36. Alyssa

"That went well, I think."

"Yeah, yeah, don't rest on your laurels here." I passed him the half volume of papers I'd printed out earlier. I'm a very organized person, and like I said, I wanted to get all the unpleasantness out of the way before we returned home to our new lives.

"What's this?"

"Read it!" I'd written out my terms of engagement for this marriage deal because I don't like surprises. There were instructions on my wants and needs, especially pertaining to children.

This man, with his old ass, is hellbent on getting me pregnant or breeding me, as he puts it, as soon as possible, and I'm not sure he hasn't already achieved his goal. And so that I don't end up in prison with him pushing up daisies, this is the way to go.

I like to be fair and give people all the information they could possibly need because I hate hearing ‘I didn't know.' This way, when my comeback is, ‘What the fuck didn't you know?' I will have proof that I spelled it all out.

I'm not about to bring a child into this world to suffer the same way I did, so I spelled out the stipulations that suit me. It all leads back to one thing, you cheat, you die, you hurt my kids, you die, you make me feel less than you die. Simple and to the point. Even a red-assed baboon could understand it.

"You know, life is just a vicious cycle filled with people who spend their days hurting each other. If you connect the dots of all mankind, there's a cheat, a murderer, a liar, and an asshole in every link. Hey, that sounds like the beginning of a joke."

I have no idea why I'm rambling, but I think it might have something to do with the way he's looking at me after perusing the first page of the tome I'd given him to read. I ignored him and went to grab my phone.

That magazine shoot was going to take a few days before being published, but there's no reason I can't leak some of the photos we'd taken. His little sister is just as petty as I am, so I know my girl would know what to do with them.

And since she and her Mom had already figured out that Natalie was the fly in my ointment, I was sure that little wretch would make sure those images got back to the right circles. If I wasn't me, I'd want to be me.

I did my thing, choosing the best images and sent a little snippet of the interview along as well, especially the part pertaining to the family and my work was done. At least as far as his bitch ex was concerned. I still have other assholes to annihilate.

I'd done some snooping of my own and had already sent the messages between her and Garrett to my phone. Since there was a child involved, I was holding off on the nuclear option, but if she doesn't get her shit together, I will send it all to her husband and let the chips fall.

I made up my mind a long time ago never to let anyone walk over me, no matter who the hell they are, and I'm not about to let some snooty bitch infringe on my life. I wasn't there eight years ago, and I wasn't the one that didn't want to marry her lacking ass, don't blame me for other people's shit.

I maybe shouldn't have made that crack about getting too comfortable in old shoes and looking for a new pair because she's a woman like me, but she started this war; I'm just defending my flank.

Look, I don't start shit, never did, but I go for the jugular because I don't like drawn-out war. Too costly and too time-consuming. Both of which I am very short on. I don't know how the hell I keep racking up enemies left and right.

There was a new message from my new bestie, Jackie, informing me that Helen was going to be kept for observation overnight, which meant it was time to deal with her kid. My eight-year-old heart woke up, stretched, and yawned. As the Koreans say, ‘fighting.'

"Look, here comes the consequence- consequence- consequence- consequences of my actions chasing me right now."

"What are you up to, Alyssa?"

"Why are you in my business?"

I sent off a text to Jackie. ‘Bail her out.' "Look, here comes the consequence-lalala-lalala, hmmm hmmm hmmmm." I sat back and rubbed my hands together, then got up to change out of the kickass Chanel suit my hubby had bought me.

I think this bastard had someone comb through my Pinterest boards because most of the things he'd bought and had packed for me to bring, I'm pretty sure could be found there. I'm not sure if to be impressed with his stalker ass or pull a Sleeping With the Enemy because, huh.

He hasn't pulled any ‘no wire hangers' yet, so I guess I'll keep him. Now, I'm not poor by any means, but I could never shop like this. I had other things to do with my hard-earned cash, ergo the Pinterest wish boards.

