Asshole Husband

He laid his soul bare to a complete stranger.

Ryan didn’t need to hear his reasons or even give a shit, but he finally admitted the truth. Rachel hadn’t even heard it, and now, she never would.

Chapter Eleven

Moving in with her sisters wasn’t an option, or at least according to Wolfe, it wasn’t. Rachel glanced around his penthouse apartment. It was a huge place, complete with three luxury bedrooms, not designed for a child, a large kitchen, a small library, an office, a dining room, sitting room, and even an extra bathroom.

It was nice.

More than nice.

This was the peak of luxury.

There was even a pool downstairs, and Wolfe promised she could reserve her time there. She didn’t even need to have anyone at the pool for her to enjoy a swim. The complete luxury of everything.

Nibbling her lip, she didn’t know if she was ever going to take something like this. Not for her.

This wasn’t a home.

Benjamin liked it, but even after a week here, he wasn’t talking to Wolfe. They had to hire him a tutor while she dealt with finding him a school. Benjamin was pissed at Wolfe for fighting with Ryan, and for the town turning on them. At least Ryan hadn’t continued with an assault charge, and they’d been able to move away without drawing too much attention to themselves.

Their home back in the town had already been put on the market, and Wolfe arranged for their furniture to be put into storage until they could find a place.

She hadn’t even looked at homes to buy, let alone rent.

The tutor they hired for Benjamin came in every single day.

Miss Bernard had called her because the dress shop had also been closed down; Wolfe’s doing, not hers. She agreed to finish the woman’s dress for her. There was only a couple of days’ worth of work.

Being in Wolfe’s home though, it wasn’t what she wanted.

This was his space, not hers.

There were no personal touches.

The place had been decorated, but he didn’t even have a single picture. Since they arrived at the city, Wolfe had to leave to attend his business, and she was left alone, in a large penthouse apartment.

“It could be worse,” Alice said, one evening.

They’d opened up a bottle of wine and were happily drinking the contents. Mary had taken Benjamin again to give her some space to look for schools. She didn’t want her son tutored. School and being part of a classroom were important, at least she always believed it had been.

She had been in class, and sure, she’d been subjected to bullying, but it hadn’t been that bad. There were a lot of good memories for her, and she wanted the same for her son.

“Yes, it could be worse. I’m back in my husband’s apartment, who I wanted to divorce on the grounds of the fact we’d been separated a long time. I’m now living with him. How will I even get a divorce now? I’m living with him, Alice.”

“What about adultery?”

She shook her head. “I can’t use it.”

“Why? Because there’s no evidence? Please, I bet that man has got a ton of evidence for you to use.”

“He didn’t cheat on me.”

“What?”

“In the five years we were apart, he didn’t sleep with anyone else.”

“How do you know that?”

“He told me.”

“And you want to believe him?”

“Why not?”

“He’s lied to you before.”

Rachel shrugged. “I know, but this was different.”

“He had everything to gain by lying to you.”

“It’s weird, but I do believe him,” she said. “There’s no reason for him to lie. He’d already come to live with me by then.” She laughed. “I have no chance of ever getting this divorce.”

“Don’t bite my head off or anything, but do you even want a divorce?”

“Of course I do. Why would you think I wouldn’t?” she asked.

“I don’t know. You did love him. Are you telling me now without a shadow of a doubt, you’ve fallen out of love with him?” Alice poured her another glass of wine.

Rachel opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and frowned. “I hate you right now.”

“You still love him.”

She pressed her lips together.

“It’s still only the two of us here, Rachel. You and me. Tell me the truth, do you love Wolfe?”

Rachel sighed. “This is embarrassing.”

“No, it’s not. I’m your sister, and I won’t tell another soul.”

“Oh, please, you’ll tell Mary the first chance you get. I know the two of you, and you’ve both probably got a bet on when I’ll cave and give in to Wolfe.”

“We do have a bet. Not on when you’ll cave and become Wolfe’s love slave, but on you admitting the fact you’ve never fallen out of love with him. I know you liked to spew all that garbage about not finding a man because you were married. Please, honey, you and I both know, if you didn’t love Wolfe, you’d have done everything in your power to get rid of the man. You’re not a fucking fool.”