Sophia’s POV
I blinked once, my mind still unable to comprehend his audaciousness.
“What?” I asked but Jerry was already speaking again, his smug authoritative attitude drifting into something similar to desperation.
“Whatever amount you want, I’ll pay you. Just divorce him.”
In my time away from the Baxters, I had completely forgotten how they could be but Jerry was quickly reminding me of how foul he had been to me these past five years.
But this time, there was no need for me to take his bullshit anymore.
“What on earth is wrong with you, Jerry? Just who do you think you are to tell me to divorce my husband and try to pay me off?”
Something sparked in Jerry’s gaze. Anger and another emotion I couldn’t qualify hardening his gaze.
“Who am I? I am your husband!” He yelled. “You want to know what is wrong with me? You came to my shareholders’ gala and kissed my half brother in front the everyone. How did you expect me to react?”
For a moment I was lost for words. Did Jerry just call himself my husband? Unbelievable. I was so done with this.
“Firstly, you are no longer my husband. We are divorced, remember?” I held up a hand ticking off a point. “Secondly, you believe I am a gold digger. What does it matter who I kiss and where I do it?”
“What does it matter?” Jerry echoed, those baby blue eyes as wide as saucers before he gripped my arm as though he intended to shake some sense into me. “We’ve been divorced for just over two years, Sophia, how could you marry him?”
Annoyance bloomed within me and with that anger, I shrugged off Jerry’s hold on me.
“It seems you have conveniently lost your memories, Jerry Baxter,” I scowled. “You were the one that impregnated Kate and deceived me into signing not just divorce papers but also signing away the properties I was entitled to. Don’t you dare act like I betrayed you.”
I also had a litany of curse words I wanted to use on Jerry Baxter but I refused to let him know he had gotten to me. He was just a spoiled manchild used to getting his way and now that it looked like I was remotely starting a non toxic life without him, he couldn’t stand it.
Jerry’s mouth opened and shut and he vaguely resembled a gaping fish. I lifted an eyebrow and grabbed my bag trying to move past him to leave the room but Jerry simply moved with me.
“Reid is just using you,” Jerry said, obviously trying to change tactics since trying to pay me off had not worked. “You don’t know what he is like, Sophia.”
Once I would have agreed with that statement and even now that I knew Reid’s history, I knew nothing really about the man himself.
But I had seen Reid on his knees. I had seen the unshed tears in his eyes when he spoke of his mother and most importantly at the end of his story, he had apologized to me for his behavior thus far.
I knew this was the bare minimum but it was more than I could say for Jerry Baxter who didn’t even realize he was wrong much less apologizing for it.
I shoved Jerry Baxter away from my path unwilling to listen to his poison for a single moment more.
“Whether or not Reid is trying to use me isn’t your business but mine.” I said coldly before starting to head towards the door only for Jerry’s chilling words to stop me flat on my heels.
“You are nobody, Sophia, if you keep this up you will only end up being a casualty in this war between Reid and I.”
Jerry stepped up to me leaning in to whisper cruelly into my ear. “If you know what is good for you, Sophia, you’ll take my offer while it stands or you’ll only have yourself to blame.”
My hands curled folding into fists that I desperately wanted to plant on Jerry Baxter’s face and at least break his nose.
Instead, I turned away from the door spinning to face him.
“You said what you had to say, now listen to me. I only have two things to tell you, Jerry Baxter. The first is you can’t buy me,” I said my gaze never leaving his even for a second. “The second thing? I’m not leaving my husband.”
Jerry stared at me for a second and once more I had a feeling that I had surprised him then a smile graced his arrogant features.
“Your husband?” Jerry chuckled darkly like I had told a joke. “You seem to have forgotten that I know you, Sophia. You didn’t let me touch you much less accept me as your husband in five years. There’s no way you accepted Reid so soon. This is a ruse.”
My cheeks burned with embarrassment at the remembrance of that night. I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid as to let this man touch me and to find pleasure in that touch. I couldn’t believe that I had been stupid enough to hope and dream of a future with him.
A smug smile sat on Jerry’s face and I knew he could see the flush on my cheeks at his words. He must be feeling like he had won by leveraging his intimate knowledge of me. Knowledge I had allowed him to have.
I plastered on a smug smile that was a twin to his before leaning in and speaking.
“Oh, but there’s a difference. I didn’t let you touch me for five years because I never wanted you to be my husband,” My smile widened before I completed my statement. “I’ve wanted Reid from the first moment I saw him.”