Page 8 of The Vow

"My wife is not staying with him another night. I mean it, Ears. If she steps foot into his house again, I'll kill him. You know I'm not talking shit either!" I growl.

"Calm down, Riggs," he cautions.

"She is not staying with him!" I shout.

Ears's face hardens. He announces, "She needs money. You've given her nothing."

I jerk my head back. "I've given her nothing? What are you talking about? I've never withheld anything from her."

He pushes his fingertips together. "She has no money. Where is she supposed to go with no money?"

"I'm not keeping money from her. I would never—"

"She has nothing, and I can tell she's embarrassed. What is she supposed to do? Live on the street?" he interjects.

I beat myself up. I didn't intentionally not give Blakely access to our bank accounts or a credit card. Things have just been crazy. Besides, she knew where the cash was in the house. I reply, "There's been a lot going on. This isn't intentional. You know I wouldn't do that!"

Ears nods. He relays, "I told her you would give her money until her royalties get paid out."

"Of course I'll give her money," I say, and my gut churns.

Women having no money only reminds me of my mother's situation. It makes them do things they wouldn't normally do and have no independence. I add, "I would never do that to Blakely. You know how I feel about that kind of shit."

Ears's understanding expression turns to one only someone who grew up like we did and got out can understand. "I know, man. Seriously though, what happened between you two? Tell me so I can help smooth things over."

My queasiness grows as my stomach flips faster. I can't believe this happened. My perfect marriage has now blown up in my face, and I don't know how to get it back. Yet where do I even start to explain to Ears what I did?

Over the last twelve hours, it's hit me more and more that what I did was super fucked-up. Yet I was so deep into my revenge with Hugh I couldn't see that utilizing Blakely to get at him could hurt her. And I never thought she'd know what I did. I thought I could get away with it. But I was stupid and should never have sent anything about her to Hugh. I should have just taken him down with Jones and kept Blakely out of it.

Ears asserts, "Stop keeping me in the dark. I can't help you if you do that."

I mutter, "I fucked up."

"How?"

I sigh, confessing, "I let my need to take her father down cloud my judgment."

"Any more details in that?" he pushes.

I snap, "That's all you're getting, and my wife is not staying with Noah. She's coming home with me."

Ears shakes his head. "No, she's not. Whatever's going on, she's insistent that you stay away from her. Do yourself a favor and respect her wishes."

"Whose side are you on?" I ask him again.

He groans. "Yours, dumbass. But hers too. And Blakely was clear. Give her some space."

"With Noah? Fuck that," I bark.

"Stop with the Noah crap!"

"No! I know what he wants, and that's my wife. He might have you fooled, but I'm not," I declare.

Ears crosses his arms, ordering, "She needs a place to stay. Book her in a hotel if you don't want her at Noah's, but she's not going home with you today."

Everything inside me quivers. It feels like someone's squeezing my heart to the point I can't even breathe. I can't fathom the thought of Blakely not in my bed and not waking up to her every morning. It makes me sick, and the uncontrollable feeling I have only snowballs.

Ears questions, "What hotel is it going to be?"

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