Page 61 of Off-Limits Love
Brad made a face and waved a hand in the air, dismissing her words. “No judge is going to make me pay you for being lazy.”
“You didn’t want me to work,” she said, hands fisting. “I’ve been out of the job market foryears.”
“Stick to the topic, Mak. Sam hasn’t said whether you’re his heir?”
“I don’tbelieveyou right now,” she said, lowering her voice, even though she doubted it was necessary. “Do you hear how insensitive you’re being?”
“I’m just trying to get to the truth. My point is that he never had kids, and I remember him saying once a long time ago that this place was paid off.”
“So? How is Sam’s private business any of yours?”
“Because it concerns my daughter—and you.”
A huff left her, and she shook her head. “Obviously I amnotyour concern or you’d honor your obligations to me.”
“You wanted the divorce, pushed for it. I’ve never stopped loving you despite what you did to end us.”
“You loved the convenience of me,” she countered. “That’s not the same thing as loving someone. When you love someone, you don’t cheat on them. You don’t deliberately hurt them or cast them aside like trash. That’s not how love works.”
“You’ll never forgive me for that, will you? Even though you weren’t there for me when I needed you. I was going through a tough time, Mak.”
“You changed jobs because of some perceived slight against you when you’d already told your boss youdidn’twant the position because it didn’t come with a raise. Them giving the job to someone else was hardly a life crisis that required you to seek someone else. You’re also forgetting,” she said, lowering her voice, “that things between us were so bad because you’re addicted to porn and you—youforcedme, Brad. You forced yourself on me again and again even when I said no.”
“That never happened.”
“It did.Repeatedly. And you didn’t care what it did to me. How could you think I’d welcome you knowingwhatyou were doing beforehand? When you took what you wanted no matter what I said? When you disrespected me and our marriage like that?”
Brad huffed a breath, then reached out and grabbed her precious recipe book.
She took a step toward him, wanting to yank it out of his hands but knew attempting to do so would be futile when he was so much stronger and he’d do something to damage it out of spite.
“You’re delusional,” he murmured in a droll tone, idly flipping the pages before glancing up at her with an innocent look of complete denial.
Gaslighting at its best,she mused, feeling the prickle of tears burn her eyes and throat.
“Can we get back on track? You need to stay away from the freak.”
So that was it? Call her names and deny he’d ever raped her and move on? Had she really expected anything else? “And you need to mind your own business,” she countered, voice thick. “Any dealings Finn has with Sam are his own. They don’t involve me.”
“Are you inheriting this place or not?”
An incredulous laugh emerged from her chest. “Why do you want to know? Why would I tell you even if I did know?”
“Because I care about you and our daughter, and I want to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of and used by Blackwell.”
She blinked at his words, then blinked again. “How could he do more damage than you?”
His nostrils flared with his anger. In the past, she would’ve buckled under his questions and fallen for the false concern, but now… He didn’t like her rebuttals. Didn’t like her standing up for herself. Didn’t like her because she wouldn’t bow down.
How could she have been so blind?
“I’m really getting concerned about you, Mak. The way you’re twisting our history and what happened between us is scary.”
“I’m not twisting anything. I’m finally acknowledging the reality of it and seeing it forexactlywhat it was. How toxic and abusive it was.”
“I never hit you.”
“No, but you did other things.Awfulthings,” she stressed in a raw voice.
