“I would rather have you as a mentor. I feel like we have a real connection.” She gave a short chuckle. “I didn’t mean it the way that sounded.”
Landon did not respond.
“Will you at least consider it?”
“I’ll think about it.”
* * *
Solicitous.
That was the only way Jadin could describe Landon’s behavior toward her over the past two days. He was very polite...solicitous. Jadin still could not escape the feeling that something was wrong.
“You’ve been working some long hours,” she told him when he came downstairs.
“I have a lot going on right now. It’s this case I’m working on and I have this new prosecutor that’s shadowing me.”
“I made some coffee.”
“Thank you.” He gave her a polite smile and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Landon, why have you been sleeping in the guest room?”
“I get in so late. I don’t want to disturb you.”
“I’ve missed you. To be honest, I feel like there’s something going on between us.”
He looked at her. “What could be wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Jadin responded with a slight shrug. “But I feel like there’s some tension between us. There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you...”
Landon glanced at his watch. “I need to get out of here. I’m gonna grab something to eat on the way to work.”
“Will you be home for dinner?”
“Probably not,” Landon replied.
“Can’t you do some of your work at home?” Jadin asked. “I really need to talk to you.”
He shook his head. “I’m working this case with another prosecutor.”
She stepped in front of him, blocking his exit. “Don’t I get a kiss, fist bump...something?”
Landon kissed her cheek. “I’ll try to make it home before you go to bed. We can talk then.”
Jadin moved over to the counter to inspect the floral arrangement rather than let him see how much his response disappointed her.
* * *
Landon knew he could not avoid Jadin for much longer. It was only delaying the inevitable. He knew she wanted out of the marriage. Despite all they had shared, she still wanted Michael. The sting of betrayal was like a poison spreading throughout his body.
Tonight, he would come home, and they would have their talk. He would give her what she wanted—a divorce.
“I never should have come here,” he whispered. I should have just filed those papers years ago. What angered him most was her ability to lie to him so easily. Landon had never known her to be such a skilled liar. This was all an elaborate scheme to pay him back for keeping their marriage a secret from her.
“Good morning,” Janice greeted when he came through the doors of the prosecutor’s office. She was sitting at one of the tables with the receptionist in the break room.
He returned the greeting, then headed straight to his office.
Five minutes later, Janice knocked on his open door. “I know why I’m here, but what brings you in so early?”
“I wanted to get a head start on some work.”
“Is this what I can expect?”
Landon looked up from his computer monitor. “Excuse me?”
“Working all these long hours,” Janice said, “I just want to know what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“There are times when a case might call for it, but it’s not really the norm unless you’re not organized or good with time management.” Landon smiled. “Janice, I think you’ll do fine.”
She flashed him a sexy grin.
Landon was by no means blinded to her attraction to him, and although she was young and beautiful, he was not interested in her. He maintained a professional distance.
He spent most of his morning going over a hit-and-run accident, a statutory rape case and an incident involving elder abuse in a local nursing home.
Landon worked through lunch on the case he was working with another prosecutor.
It was another high-profile case involving a hip-hop artist.
Before he realized it, six o’clock had come and gone.
“I had a feeling you’d still be here,” Janice said. “I really admire your dedication.”
Landon leaned back in his chair. “Why are you still here?”
“I was shadowing Trudy.” She sauntered into his office. “I’m about to grab something to eat. Why don’t you join me?”
His stomach growled loudly.
Landon was not ready to go home just yet, so he said, “Sure.”
“Great,” Janice responded. “And I’m buying dinner. This is my way of saying thank you.” As if she knew what he was thinking, she added, “I invited Trudy, but she has a date with her fiancé.”
When they neared the elevator, Janice said, “Landon, I have a confession to make. I hate eating alone.”
“What about your friends? This is your home, right?”
“I don’t really have a lot of people in my inner circle,” she responded.
“I find that hard to believe.”
Janice smiled. “Why do you say that?”
“You seem like a people person,” Landon said.
They walked across the street to the restaurant on the corner.
“I love people,” Janice said, “but I don’t do drama. Some of my friends have nothing but, so I had to make some changes. They’re still my girls, but I can’t have their drama messing up what I’m trying to do.”
“I can understand that.”
After they were seated, Janice asked, “So, what is it like being married to a DuGrandpre?”
“I suppose it’s like any other marriage,” he responded.
“I haven’t met your wife, but I’ve been around her twin, Jordin. I have a membership to Ethan’s gym, so I see her there from time to time.” Janice picked up her menu. “She seems really nice.”
“She is,” Landon confirmed.
