ready to swat a fly. “Don’t waste any time, do you?”
Nina’s stomach squeezed. “Calvin, please.”
“Am I so abhorrent?” He gently waved the envelope through the air like he was fanning away his own terrible stench. “You’re that eager to be rid of me that you had to do this on our anniversary?”
“Well, it’s not like it’s something special,” Nina protested before she could help herself.
The mug in his hand flew across the room and shattered against the opposite wall with a smash. Nina followed its progression, then wrapped her arms around her stomach as she turned back to Calvin, genuinely afraid of what she might see.
“That,” he said, “wasn’t very nice. Considering everything I’ve done for you.”
“Maybe then. But now—”
“But what, princess?”
“But now you—you despise me.” Nina’s chin quivered as she spoke, and she hated how much just acknowledging the fact upset her. “You’ve made that clear since the baby arrived. Neither of us mean anything to you. Aside from that…I think the ten million dollars you’ve taken from me and my family is pretty enough payment.”
Calvin flared. Nina shook her head. She had never wanted this to be painful or hurtful.
Control, Nina, she could practically hear her grandmother intoning. Always maintain control.
“Calvin,” she tried again once she had flattened her tone. “Please. Let’s not pretend this was ever something it wasn’t. We were an arrangement from the beginning. You kindly offered me a way to keep my family’s name intact. I provided a means for you to get this”—Nina waved her hand around the mess on the desk—“whatever this is, started. Let’s call it even and move on. Just so you know, I requested my lawyer double the settlement. You’ll receive twice what we originally said.”
It was a lot. Not the additional ten million he had requested last month, but more than enough for him to have what he had just said he wanted: never to have to suffer the way his parents did. If he did things right, he’d never want for money again.
Calvin dropped the divorce papers back on the desk, and they both stared at them for several moments.
When he looked up, his cruel eyes shone. “No.”
Nina’s jaw dropped. “No?”
Calvin stood and readjusted his belt. “No, princess, I don’t think so. The answer is no.”
A sinking sensation lodged in Nina’s belly. Surprise, followed by a hanging weight of dread. “What—what do you mean? How can you say that? We—we had an agreement.”
But Calvin only crossed his meaty arms. “Agreements can change.”
Nina felt her mouth go dry.
“I’m glad you got whatever you wanted from this arrangement, princess, but I’m afraid I didn’t. Not by a fucking long shot. This isn’t happening.”
“Yes, it is!” she cried, all vestiges of control gone for good. “I’ve, well, I’ve already made plans. I’m taking Olivia to Massachusetts with me, where I’ll finish school, like I said. I bought a house. I’ll get a car.”
“You’re not listening, Nina. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I am!” She was shouting now, hating the way her face heated up with rage. Emotion. “I already have the plane ticket, the house, everything. It’s settled!”
“A plane ticket?” He perked up. “To Boston?”
Nina cowered, realizing how much of the game she had actually given away. “I—no. It’s for…Florence, actually. I’m taking Olivia. I decided. Oh, Calvin, I’m sorry, but I want Olivia to know who her father really is. I want him to know about her. We’ll keep it quiet, I promise. I’m sure Grandmother will do whatever it takes to keep everyone’s names out of the press. But then…Calvin, I don’t want to stay in New York anymore.” A tear ran down her cheek. She had never known how much she felt that way until just this moment. “You said you needed to make your own life? Well, I do too. And I’m not looking for your permission.”
“Well, that’s too bad, because you don’t fucking have it!”
He grabbed the papers off the desk and hurled them away. They erupted midair in a sharp plume of white before scattering across the floor in listless piles. Calvin’s barrel chest heaved, sweat seeping from under his arms.
“You see, I know something else you don’t,” he said with a cruel curl of his upper lip. “Your old grandma? She’s sick. She hasn’t told anyone else about it, but I heard her say something to her butler about her meds. Zofran. Know what that’s for?”
Mutely, Nina shook her head.
“Cancer, babe. To help with the nausea from the chemo.” Calvin nodded, like it was good