"You know, I can get used to this money shit. And since certain people think I'm with you for the money, I say you should take me shopping. Gas up the jet, Fred, let's go to Paris. I'm feeling Hermes."

"Who the hell is Fred?"

"Flintstone, now move."

He put the papers down and got to his feet to get his phone. I was only half joking, but this is the life. I sent off some pictures from the shoot we just did to the friend group where I had been exposing Denny and Lacey and called it a day.

Last I heard, Denny was losing his shit because I hadn't said one word to him since the day before I left for my business trip months ago. Apparently, he's telling everyone who would listen that I never loved him or I had been cheating on him with Garrett all along, among other things.

Speaking of which, Garrett finally got around to telling me how he got him fired, and apparently, there's a morality clause in his contract which he broke, and I'm pretty sure Garrett used his money to grease those wheels of justice.

As for Lacey, apparently, her family has turned against her, and she's got three months to get out of their house. I guess she didn't see that coming, but I knew if I put pressure on Sherry by way of icing her out after years of true friendship, she'd go to bat with her highly conservative parents, who happen to love me, by the way.

Now, she has no way of reaching me because Garrett had made me scrub my social media completely and didn't say why. All he'd say when I asked why I needed to get rid of all of them was, ‘trust me.'

I get the feeling he knows something I don't. I've always known that it's a cesspit of psychological warfare against humanity, but the way he acts, you'd think Beelzebub himself was running that shit.

Whatever, I haven't been very prevalent on there since my teens, anyway, and tend to stick to group chats where I drop in once in a while. I haven't spoken to my family in days either, which I know is eating them up, but that is the price I am making them pay for their sins.

I don't plan on sending that letter to Corbin until the day before we're due back because I want to be there to witness his suffering. My phone was going crazy after I posted the pictures, so I turned it off and went about my business while Garrett was talking to his people about this impromptu trip.

"You do know this is going to be another day-long flight, yes."

"What's your point? Are you about to deny me something? The honeymoon isn't even over yet."

"Of course not, my love; I'm just letting you know to bring everything you need to keep yourself happy."

"All I need is my phone and your dick, I'm good." His shadow didn't move, so I turned to look at him. "Why are you standing there stuck?" He shook his head and went to get packed, which is what I was in the middle of doing.

"What are you and Jackie up to?"

"Why? What did you hear? Who have you been talking to?" I did my best Danny DeVito impression from the movie Matilda.

"You do realize she still has to report to me, right. I am her boss."

"Dammit!"

"I thought you knew. She has orders to do whatever you ask of her, of course, but I still have to be kept in the loop. Out of respect for you, I haven't been opening her reports, I've waited for you to tell me what's going on."

"Give her to me."

"Fine, then you pay her."

"How much does she make?"

"About half a million a year."

"You… I don't make that much yet."

"Check your accounts."

"Check my what?"

"Your bank accounts." I looked at him side-eyed but grabbed my phone and turned it back on. I opened my bank app and almost fell on my ass.

"Are you insane? What is this?"

"Seed money. Of course, most of it is not in a checking or savings account. Your accountant will meet with you once we get back home to discuss the rest."

"You mean there's more?" He's nuts, I'm convinced. "You put seven million dollars in there. Seed money for what?" He's trying to make me crazy.

"That's your allowance for the year. Do with it as you please."

"I don't understand, I have a job."

"Your job has nothing to do with me; that's your deal. But as my wife, I'm entitled to take care of you. I didn't put more because I knew you would have a problem with it, but I will not take it back, so don't ask."

"I'm not starting a business, what do I need seed money? Wait, allowance? What kind of…." I'm a money person, and this shit is over my head.

"An allowance is what you use to… didn't you have an allowance as a child? It's for any last-minute things you might need, like petty cash."

"Oh, so I can use it on my shopping spree, you mean."

"Of course not." He stopped what he was doing to glare at me. "I buy your clothes. And your food and anything else you need. That money is for frivolous wants. If you don't know what to do with it, ask my sister; she's an expert at wasting allowance."

