Page 70 of Spooked

“Use an intro.” Brax wanted to prolong her suffering the way she’d done to him. “I need to thank Jerry. Where could I send a gift? Is jewellery appropriate? A car?”

“The only jewellery she wears is a HOG’s tooth necklace, and she’s still driving the shitty old Porsche her dad left her.”

“That thing was due for car heaven a decade ago.”

“She had it professionally restored, but it breaks down most months. Just get her a bottle of mouthwash.”

“Mouthwash? Why would I—” Brax glanced at Alexa’s screen, frozen on a scene of Jerry going down on Carissa. Yes, mouthwash would probably appeal to Jerry’s deranged sense of humour. “I’ll head to the drugstore right now.”

* * *

The meeting with Carissa and her lawyer was one for the memory books. She turned beet red and began spluttering, accusing them of dirty tricks, but she couldn’t change the one basic fact: that she’d slept with somebody else while she was still married to Brax.

He made her a new offer—five million bucks if she signed on the dotted line before the hearing in the afternoon. Otherwise she could try fighting him, waste the money on legal fees, and he’d win in court. Her lawyer advised her to take the deal. She said she would if she could keep the apartment in New York. Brax didn’t want the place anyway—it was filled with too many reminders of the woman he longed to forget. So he agreed.

It was done.

Alexa had watched the meeting via the camera in Brax’s office, not in person, but she was waiting in the hallway when Carissa exited.

“Did you enjoy the video?” she asked.

It took a moment, but finally recognition dawned. “You’re that child from Blackstone House.”

“Yup. The child who grew up and became a movie director.”

Brax could practically hear the cogs turning in Carissa’s head. He’d told her more than once that Alexa was wise beyond her years.

“You?Youdid this?”

“Do you remember nine years ago when you stole my last three Ladurée macarons out of the refrigerator and ate them?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought not. Anyhow, I told you it was rude and you should apologise, and you told me to get over myself, and I told you that you’d regret it someday, and you told me to grow up.” Ah, now it was coming back. “Well, now it’s ‘someday.’”

Carissa’s voice was a mix of incredulity and fury. “You cost me over four hundred million dollars because of three macarons?”

“And also because you’re a shitty person. Bet you wish you’d apologised now.”

Carissa went for Alexa’s throat, but Chase got between them. The wails were deafening as the lawyers pulled them apart, but not before Alexa got a vicious elbow in Carissa’s side. Brax found himself smiling. Yes, this was the highlight of his month too.

He waited until Carissa had disappeared into the elevator before he gave Alexa a side hug.

“Good thing she didn’t take your white truffle shavings.”

“If she had, that video would be on a billboard in Times Square.”

“I’m sorry I ever brought her into your life.”

“Don’t worry. I fixed the problem soon afterward.”

“What do you mean?”

“Me and Grey used to collect all the spiders and put them in your room because we realised she hated them. Voilà: no more Carissa.”

“I love you. In a purely platonic way, of course.” Alexa wrinkled her nose, but Brax knew that secretly, she was pleased. “I’m glad you came here, sweetheart. It was good to see you again. Don’t be a stranger.”

“Whatever.” She headed for the stairs, Chase following with the laptops and a gift bag full of mouthwash, and Brax wasn’t sure he’d ever see her again. “I need to get back to the Batcave.” She flashed one last smile before she disappeared into the night. “Carissa’s mole here is Selena Bateman. She works in the finance department.”

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