Finnegan

The elevator doors closed, and I stood in front of them frozen solid like ice.

Shit had hit the fan, and it was messy.

God, not in a million years could I have predicted that this would happen today.

The look on Abigail’s face sifted through my head, replaying over and over like a fucking nightmare.

She had been devastated. That moment when she had turned to me with those blue eyes wide and asking, I saw the hope in them die out.

Fuck, I couldn’t lie. I couldn’t lie to her, most especially. I would have told her I wanted to sort it all out this month, and I would have told her!

"Well." Victoria’s smug voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "That’s that. She was rather dramatic, though."

My eyes twitched in anger as I turned around, glaring at her in disbelief. Why did she always have to ruin everything?

Our marriage, being Angel’s mother, and now this. The one source of peace, the one person that made the world seem less fucking bleak, she had ruined this, too.

She smoothed her dress with her slender fingers, tossing me a callous smile.

"Oh, come on, did I ruin your little fun? You should have seen your face when you came out of the elevator."

She cackled; her face flushed with pleasure. "I never thought that you would look so pale, honey."

"You need to leave."

Before I did something stupid. God, I had never wanted to put my hands on a woman before, but Victoria was dangerously edging close to that line. The urge to drag her out of my office was so strong, I pushed it down.

"I’m already going." She grinned, blowing me a kiss as she sauntered over to where I stood before the elevator.

"My work here is done. That poor girl, she must have thought she was your one and only. Lemme guess, you fucked her just last night?"

My jaw tightened, and she let out a peal of laughter, clapping her hands eagerly. "Oh my, I should have brought my camera and taken a picture of this. I wonder what she would say if I asked her to help me testify against you in court. I mean, you did break her heart."

"Do not fucking test me, Victoria," I fumed, forcing my hands to stay beside me. "Leave, now. you hypocrite."

"I came to meet the woman my husband has been spending his time with." She tilted her head. "That’s perfectly reasonable to me."

"We are done, Victoria. We have been done for two years. The only thing keeping that marriage alive is paper and your refusal to sign anything."

"The paper is rather important, though, isn’t it?" She yawned, waving a hand in my face. "At least legally speaking."

"Get out of my building."

She moved toward the elevator, passing close enough that I could smell her perfume, and stopped just beside me.

"You know what I found interesting?" she glanced sideways at me. "The poor girl looked genuinely shocked. Maybe I could show her pictures of our wedding? Or I could teach her a lesson or two for aiming too high and flying too close to the sun."

"If you do anything like this again, if you come near her, if you contact her, if you so much as think about her, I will make the divorce proceedings so painful and so public that you won’t recognize what’s fucking left of your life when I’m finished." I spat, the anger boiling in my veins.

"And when I’m done, I will drag your silly name through every blog in New York until you live worse than a church mouse!"

The smug look on her face wiped off that instant, and her eyes widened. "You’re threatening me? For that girl? You’re threatening me because of a mere..."

She trailed off, pursing her lips, then shook her head. "No. It cannot be. You’re Finnegan, you’re ice cold, you wouldn’t possibly fall in love with a girl like her."

She chuckled to herself, then pressed the elevator button. When the doors opened, she stepped in and turned to face me.

"We’ll see who has the last laugh, husband."

The doors closed, and I stood on the empty floor, thoughts running through my head. I pulled out my phone and called Abigail. It rang a few times and went to voicemail.

Shit, what the hell do I do now? I wish I could erase it all, the hurt in her eyes. They were shining with all the happiness in the world just this morning when she woke in my arms.

Now that memory felt so far away.

***

Her car was at the curb outside her building, which meant she had made it home.

I pushed through the entrance doors, and the doorman looked up from his seat, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Good afternoon, sir. Who are you here to see?"

"Abigail Kellerman."

He picked up the desk phone and dialed her unit. There’s a visitor for Miss Kellerman. A..." He popped up a brow at me. "Your name, sir?"

"Finnegan."

"A Mr. Finnegan is here to see-"

His eyes widened as Annette’s voice boomed through the receiver so loudly, I could hear it from where I was standing.

"I’m afraid she’s not available-" Before he could continue, I reached across the desk and took the phone from his hand.

"Abigail," I murmured. "I know you can hear me. I know you’re there. Please, just a few minutes is all I ask, and I will explain everything."

"All of it. Everything I should have told you weeks ago, I’ll tell you now. You can leave after, you can do whatever you want after, but please. Just hear me out."

Annette’s voice came through then. "Mr. Wolfe, with all due respect, she doesn’t want to see you right now. She needs space and you need to give it to her. You’ve done enough for today. Leave."

Frustration frothed in my veins.

"Annette, I need to see her."

"She doesn’t want to see you!" She snapped and ended the call.

I set the phone back on the desk. The doorman retrieved it without saying a word. Outside, James stood next to my car on the curb of the buzzing street. I had barely slid into the backseat when I got a call.

When the call ended, my grip tightened around the phone. It would seem my mother had made her next move.