On your knees, Mr. Billionaire

005

Dominic Blackwell

~•~

I left Victoria's apartment early the next morning so I could go home and change.

The first thing I noticed when I entered our shared closet was that some of her clothes were missing. She hadn’t packed everything. Did she intend to come back later?

I picked out a suit for the day and was about to go to the bathroom when a familiar file caught my eye on the bed. I dropped the suit and picked up the divorce papers, flipping through until I reached the signature line.

It was blank.

Irritation crawled up my neck immediately. She was indeed hoping to come back later.

I brought out my phone and scrolled through my contacts, my finger hovering over her name for a few seconds before I continued scrolling. I wasn’t going to chase her around and beg her to sign the papers. If she wanted to drag it out, fine. I had better things to do than to wait on Camille Laurent’s feelings.

So I called my lawyer instead.

“Mail the papers to her directly,” I said to him when he answered. “Give her a week. If she doesn’t sign them, then we’ll discuss other options.”

“Understood, Mr. Blackwell. Anything else?”

“No.”

“How about division of properties? What if she’s not satisfied with what you’re giving her?”

I thought about it for only a second. “Give her what she wants.” The quicker she was out of my life, the better. But what if she took advantage of that? “If it’s reasonable,” I added. “If her demands are outrageous, let me know.”

“Got it.”

I hung up after that and told myself that was the end of it. I had been stuck in this marriage for a long time. I was finally glad to be free. I had a board meeting at eleven. I had an actual life to get back to.

Camille’s parents had taken advantage of my family’s momentary financial hardship to push their daughter onto me just so they could enter some more exclusive circles. Camille had also taken the opportunity to lock me down because apparently, she used to like me. She didn’t care about my feelings for Victoria back then. Why should I care about hers now?

I thought I would get used to her, but she was always manipulative. I couldn’t believe she tried to claim Victoria’s pregnancy test strips as hers the previous day.

If Victoria hadn’t told me they belonged to her before Camille arrived, I might have ended up believing the latter woman. She was definitely her parents’ daughter.

I dropped the papers back on the bed and proceeded to the bathroom to shower and get dressed.

The board meeting ran longer than expected, and then I had a call with the development team and didn’t even have time to get lunch. I had three more meetings that blurred together and by the time I went back home, it was already seven in the evening.

The butler, Harris, met me at the front door. “Good evening, sir. There’s a delivery for you. It came by courier this afternoon. It’s marked urgent.”

I took it from him without really looking at him, already unbuttoning my shirt.

“From Mrs. Blackwell, sir,” Harris added.

That got my attention.

I stopped at the foot of the stairs and tore open the envelope. Inside was a copy of the divorce papers I’d given to Camille last night. Her signature was present this time.

I’d given her a week and she had sent it back in a day. It took her less than twenty-four hours to go from begging me not to leave her to mailing back the signed divorce papers without any call or a last attempt to talk me into reconsidering.

“Sir?” Harris was still standing there. “Will there be anything else?”

“No. You’re dismissed.”

“And dinner?”

I didn’t have any appetite to eat. “No, thank you.”

He nodded and left.

I stood there for a few minutes, telling myself that this was a good thing. It was exactly what I wanted. The marriage that should have never happened in the first place was over. It hadn’t been drawn out and none of our families tried to pressure us to stay together. This was the best-case scenario.

However, a small part of me was overly irritated at how quickly she signed them.

Was she tired of pretending she cared about me?

Instead of going upstairs into the room, I went into my study and poured myself a drink.

Maybe all the crying she’d done last night was an act she’d finally given up on when she realized it was futile. That had to be it. She probably felt relieved too.

My phone rang, bringing me out of my thoughts. It was Victoria.

I hesitated to answer, but I did anyway.

“Is she out yet?” She asked.

I thought about the rest of her clothes that were still upstairs. Did she plan to take them later? Or was she leaving them with me? “Yes.”

“And the divorce papers?”

“Signed.”

Victoria squealed, making me pull the phone away from my ear for a few seconds. It sounded like nails scratching a blackboard.

It made me think of Camille. She was generally a bubbly girl, but she’d gotten quieter over the years. I couldn’t recall the last time I heard her squeal in delight. I couldn’t even recall the last time she was delighted.

“Dom?”

“Mmh?”

“I asked you a question?”

Had I zoned out? “What?”

“When can I move in then?”

I’d gotten so used to living with Camille that I didn’t know what it would be like living with another woman. “Anytime you want, Victoria.”

“I’ll start packing tonight.”

“Mmh.”

“Ugh! I can’t wait!” She squealed again, making me frown.

By the time I hung up, I realized that the divorce papers were still in my hand and I’d squeezed them into a ball.