My Despicable Ex (Book 1) (3 page)

“
I’d like to see what your
mom wanted to say to me.”

“
So let me get this
straight. You’ve gone and screwed up your life, and now you’re
broke, so you’re hoping my dead mother left you some expensive vase
that you can pawn the second you get your hands on it.”

“
Haven’t lost that
sarcastic edge, have you?” he said.

“
I’ll tell you one thing I
have lost.”

He cocked a brow, as if daring me to
say it.

“
I’ve entirely lost my
desire to date pretty bad boys from the wrong side of
town.”

“
I’m so sorry about what I
did, Ashly, but I was young and—”

“
How could you dump me like
that in front of all my friends and family?” I shouted, cutting him
off.

Tired of the drama, the lawyer
interrupted. “Folks, if we’re going to read the Will, we must get
on with it. If not, we should reschedule. I don’t feel comfortable
being in the middle of this very personal argument, and I have a
family obligation tonight.”

Jake pulled a chair and motioned me to
sit down.

“
Fine, but you’d better
read it fast, because I can’t stand being in the room with this
jerk a minute longer than I have to be.”

Jake met the lawyer’s gaze and winced.
“In case you didn’t notice, she hates me.”

“
Can you blame her?” Mr.
Shelby said, much to my surprise. “You left this beautiful woman at
the altar. I was there when she told all of the guests there
wouldn’t be a wedding. What you did to her was…it was just
deplorable.”

“
Thank you for defending my
honor,” I said, smiling sheepishly.

“
Well, since it’s clear
that neither of you are in my fan club, is there any way we can
make this short and sweet?” Jake asked.

“
The pawn shop closed at
six,” I said. “What’s your hurry?”

“
Number one. I’m a fireman
with a nice size studio so please quit treating me like a homeless
man. Number two. In case you haven’t noticed, you could cut the
tension in here with a knife. Then again, I’m more worried that
you’re gonna cut me with this guy’s letter opener if I’m here much
longer.”

“
You never should have come
back, Jake.”

“
I’m sorry if my presence
upsets you.”

“
You didn’t even thank my
mom for getting those assault charges dropped. Even after
everything you did, my mother used her connections and helped you
out. She only did that because I begged her to. I loved you so much
that I couldn’t bear to see you hauled off to jail. Now, I’d like
to put the cuffs on you myself and throw you in a hole where you’ll
never see the light of day.”

“
I only punched that guy
because he nearly tried to rape you. You know that as well as I
do.”

“
Ahem.” The lawyer cleared
his throat. “Are you both ready, or would you like a little bit
more time to discuss things?”

“
If you don’t mind,
Counselor, I’d like to talk to Ashly alone,” Jake said.

I nodded and vehemently proclaimed,
“Not a chance!”

Wanting to get it all over
with, the attorney ignored Jake’s request and began with the
proceedings. I almost tuned him out as he went over all the
legalities of the Will. Anger flooded through me like a stormy
ocean, and I couldn’t even think straight, let alone focus. I was
fuming.
What is he doing here anyway? Why
in the hell would my mother give him anything?
She had begged me to break it off with him countless times.
She’d told me constantly that he’d never amount to anything, warned
me that he was a loser, and she’d yelled at the top of her lungs,
“My daughter deserves better!”

I took a quick peek at Jake
as he wiped the water from his brow. My mind drifted back to months
after the breakup. I dreaded telling people I was single. Nadia
encouraged me, telling me my renewed bachelorette status was going
to be a fun and wonderful experience, but I only considered it a
punishment, as if I’d committed some terrible crime that had pissed
fate off. I was sure nobody could ever love me again. Nadia assured
me that wasn’t the case, but I refused to listen. My world had
crumbled and shattered all around me.
Maybe if I was prettier, sexier, or smarter, Jake would’ve
stuck around,
I told myself. I felt upset,
worthless, and beyond depressed. “What did I do that was so wrong?”
I often asked. Nadia was insulted by such questions and made me
write down a list of twenty-five things that I loved about myself.
Learning to value and accept myself had helped with the healing
process, and eventually I did feel a little bit better, but there
was no therapy that could help me put my broken heart back
together; Jake had, after all, taken some of the biggest pieces
with him.

“
Are you listening?” he
asked. “Did you hear what the man just said?”

“
What?”

His eyes were wide in
shock. “Your mother left her estate and the sum of fifty million
dollars to…
us
.”

“
What!?” I shouted,
standing back up. “Why would she leave anything to
him
?” I pointed to the
Will. “Check it again. This has to be some kind of
mistake!”

