The Wrong Wife by Maya Alden

Chapter 7

Declan

Iwould never have seen them if I hadn’t looked up from my computer. The driver was taking me back to my office after a meeting in West Hollywood late in the afternoon.

I didn’t notice her at first. I just saw a woman in a Burgundy pant suit hugging a tall man with blond hair. When she stepped away from him, the Escalade moved a few inches in the LA traffic, and I saw her smiling face. That’s my fucking wife, I thought and just like her older sister, she was screwing around…a day after the wedding.

I wanted to stop the car and make a scene but resisted. No, I’d find out what the fuck she was up to. I called Raya, the Knight head of security.

“I need someone to check up on my wife,” I said without preamble.

“The new wife?” Raya asked.

“The only fucking wife.”

“Fucking being the operative word?” She knew about Viv. Raya and Mateo not only worked with me but were also my closest friends.

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll put someone on her. Mateo mentioned you’re coming to poker tonight. I thought you’d be home cuddling up with the new missus.”

Raya, Mateo, Daisy, another friend of ours from Boston, and I played poker every Thursday night. We usually at Mateo’s apartment, which was a few blocks away from where I lived. The three of us had known each other for many years. I’d always thought that Mateo and Raya would get together as a couple. But years passed and neither of them ever seemed to make it click. When I asked Mateo, he looked at me like I had asked if he wanted to date my mother. “I’m her boss.”

“I may skip poker,” I told her because I needed to interrogate my new wife about the blond asshole she was seeing on the side. I needed to make it clear to her that she would have to be fucking celibate through this marriage because she wasn’t having sex with anyone but me and since I wasn’t going to fuck her, she would have to keep her vibrator busy.

I finished my last meeting at seven and got home. Throughout the afternoon, I kept feeling pressure to call her and demand where she was. Had she fucked him today? At his place or did she bring him to ours?

I stepped into the apartment and was received by a smiling Calliope. She took my backpack and whispered, “I’m so glad you came home. She’s cooking.”

“Cooking? Didn’t you tell her I play poker on Thursdays?”

Calliope’s face fell. “I thought you’d come home...” She didn’t add because you just got married.

“I just need a shower and then I’m heading out.” I knew I was being willful, but I couldn’t help myself.

“She’s making Louisiana barbecue shrimp. I told her you like Cajun food.” Calliope’s eyes blazed with anger, which I’d never seen before.

I raised an eyebrow. It looked like Calliope and Esme had become friends. Why on earth was Esme cooking my favorite meal? Especially since she was fucking some other guy this afternoon.

“You can go home, Calliope,” I told her and walked into the kitchen.

Cuban jazz accompanied the smell of Cajun spices. She wore a pair of denim shorts, a t-shirt, and an apron. As she cooked, her hips swayed to the music. I had never seen Viv cook.

She turned around and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re home. Dinner will be ready in no time.”

“I play poker on Thursdays,” I told her blandly. “I’m afraid you’ll be eating alone.” Or maybe you can invite that asshole you were hugging.

Her face fell for only an instant and she went back to her calm and cheerful self. “I should’ve asked.” She took the blame on herself, and I felt something move inside me. “It’s okay. I can cook it again another day.”

She turned around to face the stove. I grabbed her arm and turned her to face me. “Who the fuck were you with this afternoon?” I wasn’t a violent man, but I was vibrating with anger, and I didn’t care if it scared her. I wanted her afraid. Never fucking again was a woman cheating on me.

She blinked. “What?”“This afternoon? I was driving by and saw you with a man.”

There was no guilt on her face, just a sense of realization. “You were on Main? You should’ve come by. You could’ve met Mark. He’s my friend from Seattle. He’s doing his neurosurgeon residency at UCLA. He’s the reason I was applying for jobs in LA. We thought we’d live together…but then…” She waved a hand around the house.

“I know we didn’t discuss this but let me make it very clear. You’re not fucking other men. You’re not making a fool out of me like she did. Got it?”

