"Damn it, Madeline, I said no." I thrust my hand through
my sandy blond hair, ruffling the ends until they stood on end. "I already
sent you your alimony check for this month. I am not sending another one."
I shouldn't have had to send a check in the first place.
Madeline has been the one to betray our marriage vows, not me. But one
sympathetic judge who bought her crocodile tears and I was stuck sending my
ex-wife a fifteen-thousand dollar check every thirty days for the next
eighteen months.
"I don't need much, Andrew. Twenty-thousand should do
it. I know you have it."
Of course, I fucking had it. I worked for three
billionaires who paid their employees very well. That didn't mean I was going
to send my ex-wife one more red cent than I had to.
"I've already sent you your alimony check this month,
Madeline," I explained again. The woman seriously needed to learn to live
within her means. "If you've spent that—"
"Oh, it's not that at all, darling. A bunch of us are
headed down to Aruba for the weekend and I need a few things for the trip."
"Maybe you should ask Darren. You remember him, don't
you? The guy you were fucking in our bed while we were married? If you don't,
I'd be happy to send you the pictures my private investigator took of the two
of you. They are very...enlightening."
Too bad I hadn't gotten those pictures until after the
divorce decree had been signed and filed with the courts. I doubted we'd be
having this conversation if I had. They were very graphic—and extremely
kinky—pictures. I never would have pictured my ex-wife being into bondage.
"Really, Andrew." Madeline huffed. "It's just
twenty-thousand dollars. It's not like you need the money. You make that up in
just a few hours working for your bosses."
"That's not the point, Madeline."
"How about fifteen thousand then?"
"Madeline—"
"I need to get my hair done, Andrew, and I need to pick
up a few things for my trip. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
I shook my head in disbelief. What I and Madeline
considered important were two vastly different things. I wished I'd seen the
money-grubbing side of my ex-wife before I married her. Maybe I wouldn't be in
this mess.
"Madeline, I am not sending you any additional money. If
you can't live off of what I send you every month, I suggest you get a job."
She hadn't had one the entire time we'd been married unless shopping and
sleeping around were considered a business, and then she'd be the CEO.
"Andrew, I need that money!"
"Not my problem, Madeline." It hadn't been my problem
since the moment the ink was dry on our divorce papers. "I think from now on,
all communication between us should go through our lawyers."
I chuckled as heard Madeline's loud shriek as I hung up
on her. "Damn, that felt good."
Of course, the phone immediately started ringing. I
glanced at the screen and then blocked Madeline's number. She could keep
calling all day long. That did not mean I had to accept the call.
I picked up the phone again and dialed my divorce
attorney. I was an attorney himself, but it was never a good idea for someone
to represent themselves. Besides, I had an exclusive contract with Silver
Spoons Inc., and taking care of personal cases wasn't part of my job
description.
I also didn't do divorce cases. I hated them. I hated
being divorced, but I hated being married to Madeline even more. The novelty
of being married to such a beautiful woman had worn off in the first six
months of our five-year marriage.
Hell, we hadn't even been sleeping together the last
three years of our marriage, and we hadn't lived together the last year.
Truthfully, I was just thankful it was over, divorce nor
not. This would be a lesson I would never forget learning. Someone once said
that money corrupted even the most innocent of souls, and I believed it. It
destroyed marriages.
"Arnold, this is Andrew Lancaster," I said once my
attorney picked up his direct line. For what I was paying him, he'd better
pick up. "I just got off the phone with Madeline. She was trying to get me to
send her twenty-thousand dollars. She said she needed to pick up a few things
for her trip to Aruba she's taking with her friends."
"Did you get it on tape?"
I rolled my eyes. I might not be a divorce attorney, but
I wasn't stupid. "Of course I did." I sat down in front of my laptop and
opened up my email. "I'm sending you the audio file right now."
"I'll add them to the others."
There were a lot of them.
"I told her that any further communication between us
needed to go through you and then I blocked her number."
"That's probably a good idea," Arnold replied. "You know
this is going to get nasty before it's over, don't you?"
My shoulders slumped as the weight of the months since
my divorce was final pushed down on me. "Yes, I know. If I thought she'd go
away if I just gave her a payout, I'd do it, but she won't. She's going to
keep coming back until she bleeds me dry."
That seemed to be all Madeline cared about. Money. She
certainly hadn't cared about me.
"Which is why we need these recordings. Between the
pictures the private investigator you hired took, the audiotapes of her
demanding more money, and her documented spending habits, we're going to be
able to go before the judge pretty soon and get her off your back."
I certainly hoped so. I was so ready for this to be
over.
"If you need any more from the
Zhukov brothers, let
me know. They said they'd help me any way they could."
"We're good right now, but if that changes, I'll let you
know."
"Thank you, Arnold."
"Call me if Madeline tries to contact you again."
"I will." I wanted everything documented. The next time
I went before a judge over my divorce, I wasn't going to let them be
hoodwinked by some crocodile tears and a pretty smile. I'd have evidence to
back up my insistence that Madeline was an unfaithful, money grubby bitch.
I hung up the phone and then pushed my hand through my
hair again. At this rate, I'd be bald by the end of the week. The stress was
unbelievable.
I had way too much to do to deal with this right now.
All three of my bosses had gotten married over the last year and one of them
now had a kid. Between changing wills and creating trust funds, I'd been up to
my ears in paperwork and court filings for months.
I just wanted a break for a little while.
A couple of hours.
Was that too much to ask?
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