Page 17 of Emergence and Ascendance

I ended the call and if the devil himself had been reincarnated into a female form, I would bet she'd look exactly like my ex-wife at this very moment.

"I can't believe you would stoop this low."

"Would you really like to compare gutter behavior, because if we're discussing low, you've been to hell where I'm concerned."

I kept my eyes locked on hers in a visual standoff before she backed down. There was not one damn argument she could offer. She'd denied me a family. She lied, attempted to ruin my name and livelihood. The consequences she was receiving barely scratched the surface of the crimes committed but it was all I had. The only justice I would ever receive.

"What am I supposed to do?" she sobbed seconds before the tears began to fall. I wasn't affected. Her tears didn’t mean a damn thing to me.

"Your father's a very rich man…" I remained unmoved. "Fornow." If I could find a way to take every dime he owned, I would. She had better pray he wasn't as careless as she had been. "Get out of my office, Aja, and don't come back or I will have youarrested for trespassing. There's nothing else for you and I to discuss."

"Christian…." she begged and I simply stared, emotionless, not saying a word until she refused to leave.

"I would prefer not to have you dragged out of here but don’t fucking test me. I will do it, Aja. Get. The. Fuck. Out."

She wiped a few tears and gathered herself before turning to leave but she gave me one more sad ass pathetic look before she exited my office.

"I loved you once. You might not believe that but I did. We could have had a great life and a happy marriage but you ruined it all."

"You fucking lied. How could we have anything when never what you wanted a life with me?" My voice raised but I didn’t give a damn about tempering my anger.

"I wanted a life with you. I lovedyoubut not every woman is built to be a mother and some of us just don't want to be."

"Then you should have been fucking honest and given me the choice before we took vows to love and honor one another. It's possible I would have still chosen you, chosenus. You took that choice away."

"You would not have chosen me, so don’t pretend like you’re some amazing, selfless person. I had to do what I needed to. If I didn’t marry you, it would have been someone else. My father was adamant about selling me off to the highest bidder. I did what was best for me, and like I said, I did love you. I assumed you loved me enough to see things my way. Marriage was inevitable butwhoI married was what I had to consider. Don't you understand that? My father had plans, whether I cared or not. I wanted it to be you because we were good together, then you kept pressing me for a family I didn't want. You ruined?—"

"I wasn't the one who ruined us, Aja. That was all you. I never pressured you for children. We had unprotected sex as husbandand wife. You could have taken another course of action if you loathed the idea of being a mother that badly. There's no changing how the fuck I feel about the situation, regardless of how you try to justify the decisions you made. You lied to me, made promises you never intended to keep. I will never forgive you for that shit."

For killing our children and lying about it.

"Yeah… Well, at least we both agree. I hate you just as much as you hate me. Have a good fucking life, Christian. I fully intend to do so myself, with orwithoutyour money. For the record, I don't regret a damn thing I did. I wanted freedom, having kids would never allow me that. I did what I had to do."

Her eyes met mine to further confirm what I already knew. She loved herself far more than she'd ever loved me, or our children, which was why they never had a chance.

As soon as the door to my office slammed and I was alone, my phone rang. I was grateful because being left with the reality of just how hateful Aja truly was wasn't a healthy space for me to exist in.

"What?"

"Wow, what crawled up your ass?" Cress said calmly, which had me sinking back in my chair and closing my eyes.

"Nothing, what's up? You need something?"

"I do, but it can wait, you're angry, what's wrong?" I wanted to smile but my mood was too weighted.

So much had changed about my relationship with my sister since she'd married Elias. For most of our lives, we were siblings who loved each other but Cress was so invested in dance and I was submerged in the family business that our bond was superficial. That hadn't been intentional, simply a layer of who we were raised to be. But over the past few years, she and I had become extremely close. My niece and nephew were my world and I better understood my sister.

"Aja was here."

"Why?"

"I pissed her off and she felt it necessary to show up in person to express how little she appreciated me doing so."

"Should you two even be in the same room?"

"For the safety of all parties involved, no."

"Are you okay?"

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