I was expecting her to say something angrily, but instead she smiled sadly at me. “You think I’m sleeping with Mark?”

“Are you?” My hold on her arm tightened.

She shook her head. “No. He’s a friend. We’ve been friends for six years and…no, we’d never.”

“You were hugging me. It looked like it was more than friendly.”

She removed my hand from her arm and stepped away. She licked her lips and then looked me straight in the eye. “I know you don’t know me well. Maybe if I tell you a little about me, you’ll feel better. I don’t lie. Well, I’ll tell a good old white lie like anyone else but not about something so important. Mark is my best friend. I know him, his sister, and his family well. Declan, Mark is gay. Completely gay. Even if I walked around him naked, he’d not care and same on my side. We are friends. True friends.”

My heart started to pound. I wanted to believe her. Trust but verify. That was my new motto. Raya would find out everything that needed to be found out about this Mark guy.

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”

Her sincerity almost undid me—but I was still working through my mad, so I continued in the same tone. “My mother came by the office. She said you’re interviewing for social worker jobs, and she’d prefer if you didn’t. You can look at what needs to be done with the Knight Foundation and design your job. I’ve asked Baker to set up a meeting for you with the head of the foundation.”

The serenity slipped and I saw something I hadn’t seen up until now, irritation.

“I’d prefer if your mother stayed out of my business.”

Her tone was still the same but there was a fire behind those words. I’d not expected this. She seemed almost docile and so willing to put up with all the crap I was throwing at her.

“What did you say?”“I said I’d prefer if your mother didn’t interfere in my professional life.”

“Professional?” I smirked. “Honey, it’s a social worker job that pays 80k a year. Let’s not make it more than it is.”

She turned off the stove now and looked at me sternly.

“I have studied for six years to become a social worker and I intend to work as one. I’m not interested in some glorified foundation job. I want to help people. And I’m going to.”

“The foundation helps a lot more people than you can as one social worker.” And you’ll do as you’re told.

“Then you run it. I’m not interested. Like I said, you don’t know me so let me tell you something more about myself. My job is important to me. In a year’s time, you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine so I can’t just give my life up any more than I already have for this marriage.”

I frowned at her stubbornness. This was some low-level grunt job and she wanted to fight for it. Well, she wasn’t winning.

“Esme, I don’t want trouble with my mother, and you don’t want trouble with Nina Knight either,” I warned her. I looked at my watch and my jaw tightened. “I don’t have time for this. Just meet with the foundation—”

“No.”

I shrugged. “Fine. You’re not going to get any of these jobs. My mother and Julien have already made sure you won’t be hired at Keck. That’s where you interviewed today, didn’t you?”

Her eyes filled with something close to agony. “Declan, please—”

I raised my hand to silence her. “Take it up with my mother if you dare. I’m telling you to take the path of least resistance. Looks like you know how to do that well.”

“What does that mean?”

I snorted. “You married your sister’s fiancé without complaint. You do as you’re told by your family. You’re…well…”

“Well, what?” she asked softly.

“A bit of a doormat,” I finally said and saw her take a physical step back like I struck her. I wanted to apologize but I held firm. I didn’t need my temporary wife and my mother fighting and if they were, I knew whose side I was on, and it wasn’t Esme’s.

“I have to go.” I walked away from her.

She’d looked devastated but she needed to understand what it meant to be a Knight. It appeared her parents indulged her and let her do as she pleased. What did mom say, her father thought she was a bit of a flake? Maybe she was. She didn’t dress right; didn’t know how to behave in society if she was running after some low-level job. It was time to educate her. Even after our marriage was done, she could use some of that wisdom to lead a better life.

I took a shower and went to Mateo’s place. Esme wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. Probably sulking in her bedroom. I hoped she would get in line, otherwise, this was going to be a long year for her because I wasn’t going to lose this silly battle or any battle with her.