“You need to either shut up or get out.” My voice, cold and knife-sharp, doesn’t sound like my own.
“Don’t get angry with me,” she says. “I was young and na?ve once too. That’s exactly how I ended up pregnant with you. And it upsets me to think that my daughter, that thirteen-year-old girl who had one helluva backbone, has ended up with a sugar daddy and still nothing of her own.”
Oh, shit.
I can deflect what she said about Dean and me. I know the truth of our marriage. I know the truth of my husband. But this arrow flies past my defenses and hits me where I already hurt. And she knows it.
“All of what you’re saying is bullshit,” I tell her. “You were the one always looking for a man to take care of you. You’re the one who still has nothing of your own.”
“And yet you were always ranting about how you never wanted to end up like me.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“I’m not like you,” I retort. “I’m nothing like you. I own a business now, goddammit. I have a life here. I’m putting down roots. And if you’re trying to make me doubt my marriage and my husband, good luck with that. Because I never will.”
“I’m not trying to make you doubt anything, Liv. I can read the signs. The miscarriage, your husband being gone for so long, leaving you alone, this business with a lawyer… you’re obviously having marital problems, and you’re blind to what your marriage really is. I want you to see it and to know you still have a way out.”
“You can’t make me see anything. You don’t even know me! I don’t want your opinion or advice or anything, okay? And I sure as hell don’t want a way out.” I force myself to approach her. “You need to leave, Crystal. I don’t want you here anymore.”
She holds up her hands. “Okay, fine. But I’m worried about you. And the offer to come with me to Phoenix still stands. You just need to grow a spine.”
An ice-cold shiver rattles through me. I know exactly what she’s trying to do. She can’t stand the thought that I have what she doesn’t. And she wants me to believe all this shit she’s throwing at me so I’ll feel the need to escape with her again.
“Conversation’s over,” I tell her. “It’s past time for you to find somewhere else to stay. Either start looking for a hotel room or leave for Phoenix now. You can’t stay with me anymore.”
I no longer care where she goes, as long as it’s away. I go to the TV stand and grab the VHS tape that contains the video of Crystal’s cereal commercial.
“And you can take this with you.” I throw the tape on the coffee table, then stalk to the bedroom and slam the door so hard the hinges rattle.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dean
April 22
don’t want you to talk to her.” I tighten my grip on the phone. Anger seethes in my gut. Just because I agreed to this doesn’t mean I have to like it. On the contrary. I fucking hate it.
“Your wife actually saved me some time by contacting me first,” Ben Stafford says on the other end of the phone. “I’d intended to call her soon to set up an appointment. I just need to ask her some basic questions to verify everything you’ve already told me.”
“There’s no way you can leave her out of it?”
“It’s procedure, Professor West. When will you be back in town?”
“I don’t know. I’m chairperson of a Medieval Studies conference that’s taking place in July. I have to be back for that. I want to come back sooner.”
“I’ve gotten pretty busy with several other cases, but I should have yours wrapped up well before the end of the semester so I can make my recommendation to the board.”
Which could be even more of a disaster for me. I end the call and dial our home number, clenching my teeth when Crystal’s voice comes over the line.
“Olivia West’s residence,” she says.
“It’s Dean,” I tell her. “Where is she?”
“At the café, I suppose. How’s Italy?”
“Italian. Tell Liv I called.”
“Of course,” Crystal says. “Did she relay the message from the lawyer?”
My heart seizes. “What lawyer?”
“Sterling and Fox,” she replies. “I took the call. I thought maybe Liv had contacted a divorce lawyer.”
“No, goddammit.” Though I hate letting Crystal get to me, the words Liv and divorce crash in my brain like missiles.
“Well, all evidence points to you having marital problems,” Crystal continues, “but I saw that’s not Sterling and Fox’s area of specialty.”
Cold foreboding prickles my skin. I want to hang up, but I can’t. I need to know what she knows.
“What did he say?” I ask.
“Just asked for you to return his call.” She pauses. “I imagine sexual harassment is like a rape charge for a man. No matter the outcome, the stigma never goes away. And Liv will have to deal with being married to a man whose reputation is ruined.”
A red haze coats my vision. My voice drops to a dangerous level. “I want you out of my house. Away from my wife.”