-26-

It took Ginny nearly twenty-four hours to hatch her plan and pull on her big girl pants. While she didn’t know how she was going to win Ash back, she did know the first step was freeing herself from the marriage she remained trapped in, and that meant ditching the lawyers and confronting Miles face to face.

Her limbs trembled as she exited the private elevator into the penthouse apartment that had once been home. Gaining access to said lift had been ridiculously easy. She’d only had to smile at the new security guard, introduce herself as Mrs. Winters and he’d been happy to assist. Okay, so there’d been a couple of security questions to answer, but they’d been easy for someone who’d lived with Miles for several years. The man was as predictable as he was soulless.

Of course, now that she was up here, her plan to force a confrontation by walking into the lion’s den didn’t seem all that clever.

He’s just a man.

And she wasn’t a frightened girl anymore.

One bag. One pair of shoes, and cash enough to get her to the other end of the country, that’s what she’d left with. Left, intending never to return or see Miles Winters again.

Her fists clenched as she tightened her resolve to see this through. Miles might be a suave, sophisticated bastard when he turned the charm on, but they had history enough that no amount of charisma could wash away.

The apartment hadn’t changed. Literally, not a thing had swapped places in all this time. The décor was the same. The abundance of green and glass still reminded her of an algae-riddled fish tank, making her nose wrinkle.

In the early days after her departure, she’d sometimes wondered how long it took Miles to realise she’d gone, given there was so little of her present in their home. She hadn’t bothered to leave him an explanatory note. He hadn’t deserved one.

As her departure had been unannounced, it seemed fitting that her return should be the same.

Miles was sitting upon the L-shaped sofa with his back to her. That gave her a second to compose herself…and another to realise he wasn’t alone. He was entertaining.

“Hello, Miles. Well, this is awkward.”

The woman down on her knees screeched, and pulled her silk blouse closed across her breasts. “Who the hell are you?”

Ginny couldn’t help it. She laughed. She couldn’t have planned such a perfect moment to make an entrance. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who’d moved on. Her husband had a lover of his own.

“What are you doing here? Who are you?” The woman flapped about, while incorrectly fastening her buttons.

Ginny ignored her and walked over until she was facing Miles, who was puce with rage and desperately attending to his fly. “Why don’t you tell your friend here who I am, Miles, honey.”

“Miles?”

“Nobody,” he huffed.

Red in the face really wasn’t a good look on him.

“She’s nobody.”

“Just his wife,” Ginny said, as if it were no big deal.

The woman’s eyes—bless her—nearly popped out of their sockets. She stared at Ginny, mouth open, then at Miles, then back and forth between them twice over, before blurting, “You’re married! Oh. My. God. You’re married. I had no idea. None.” She started fishing around for her possessions. She reclaimed an earring from the arm of the sofa, her stilettos from the rug, and a sheaf of business papers from the floor, that she couldn’t stuff into her vintage Chanel briefcase quickly enough.

“I see you’re still mixing business and pleasure,” Ginny said to Miles. It wouldn’t surprise her to learn he’d only invited ‘his guest’ here in order to butter her up to secure a better deal on some transaction or other.

Miles had always been perfectly willing to screw whomever he needed to in order to secure the deal he wanted. It didn’t matter if that person had been his friend for years, his godmother, or the doctor who cured his mother’s cancer. The man lacked basic humanity.

Now finally on his feet, he made an awkward step towards Ginny. “What do you want? Why are you here?”

As if he couldn’t work it out.

“I know you hate to dispose of assets, but you could have made this painless, Miles. All you had to do was sign on the dotted line and you would never have had to see or hear from me again. I didn’t ask for anything but my freedom. I wasn’t interested in anything else…like your money, or your portfolio of investments. Just how much is your company worth these days?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“I’m just laying it all out, because the way I see it, if you’re going to be a bastard about it, I may as well demand everything the law says I’m entitled to, which I believe is about half.”

“Not when you’re flaunting an extra-marital affair.”

She’d never flaunted her relationship with Ash. In fact, until he’d proposed on Christmas Eve, their relationship had garnered little to no attention at all. Also, pot…kettle…black.

Ginny turned her head to look at the woman again. “I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

Miles stepped between them. “Don’t tell her.”