“I can’t imagine being married to a defense attorney. Seems like there would be some sort of conflict of interest.”
“There isn’t as long as everyone involved with the case is informed of the relationship. However, Jadin and I have agreed that we would not work the same cases anymore.” Landon eyed his menu.
“I was following the Herndon case. Millicent and my mother were friends. We were all shocked that Blaine had cheated on her. He just never was that type of man.”
“I’m glad the truth came out. I never want to send an innocent man to prison or worse.”
Janice laid her menu down. “Landon, I have a feeling that even though you’re sitting here with me, you’re not really here. Are you okay?”
“I am,” he replied. “I’m just tired.”
The server came to take their orders.
She studied him openly. “No, you’re not just tired. There’s something more going on with you. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“I don’t.”
Janice shrugged in nonchalance. “That’s fine with me.”
Landon glanced down at the wedding band on his left hand. After tonight, there would be no need to wear it anymore.
Chapter 16
Jadin decided to grab dinner out. Since Landon was not going to be home, she wasn’t in the mood for cooking.
She was surprised to walk into Leonardo’s and see Landon with a young, beautiful woman. They were talking and laughing, oblivious to everyone around them. Her heart felt as if someone had just plunged a knife through it.
Tears filled her eyes, prompting Jadin to blink rapidly. She refused to let them spill down her cheeks. She refused to break down and cry in public.
She turned around and walked out of the restaurant.
&n
bsp; Unable to control her tears any longer, Jadin wiped her face with the backs of her hands as she made her way to her car.
“Working late my...”
She regained her composure and made it home.
Landon arrived home an hour later.
“I thought you were working,” Jadin said dryly.
“You told me that you needed to talk to me, so I’m here.”
“Now you’re suddenly interested in what I have to say?”
He seemed taken aback by her words. “Jadin, I needed to think some things over, but now I’m ready to talk. But I’d like to go first.”
“Okay.”
“When I walked back into your life four months ago, you were blindsided. You had moved on with another man, but I pushed you to stay in our marriage. I realize now that I was wrong.”
“Excuse me?”
“I never should have forced you to stay with me, Jadin. That’s not the way real love works. It wasn’t fair to you.”
“What are you saying, Landon?”
“This is my gift to you.” He handed her divorce papers. “I’ve signed them.”
Stunned, Jadin did not know how to respond. Her eyes filled with tears. “This is what you want?”
“This is for the best.”
“What’s the rush, Landon? Would this have something to do with a certain young woman you were having dinner with earlier?”
His eyes registered his surprise.
“Is she the prosecutor you’ve been spending all this time with?” She wiped away her tears. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’ve made up your mind.” Jadin held up the papers. “This time I’ll make sure these are filed.”
“I don’t doubt that you will,” Landon responded. “I hope you and Michael will be very happy together.”
She could tell he was angry. He was just too polite to show it. Jadin was too caught up in her emotions to comprehend exactly why Landon was so upset.
“I never thought you could be such a jerk. Get out of my house, now.”
She rushed into her office and broke down into sobs. Landon had never been one to be cruel and unfeeling. He did not even bother to deny that he was having an intimate dinner with another woman. He did not bother to explain why he was with her. He simply handed her divorce papers and wished her luck with Michael.
Who does that?
At least he offered to divorce her instead of going behind her back with another woman all over Charleston. Still, she had never felt so betrayed in her life.
She stayed in her office until Landon knocked on the door.
“I’m leaving,” he said. “I left the keys and the garage opener on the counter in the kitchen.” Landon paused a moment, then said, “I’m sorry about this, Jadin.”
“I don’t want your apologies. I don’t want anything from you except you out of my house.”
“That’s fine, because I can’t live with the ghost of another person between us.”
“Now you don’t have to worry about that,” Jadin uttered in response.
Tears filled her eyes at the reality that she was losing her husband and the father of her child—the child Landon had no knowledge existed. Instinctively, her hands went to her stomach. “I’m so sorry, little one. I love your daddy so much, but I can’t hold on to him when he doesn’t want to be here with us. Now, don’t you worry... When I tell him about you, he’s going to be so happy. I can’t tell him right now because he’ll only stay with me because of you. I don’t want that for myself.”
Jadin felt like she wanted to die. Right now, she wanted the ground to open, swallow her whole and spit her out on the other side of the world.
* * *
Jordin stuck her head inside her sister’s office. “Hey...you have lunch plans?”
Jadin was surprised to see her twin. She wasn’t due back for another couple of weeks. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to pick up some files.” Jordin eyed her. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone.”
Closing the door behind her, Jordin asked, “What do you mean by he’s gone?”