"Oh, you give your sister an allowance? What a sweet big brother."

"My father has more money than me; she's his headache. You are mine."

"Did you give Natalie an allowance?"

"Why the hell would I do that? She's not my wife." He looked so befuddled I believed him.

"What about your other mistresses that you had after her?"

"I've never had a mistress or a relationship that made it past the three-month mark."

"Why three months? Why not four, or six, or…"

"Because I realized that that's when one of two things happens. Either I get bored and forget they're even there, or they start getting ideas of happily ever after, which can be a bit…." He waved his hand from side to side.

"Did you ever take any of them out shopping?"

"If I'd ever done that, you'd have seen it plastered all over the Internet."

"So no."

"No. But I'll be with you every step of the way. Isn't that what you want?"

I smiled at him even though my stomach was a bundle of nerves. He knows me so well, but bless his heart, he's nuts. Who puts millions of dollars in someone's account as seed money? "Did you finish reading that stuff I gave you?"

"Not quite, I'll finish it on the plane, and then we can discuss it."

"Fine, but did you see where you're supposed to sign?"

"I haven't gotten there yet, no."

"You better make sure you agree before you sign it because I plan to hold you to it."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be sure to do that. I'm a bit insulted by some of the things you wrote in there though. Like your stipulation that if I cheat on you after we have kids, my bitch is not allowed around your kids."

"Well, yeah! Men who cheat with and marry nasty skanks should never have them around their own daughters; what kind of example are you setting? You know damn good and well that she has no morals, but you choose her to be a parental figure in your kid's life? Then again, you don't have any either, so I guess that answers that."

"Your mind terrifies me."

"Yeah, be terrified!" He gave me another one of his looks as if he was expecting me to put his mind at ease. As if!

"I don't plan on cheating anyway; that is the insult."

"No one plans to cheat; at least, I hope not. My faith in humanity is already on low; if that shit turns out to be true, I'll just be all the way fucked up." If he keeps shaking his head, it's going to fall off his shoulders.

"I meant to ask you, by the way, how do you know you're in love with me?" Look at him fishing for compliments.

"Because I can't keep you out of here." I tapped my temple. "I never let anyone get in there."

"Why didn't you point to your heart?"

"I don't have one." I kept packing, and he kept getting in my damn way.

"Everyone has a heart."

"I ignore mine; that shit is misleading as shit."

"I don't follow. How does one simply ignore their heart?"

"It's easy; once you learn that it's full of shit and leads you down the rabbit hole time and time again, you start treating it like a snake that's always ready to strike. The heart for women is like a man's dick, the little head. Never makes the right decision."

"Your confidence is astounding in one so young."

"Well, yeah, that's because I know I'm the shit, and what's more, I love myself. I even like myself sometimes. That, and the fact that I know most people are full of shit, so I never let them get too close to me."

"So, you have no trust."

"I trust you, which is why I require more from you than anyone else. But I don't trust you because of my heart; I trust you because of your actions thus far and the fact that my mind sees beyond the surface and likes what it sees, so let's keep up the good work."

"I'll try to remember that. So, what happens if one day you think you can no longer trust me?" I shrugged my shoulder because his question gave me that little girl lost feeling. That's why I hate this falling-in-love shit. That asshole Denny had to go and fuck up my shit. If I'd married him, I wouldn't have to suffer through this shit.

"Things change with time; people change all the time. The person you hate today may become your strongest ally somewhere down the line and vice versa. I already know that if I ever get to the point where I feel like I can't trust you, I'll ghost you. I'll take your kids and half your shit and disappear. Why the hell would I want you around me if you hurt me like that? You better finish reading those papers before you sign them, there's a death clause in there."

"Death clause?"

"Yeah, if you cheat or hurt me in any way, I reserve the right to take you out."

"You…. you're insane."

"If you don't plan on doing any of that shit, what does it matter?"

I don't know why he keeps acting like I'm crazy. He's a businessman, and he knows all about binding contracts.