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. “No matter, I’m sure it’ll be easy enough to figure out.”

“I think it’ll be best if I leave,” The woman said, hurrying to the exit with her hastily gathered possessions. She still hadn’t quite got her painfully pointy-toed shoes on her feet.

“I’ll be in touch tomorrow to finish going over the takeover bid.” Miles called.

She stopped to give him a panicked stare, then set her teeth into a rictus smile. “Sure.”

The steel doors couldn’t open fast enough. “Cheery bye,” Ginny waved. “Nice meeting you.”

Having successfully chased off his companion, Ginny turned back to Miles. It was interesting to discover how much he’d shrunk since they’d last met. Not physically. His build, sandy hair and hazel eyes were unchanged, except for where his hair line had inched back a little over his forehead. Rather, the knowledge that he couldn’t do anything more to hurt her empowered her. She was already at rock bottom, having lost the man she loved. And, she wasn’t afraid anymore.

“Shall we talk terms, Miles?”

“You’re not getting anything.”

“Oh, are you sure about that?”

Miles straightened up to his full height, a not insignificant foot taller than her, and peered down his pinched nose at her as if she were a flea. The expression might have cowed her in the past, but now it simply made her wonder if he was constipated. He walked over to the kitchen counter and poured himself a drink. He didn’t offer her one. “If you want the divorce to proceed, it’s super simple, Genie love. Sign the papers I sent, and get your dick of a boyfriend to acknowledge his role in destroying our marriage.”

“Ash had nothing to do with it. Our marriage ended long before I even met him. And actually, I can’t ask him anything as we’re no longer in touch.”

“Dumped you, did he?” Miles cackled into his whisky glass. “It’s not difficult to see why.” He swept his gaze over her from top to toe. “What the fuck are you even wearing?”

She’d rolled up wearing the clothing she felt comfortable in. Black mostly, with a fair amount of stretchy lace and her favourite fishnets. Miles’s gaze couldn’t help straying to the fastenings of her suspender belt. So yeah—he could criticise and look down his nose at her attire all he liked, the fact was she knew what lay behind it: her bit of rebellion made him uncomfortable. Women in Miles’s world only wore suits that cost the earth, designer frocks, and shoes that rendered them incapable of doing anything other than totter. She knew, for once upon a time she’d routinely dressed like that for him. And while she enjoyed balancing in a pair of killer heels from time to time, there was a time and a place for it—mostly on the way to the bedroom, in her opinion.

“Poor little Genie. Rockers are all the same, darling; they can’t be relied on to stick to their word. Everything they do is always so fleeting. I really can’t see that there’s any need for me to compromise my position. Whether it’s on or off between you is irrelevant. You still fucked him while we were married.”

Had he really already forgotten what she’d walked in on him doing? “Shall we talk about this?” She turned her phone towards him and showed him the candid photograph she’d taken of him with his business acquaintance on her knees with his cock in her mouth.

Immediately, Miles snatched at the device, but Ginny cuddled it close to her chest. “Shall we start over, now that I have your actual attention?”

The grip he had on the whisky tumbler tightened so severely, she feared for the glass.

“Lacey has nothing to do with this.”

Nor did Ash.

“Lacey, is it? Nice of you to provide a name.” The name, rang a familiar sort of alarm in her head. “Hang on, not… Seriously? You’re fucking Lacey Tilverton. Lord Tilverton’s niece. The one who’s been in all the papers recently over that diplomatic incident.”

“I’m serious, Genie, don’t you dare start smearing her.”

She smiled viciously. Apparently, the man who didn’t give a fuck about anyone, gave a fuck about this particular woman. “Here’s the thing, Miles. I don’t have to do anything for you. I don’t have to listen to you, or do what you say, whether we’re married, separated or otherwise.”

“You’ll listen if you have any sense, or I’ll—”

“Or you’ll what, Miles? What will you do? You’ve already taken everything I valued. I’ve nothing left to lose, whereas you…” She swept her arms out wide and turned a full circle. “You have all of this. None of it ever meant anything to me, but it’s your castle, your empire, and if you continue to fight me over this, I’m going to fucking tear it apart brick by fucking brick.”

The tumbler exploded from his hand and hit the countertop, showering them both in splinters of crystal.