“Landon’s gone.” She held out the divorce papers. “This is his gift to me.”
“This doesn’t make sense at all.”
“It makes perfect sense to me,” Jadin said. “He doesn’t want to be my husband any longer. He’s been very distant, claimed he’s been working late, and when he did come home, he would sleep in the guest room. Then last night, I saw him with another woman, having dinner when he was supposed to working.”
“There’s got to be more to it than that, sis. Dinner doesn’t mean that he’s having an affair. She was probably his coworker. You know we do it all the time when we’re working on a complicated case. Late hours...grabbing dinner together, then back to work.”
“Landon wouldn’t be leaving me unless he really cares for that woman.”
“Did you tell him about the baby?”
“I don’t want him staying with me just because of a child. It’s better that he doesn’t know for now. I’ll wait until the divorce is final.”
“Jadin, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Landon left me no choice, Jordin.” She burst into sobs.
“You have to tell him that you’re pregnant, sis. He deserves to know—you don’t have to take him back, but he should know.”
“I’m not going to keep it from him. I’m just not telling him right now.” Jadin wiped her face with a tissue. “Right now, I can only deal with one thing at a time.”
“Are you really going through with this divorce?”
She nodded. “It’s what Landon wants.”
“I don’t think so,” Jordin said. “He loves you. I know it.”
“I thought he did, too.”
“Are you sure nothing else happened?”
“It has to do with that woman I saw him with,” Jadin said. “I’m sure of it. His timing is something else. I’m pregnant and Michael came to town a few days ago to tell me that he wanted me back.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I told him that I was in love with Landon and I was staying in my marriage.”
“Huh...that’s interesting.”
“What?”
“Landon starts acting strange during the same time that you run into Michael.”
“He doesn’t know anything about Michael’s visit. I never mentioned it to him, because that’s when he suddenly had to work late. Besides, Landon would’ve said something about it.”
“I don’t think you should give up on your marriage. If you want Landon, fight for him. You know what I had to deal with when Ethan and I were dating. Remember, I ended our engagement, but we were able to work through our issues.”
“Jordin, he handed me a signed divorce petition. Just like I gave him five years ago. This is payback. I really believe it.”
“Landon is not petty like that.”
“The marriage is over, and I accept it.”
“Do me a favor and hold off on filing those papers.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not what either of you really want. There’s a missing piece of this puzzle and you shouldn’t do anything until you have all of the pieces together.”
“I’ll think about it, Jordin.”
Chapter 17
“Son, I think you just made the biggest mistake of your life,” Tim Trent told his nephew. “Then you letting her think you’re seeing another woman...”
“Why do you say that?” Landon asked. “She’s still in love with Michael. Let her see how it feels to be betrayed.”
“I have another suggestion. How about being a grown-up and confronting your wife about what you saw?”
“No, Uncle... What’s the point? All this time she’s been trying t
o convince herself that she wanted me, but her heart belongs to Michael.”
“What if you’re wrong about what you saw? What if it wasn’t the way it looked? Everything is not always as it seems. You know that, Landon. Look at what she thought when she saw you with that other woman. You were having dinner with a coworker.”
“She and Michael were kissing.”
“You saw that man kiss your wife. At least that’s what you told me.”
“Jadin didn’t look as if she minded.”
“Were they all wrapped up? Her arms around his neck?”
“No, but she didn’t slap him or run off like she was angry with him, either.”
“Landon, I think you need to talk to her. If you don’t, you’re gonna regret this for the rest of your life.”
He considered his uncle’s words. Perhaps he was making more out of this than it really was. If he had just confronted them together, he would not be in such torment now. “Maybe you’re right. I should go talk to Jadin.”
“Now you’re thinking,” his uncle said. “This is not the time for you to go rushing off into divorce court.”
* * *
“Austin...hey...” Jadin stepped aside to let her brother enter the house the next day. She’d decided to take a day off. She did not want to face everyone with her face swollen from crying all night. “I know you talked to Jordin. You didn’t have to come over here. I’m fine.”
“I’m not understanding what’s going on with you two. Where’s Landon? I need to talk to him.”
“He’s not here, Austin. Don’t waste your time. If Landon wants a divorce, I’m going to give him one.”
They settled down in the family room.
“Now I know how he must have felt when I did this to him,” Jadin said. “I keep thinking that maybe that’s what this is all about—Landon wanted me to feel how much this hurts.”
“Do you really believe that?” Austin asked.
Jadin shook her head. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. I thought everything was good between us, but I guess I was wrong.” She wiped away a tear. “His timing really sucks, too.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’m pregnant, Austin.”
“Does Landon know?”
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