever had before.”

There was a pregnant pause on the line, and I heard rustling. I assumed that he was moving to another room—away from people—before he answered me.

When he did finally speak, his words were laced with an emotion I’ve never had directed at me before: reproach.

“Gina, I’m not taking the heat for your ex-husband’s actions. No matter how much you want to transfer the blame.”

Called out, I sat there staring at nothing with a painful frown on my face. Every muscle on my face was drawn and I could feel a nasty headache forming at my temples.

“You’ve been his doormat for God knows how long, and now you’re angry at me because he’s showing his true hand. What underhanded thing did he do now?”

I told him, and Maverick’s sigh filled the line. I could picture him in his dark office, shaking his head.

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