“You uppity fucking bitch. I rescued you when you were nothing more than a destitute stick insect that was likely to starve on a street corner. I gave you everything: a home, respect, my name.”

“Am I supposed to be grateful that you allowed me to bask in your glory? I had plans. I had dreams of my own. I didn’t want a gilded fucking cage. I was young, and I let grief and the counsel of people who should have known better to blind me. We’re wrong for each other Miles. We were always, always wrong for one another. And we always will be, so why prolong the agony? Why not just be done with me? Let’s just divorce and be done with one another, then you can screw the lovely Lacey as much as you like. Though, I have to confess I’m surprised, I didn’t think genuine affection was in your repertoire, or is it just that the piece of the corporate pie you’re desperate for is likely to vanish if this nonsense with the diplomat doesn’t blow over?”

“Stop talking about that. Just shut up.”

“I’m not going to. Miles, I’m barely getting started.”

“Fine, have your goddamned divorce.”

Ginny took a seat on the sofa.

“What are you doing? I said all right. I agreed.”

“And I’m not stupid. Sorry Miles, I need more than your word and a handshake. You’ll need to contact your lawyer in order to make this go away.”

“It’s eleven o’clock at night, you crazy bitch.”

“And I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve had to call him late with an urgent matter.”

Ginny let him huff and puff a bit. Eventually, he poured himself a second drink, and then picked up the phone. “Derrick. Hi. Yes, I realise it’s late, but I’ve decided not to proceed with the divorce filing. Can you see to the papers being withdrawn? Back together? What? No. God no. The whole thing is getting too embroiled, it’s diverting my attention away from where it should be focussed.”

He nodded in agreement with whatever the man on the other end of the call was saying. “Yes, I’m agreeing to end it on the basis of her filing. It’s coming up to four years, and we’re never going to settle our differences in a way that would allow our marriage to work.”

Consternation puckering his lips, he glanced across at her, kicking her heels over on his sofa, then grabbed a pen and scribbled something on a piece of notepaper, which he then passed to her. “We’ll need to agree upon a financial settlement if we want to slide this through quickly without the judge flagging it up for query.”

“I don’t want your money.”

He lowered the phone from his ear and pressed the device to his abdomen to cover the speaker.

“Did you not hear me? I thought you wanted this dealt with. The only way that will happen is if we come to an out of court agreement over what the law considers joint assets. So, look at the fucking figure, and tell me if it’s enough.”

Ginny scrunched the paper up without having looked at it. “I told you. It’s not about the money, Miles. Write whatever number you feel is necessary in order to appease whichever judge you have in your pocket. The only thing that matters to me is the document confirming you were a gigantic mistake.”

“You have to agree to it, Genie.”

“It’s Ginny, not Genie, or Geneva, and I did if you were listening. Any number is fine as long as I have a copy of the decree nisi in my hands by the end of tomorrow. If I don’t, I’m going to hand serve you to the tabloids. I’m sure they’ll love hearing about your affair with Miss Tilverton. I was just browsing while you’ve been nattering, apparently that diplomatic incident also involved Ezekiel Farr. Aren’t the Farr’s one of your biggest competitors?”

Miles threw the phone so that it bounced off the sofa cushion to the left of her head.

“Being friends is not illegal.”

“Nor is marrying a minor with her parent’s blessing, but it sure does make a great tabloid headline.”

He gave a small uneasy laugh, as he stepped forward with his hands raised. He pointed to the mobile phone. “I didn’t break any laws.”

Apparently, his lawyer was relieved to hear that.

Ginny rose and rested her hands upon her hips. “It’s not about the facts, Miles, it’s about perception. You have until five tomorrow, or I will make your life every bit as shitty as you’ve made mine.”

“I can’t influence a judge, Genie.”

“Whateves,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

***

The decree nisi was granted by Judge Henry Wilton the following day. Miles had the official documents couriered straight to her. That meant in six weeks she could apply for the decree absolute and be entirely free of him. She marked the date on the kitchen calendar.

Three hours later, the divorce settlement from Miles hit her bank account. An occurrence she was only made aware of as a result of the urgency call from the branch manager of her bank, who wanted to know if she’d like to come in and discuss investments.

She politely declined.