Chasing His Rejected Wife
Chapter 55 -

Aiden

I couldn't stand it any longer and pulled to the side of the road, uncaring if I was parked illegally. I wanted to be done with this horrible specimen of a mother as soon as possible. My skin crawled just by looking at her and it took everything in me not to throw her out.

She shot me a confused look. "Why are we stopping here? Aren't we going to your office?"

"Not quite." I took my hands off the wheel and reached over to get my checkbook from the cubbyhole. I pulled out my fountain pen from my jacket, a birthday present from Jess last year that for some reason, I'd taken a liking to.

"I have a very packed schedule," I explained as I filled out a leaf of the checkbook, leaving the amount blank. "and right now, I'm running late to a very important meeting. I'm sure you have a lot of things to take care of as well, so we might as well save time and get this over with."

She gaped at me in shock, struck speechless and I took the opportunity to hand her the check I'd just filled.

"What the hell is this?" she demanded, staring at the slip of paper in her hand.

"It's a blank check, already endorsed with my signature." I told her; my voice was cold. "Feel free to put in any amount you want and spend as you will."

For a moment, confusion overcame her, but I knew the moment she realized what I was doing. Most people would classify Margaret Holton as beautiful and they wouldn't be entirely wrong. She was, after all, a former Miss America and a well- known supermodel in her younger days. But right now, sitting in my passenger seat, she looked far from beautiful with her face contorted with rage and spite.

"How dare you?" she spat, "How dare you try to buy me off like this? Do you think your father didn't try to pull the same stunt?"

"He did," I agreed with my calm voice, a contrast to her angry tone. "But he never gave you a blank check, did he? All he could offer you was some paltry sum of money that would have run out in no time. But this," I gestured to the check in her hand, "If you use it wisely, you will never have to worry about money for the rest of your life."

"You smug bastard! Did you forget that a single word from me can destroy you and your sanctimonious family?" The hand holding the check shook from the force of her rage and for a second, I thought she was going to rip it to shreds and hurl it at my face in a fit of righteous anger. But, true to type, she did nothing of the sort and I felt a flash of triumph because I knew I had made the right move.

Her love for the comforts of life was her Achilles heel, the reason she had started blackmailing my father in the first place. Margaret loved money and it was her biggest regret that she had lost all of hers after being scammed by a previous lover. Since then, she had made it her life's goal to acquire more money and it didn't matter how she got it. She'd been married three times and had a string of lovers, each man wealthy in their own right.

For a brief time, my father had been one of those lovers, the biggest mistake of his life. A mistake he kept paying for until he drew his last breath.

And one I was determined to put an end to.

"I'm aware of what you can and can't do." I replied, allowing myself a grim smile. "There's no forgetting it, is there? However, that is a different matter. The reason I'm giving you this check is to ensure your continued silence and for you to stay far away from Jess. I don't want you interfering in our relationship in any way."

I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she digested my request, all the while watching me with the intensity of a hawk studying its prey for weak points, eager to pounce and devour.

"And why shouldn't I interfere?" Her words came out in a sneer and when she laughed, it was filled with derision, "You think I don't know about that little stunt you pulled with that girl, Elisa, all to make my daughter want to divorce you? Aiden, I know more than you think and let me warn you right now; if that divorce goes through, I'll expose every goddamn secret to her!"

I waged an internal battle to stop my body from betraying my shock. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she took me by surprise. How could she know about my fake affair? The implications of that filled me with dread. Someone close to me had developed a case of very loose lips. There were very few people who knew the truth of Elisa and I, each one of them people I considered a part of my inner circle and knew more about me than anyone else. I pushed that problem aside for the time being. I would deal with it once this current issue was handled. I leveled Margaret with a cold stare, "Let me make something clear, I'm not here to negotiate or beg. Accept my offer or not, the choice is yours, but before you do, think carefully about your next actions because it will determine how much longer you enjoy the benefits of your little scheme."

Her eyes narrowed and for the first time, she looked wary. "What do you mean?"

"As long as you stay away from Jess, you'll continue to reap the benefits that my father originally put in place. That's aside from this blank check, of course. I give you my word, here and now that our subsequent divorce will in no way affect that, because, let's not kid ourselves, that's why you came back and not out of any concern for your daughter."

She chose to ignore that last dig at her character. "And am I just supposed to take you at your word?"

"Not at all." I reached into my jacket, pulled out a folded paper and handed it to her. "This is a contract to that effect. All it needs is your signature."

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I waited as she unfolded the contract and scanned through it. My phone began to ping some incoming messages and I grimaced, knowing that it was probably Fletcher reminding me that I was running late to the meeting. I needed to wrap this up as soon as possible.

Done reading, Margaret blew out a breath and folded it up, she still wore a pinched look, but she had definitely calmed down. "I'll need time to consider your offer."

I shook my head in a firm negative. "This offer only lasts for as long as you're in this vehicle and since I have somewhere else to be in the next two minutes, that's how long you have to decide. The second you open the door without signing, the deal is gone."

"You can't be serious." She held up the contract, eyes flashing anger. "Do you think I'm stupid enough to just sign some random piece of paper without scrutinizing every word? For all I know, there could be some clause you've managed to slip in that will trip me up later and give you the upper hand."

My smile was cold and emotionless and I glanced pointedly at the digital clock on the console. "You have a minute and thirty seconds to read it again and make sure."

"You fucking asshole! If you think I'm going to fall for that, then you need to think again. I'm leaving this instant. I'll make sure you regret trying to cross me and by the time I'm done, your family's money and reputation will be a thing of the past."

If words were poison, I would be dead from the venom in hers. Her hand reached for the door handle as she made a show of wanting to open it. I watched her impassively as she ranted and called me all sorts of names.

"Thirty seconds left, Margaret." I said when she paused to draw breath. I twirled the fountain pen between my fingers, my eyebrows raised. Her face, the parts still capable of moving and not struck immobile by Botox, screwed up in an intense show of hatred.

With a foul curse, she snatched the pen from my hand and smoothened the paper on her lap. I'd helpfully marked the places that needed her signature beforehand so all she had to do was sign.

"I'll make sure you pay for this." She vowed as she all but tossed the papers in my face. "You've just made a deadly mistake by choosing to cross me, Aiden Brown."