Claimed by my husband's son

NADIA

My hand trembled as I read the words printed on the papers over and over again. Slowly, they blurred as tears pooled in my eyes.

“B-But why?” I whispered, looking up at Killian as a tear dropped down my cheek.

He shrugged nonchalantly, refusing to meet my gaze.

My eyes closed. “N-No, no. There… this has to be a mistake. There's no way he'd do this to me.”

“Nadi.” I paused, meeting his gaze as the old nickname slipped out in a soft whisper. “He signed it already.”

Frantically, I flipped through the papers and found a total of five signatures. Elias signatures.

“He said you have twenty-four hours to sign them before the lawyer comes to pick them up.”

“Stop it!” I screeched, glaring at Killian. If my eyes could shoot lasers, he'd be dust right now. “I don't want to hear his words from you!”

I yanked out my phone, angrily swiping through my contacts for his number. “I want to hear him say those words to me himself!” I whispered harshly.

His phone rang for a few seconds before he disconnected it.

I huffed, trying again and angrily wiping away my tears.

The same thing happened. My fingers tightened around the phone and I tried three more times until the call no longer connected.

He blocked me.

“Nadia.”

I looked at Killian and saw him staring at his phone, his brows pulled tight and his lips stretched thin.

When he looked up, his eyes held a spark of anger and concern in them.

“He won't pick up.”

I blinked, staring at his phone screen where Elias message was displayed.

Tell her to quit calling me. All I want are her signatures on those papers.

“Honestly, you should have seen this coming.” Killian sighed. “There's a clause. You can stay in the house, pretend everything's fine until he marries Chloe.”

“Chloe?” I muttered. For a moment, the dining room was silent until my head tilted backward and a laugh so dark and empty rang out from my lips.

My husband of ten years was divorcing me to get married to his secretary?!

“No.” I chuckled, throwing the papers on the table. “I'm not signing it.”

I turned to leave, muttering under my breath, “There's no way I'm signing it.”

“This isn't something you can avoid. He's already moved on.”

“I don't care!” I swung around and yelled at Killian. “That doesn't change anything. I've been married to him for ten fucking years. The least he can do is say it to my face that he wants to divorce me to marry that slut of his!”

“Wasn't I good enough?” The tears rolled now, uncontrollably, and so did my rage. I wanted to murder someone.

“I gave him everything! He's old enough to be my father, and yet he married me, and I gave him everything! My life, my heart, my soul, my body!” My body shook, my veins strained against my neck from how hard I screamed.

“I trusted him.” My voice broke. “Ten years! He wasted ten good years of my life! Plucked me out of my family like some helpless chick, only to use me and dump me once he found someone better. Screw him! Screw her! Screw all of you!”

I spun around and dashed to my room. I slammed the door shut behind me, causing my room to rattle from the force.

I collapsed facedown on my bed, and for the first time in a long time, I cried my soul out.

***

I had no idea how many hours had flown by when the sound of my door creaking open finally pierced through the quiet air.

I continued to stare into space, paying whoever it was that walked into my room no mind. I was broken, shattered beyond words.

“Nadia,” Killian’s low, soft voice sounded in the air. I felt the bed dip at my feet, but I ignored him.

“I won't pretend to know how you feel, but I can at least sympathize with you. You're… a sweet soul, and my father deserves to rot in hell for what he did to you. He has no right—”

“Killian, please.” I cut him off, unable to bear the words that escaped him like he'd practiced them over and over again. “I just want to be left alone.”

He sighed. “I'm clearly very bad at this, so I'll go straight to the point.”

I heard him adjust himself on the bed.

“Are you seriously going to let him do that to you?”

I blinked, slowly turning to stare at him. “What?”

“I'm asking if you're going to let Elias and Chloe walk all over you just because…”

I scoffed with disbelief. “You sound like I have a choice to oppose this divorce.”

“Oppose it? Hell, I want you to accept it and make him wish he'd never even looked your way from the start. I want you to seize this opportunity to make him hurt like he hurt you, to make them regret ever treating you like you were disposable.”

I straightened up, his words sending a jolt of life through me. “How?”

“Easy. Attack him where it would hurt most. Destroy everything he's ever worked for, snatch it from right under his feet, and watch him scramble helplessly, unable to do anything.” His eyebrows slanted, and his eyes glinted with undiluted fury.

“Why cry over what he took from you… when you could take something back?”

The only thing Elias loved more than his life was…

“His company? You want me to destroy his company?” I asked with a shocked frown. “But I don't know the first thing about destroying a company.”

“That's why you have me. Join me, and let's show him what hell really looks like.”

“You're just trying to use me.” I scowled. Killian hated his father — that wasn't news to me — but hiding behind wanting to help me didn't sit well with me.

“And I'm offering myself to be used.” He smirked.

I held his gaze for longer than three seconds, studying him. And then I straightened, damning it all.

“What do I get in return?”

Killian’s eyes lit up like a bulb, his lips spreading into a cunning smirk. “Now you're talking.”