Something Old (The Jilted Series #1) - Liz Lovelock

How did my life end up like this?

For the second time in my short thirty years, I’m sitting in a divorce attorney’s office.

“Did you hear me?”

My attention clicks to my soon-to-be, second, ex-husband, Craig. The smug grin on his face makes my hand twitchy. Loving him used to be so easy . . . but it turned into something sour.

“No, I didn’t, sorry.” I attempt to keep my voice even.

He huffs and rolls his eyes. “That’s your problem, Scarlett, and why we’re here. You never were present. Your work always took first priority. Not me.”

My back straightens as I lay my hands flat on the table. I shut my eyes briefly and open them again, staring directly at Craig. “Excuse me! That work you speak of gave you the life you’ve enjoyed living for the past two years, and don’t even get me started on your lazy ass.”

Vivian lays her perfectly manicured hand on my arm. I snap my mouth shut and bite the inside of my bottom lip. I inhale a large breath through my nose and then release it, hoping to expel the bubbling anger rising in me. My body vibrates. How I put up with this man has me baffled. What the ever-loving hell did I see in him?

Vivian clears her throat and tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder. I hang my head and train my focus on my hands as they rest on the dark-wood conference room table. If I have to talk again, I might not be able to rein in the verbal abuse that threatens to spew from my mouth.

“My client has informed me that she has been the income provider in this marriage.” Vivian pauses a moment, and I glance up at her. She winks then continues. “Thankfully, my client listens to her lawyer, and when she was told to get a prenup signed, she did.”

I don’t miss the smugness emanating from her words. He’s paled significantly.

Craig quickly leans into his lawyer and whispers something.

“My client has no recollection of signing a prenup,” his lawyer states matter-of-factly.

I shoot a worried glance in Vivian’s direction. The soft look of reassurance in her green eyes tells me she has what she needs.

Vivian lifts some paperwork from her file and slides it across the table. “This is a copy that obviously has his signature on it. Does he have short-term memory loss? There are even witnesses to the signing, me being one of them.” She stops, and a look of confidence passes from her to me. The weight that’s been sitting on my chest lifts slightly. Thankfully, I listened to her on this when she shoved paperwork in my face.

I’d thought Craig was different. Most guys who date me don’t know that I come from money. Craig, though, is the son of one of my father’s business partners.

When we met, he was this sweet, caring guy. We were married within six months. Our families were over the moon, and I was, too—until I noticed the things he’d buy with my money. From there, things went downhill at a fast pace.

He played me.

His lawyer collects and scans the document, and he and Craig speak in quiet whispers.

“Do you think things will go smoothly?” I whisper to Vivian, who’s busy shuffling papers around.

She side-eyes me. “Honey, you should have listened to me long ago.” Her words sting, but they’re true. She warned me. My best friend sighs and faces me. “I’ve got you. We made sure this prenup could not be bent. Even if he bought things, if he used your money, then it’s yours. You own everything, and he has nothing. Anything that’s in his name is all he gets, plus whatever he came into the marriage with, which, from memory, wasn’t much at all.”

I wish I had her confidence. “I’m glad you’re on my side,” I mutter.

“I always will be.”

After a moment, Craig’s lawyer clears his throat. “My client wants the apartment in New York.”

My attention shifts to him, and I want to vomit. That’s my favorite place, and Craig knows it.

“No,” Vivian shoots back sternly before I can even protest. Judging by the vein pulsing at her throat, she may not have been expecting this. Neither was I.

“We’re not negotiating. He leaves with everything he came into the marriage with. Here’s a list of all that my client will be keeping. Your client can have the same apartment he had when they first got married. I believe his father bought it for him.” She slides