you agree to the terms that you’ve made in these documents?” the mediator, Brenda, asks.
Susan looks over the paperwork, though I’m sure she has it all memorized completely. “I do,” I state when she doesn’t say anything.
There is another moment of silence and all I want to do is sign this shit and get done. Looking at my watch, I let out a grunt.
“Oh, are you busy?” Susan asks. “We can reschedule.”
Narrowing my gaze on her, I shake my head once. “Not busy at all.”
“Just wanted to make sure,” she practically purrs. Then she lifts her head and turns to look over at the mediator. “I want his company.”
“No,” I say before Bash can even speak. “It’s my company. I built it from the ground up and I’m not giving it to anyone.”
Her lips twitch and she leans over the desk. “I want it. All of it. The building, the name. It’s going to be mine. I also want the vacation house in Rockport, and twenty-five million in liquid cash.”
Leaning back, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip. Could I give her my company? She wouldn’t even know how to run it, not in a million years, not unless she already has a plan of who will take over my place.
I almost laugh. Not to-fucking-day. Licking my lips, I lean back.
“If you want the building and name, then no cash,” I announce.
“Landry,” Bash warns.
Susan doesn’t say anything, she lifts a brow and watches me in silence while I stare at her. She’s used to me being indifferent toward anything that she desires. I have been, because I haven’t cared overly much about her the past twenty years. I’ve been indifferent to her in general.
That’s over with now. No longer am I just going to stand by and idly allow her to just do, say, and spend whatever she fucking wants. That’s why she’s been fighting me, too. That’s why she’s been against an official divorce.
She knows that her checking account is going to have a balance now instead of being unlimited. She’s going to try to fight me to the point where it’s just easier to keep the marriage. This isn’t just about the social ladder she loves to climb so much, this is about everything.
“You’ll give me the company?”
She’s practically foaming at the mouth. She thinks that she’s won. If she wants to believe that, then that’s perfectly fine with me. She obviously doesn’t know what I’m truly like in business, otherwise she wouldn’t have attempted to fuck with me this way.
“You can have the house, the car, the company, but I’m keeping the vacation house in Rockport.”
I like Rockport. I like being near the water, I like the fishing, and I enjoy having my family there because when we’re there, we’re together. There are no parties, events, or dates to go on. It’s just family time and I want to have that with my children and Tennessee and Holden, too.
She pretends to think about my proposal, but I know she’s already prepared her answer and made her decision. The way she’s clutching the pendant on her neck is her clear tell. Her lips curve up into a small smile. It grows wider and then she sits back and releases her grip on her pendant.
“It’s a deal.”
“Susan,” her attorney warns.
She holds her hand up. “It’s a deal. Draw it up and I’ll sign right now.”
Tennessee is busy writing everything down. I asked her to keep detailed notes, not just because I wanted her here, but because I want to make sure Susan couldn’t backtrack, even after the paperwork is signed, I know without a doubt that she would assuredly try. That’s just who she is.
We sit across from one another for another forty-five minutes while the paperwork is prepared and then we sign. Susan doesn’t say a word to me after she does her part, instead she stands and walks out of the room, her attorney running after her.
I don’t move from my seat. I can feel Bash vibrating with anger next to me. Once the mediator leaves, only then do I turn to him.
“I know you’re angry, but listen to my plan.”
“Plan? Your plan? You just gave your fucking company away, Landry,” he roars.
Pushing back my chair, I stand and turn around, my ass pressing against the side of the table as I flick my gaze between Tennessee and Bash. Holding Bash’s gaze, I chuckle.
“I gave her my business and my name. I did not give her