“
My team and I were the
ones who put it together,” my attorney said. “Your mother’s
intentions were quite clear.”

“
No! My mother would never
do that, not in a million years.” The room started to spin, and
everything grew hotter. He handed the official documents to me. As
I ran my fingers over the raised notary seal and stared down at the
words and my mother’s signature, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Why
?

“
She did not just flatly
leave the money to him. There are some, uh…stipulations to getting
the money,” my lawyer said.

I sucked in a deep breath, then let it
out slowly. I was frazzled, confused, and discombobulated all at
once. “What kind of stipulations?”

“
I think it’s best that you
sit down, Ashly,” Jake said. “Let’s figure this out
together.”

I didn’t want to obey a word he said,
but I sat down and tried to keep my composure. I knew lashing out
at Jake wouldn’t change the instructions my mother had left. I
wanted to ask more questions, but at that point, I could barely
breathe. I was on the verge of hyperventilating, and the last thing
I wanted was for either of those two to give me
mouth-to-mouth.

“
Take slow, deep breaths,
Miss Roberts,” my lawyer coaxed.

“
In and out deeply,” Jake
chimed in.

I stared into his eyes. “I’m not
giving birth here, and even if I was, you sure as hell wouldn’t be
my labor coach.”

“
C’mon, Ashly. I’m just
trying to help.”

“
Shut up, Jake,” I said. “I
don’t need your help. I don’t need anything from a coward like
you.”

He let out a huff and turned back to
the lawyer. “What are these so-called stipulations?”

“
Miss Roberts’s mother,
Virginia, chose several locations around the world that you must
visit together. Everything will be paid for, and you will be given
an ample allotment of funds for food, personal items, and traveling
expenses. In order to fulfill the requirements, you will have to
provide a photograph of the two of you together at each
destination.” He then turned his gaze to me. “Your mother referred
to these as ‘Kodak moments’. When you obtain all the pictures, come
back to my office for verification. If they are legitimate, each
one of you will be given twenty-five million dollars of your
mother’s fortune.”

Jake and I met each other’s gaze,
staring for a long, stunned, silent moment.

Finally, he let out a long breath.
“Whoa. I can’t even imagine that amount of money. It’s
just…huge.”

My lawyer crossed his hands on the
cherry wood desk. “Each picture must be an eight-by-ten, depicting
something that proves you were at each destination
together.”

“
So no photoshopping, eh?”
Jake joked.

Rolling his eyes at Jake, Mr. Shelby
continued, “Virginia paid in advance to have the photos examined
for originality and authenticity. I wouldn’t dream of making that
mistake.”

“
How long do we have for
this little globe-trot?” he questioned.

“
You must complete the
entire trip, stopping at each destination one after the other,
within the next twelve months.”

“
And exactly where do we
have to go?” I asked.

He handed me the list.

As I looked down at the names of the
exotic locations, I couldn’t believe it. “What the…? Japan? South
Africa? Paris?” I shook my head. “None of this makes any sense. My
mother was on hefty morphine in her last days, and she babbled a
lot of incoherent stuff. I think we should consider that and burn
this Will. She clearly wasn’t of sound mind when she—”

“
Burn it?” Jake said in
disbelief. “Why? Just because I’m in it?”

My lawyer looked at me. “Miss Roberts,
your mother made this Will a few weeks after she found out she had
cancer. She was, in fact, of very sound mind at the time, and this
was what she wanted. If you are successful in this endeavor, there
is a video diary that will be shown to you, and her reasons will
become clear. However, you must first complete the task in good
faith.”

It was such a bizarre request, and for
the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why the heck my mother would
want me to spend time with a man she openly deplored, the selfish
jackass who had left me at the altar and embarrassed our entire
family. I didn’t understand any of it. Worst of all, she hadn’t
even discussed it with me; as far as I knew, my mother never kept
secrets from me. Frustrated, I handed the list to Jake.

He studied it closely. “We can get
some of these done fast.”

I bit my lip hard and didn’t say a
word.

“
We just have to be
together in the picture, right? But we can be far apart, no
handholding or smooching?” he asked.

I shot him a glare.

“
What?” he said. “I know
you’ll bite my head off if I invade your personal space, so I’m
just asking. Always good to read the small print.”

“
You won’t have to worry
about that,” I said smugly, “because I don’t want the money. You
can go on this little adventure by yourself.”

Mr. Shelby turned to Jake. “I’m sorry,
but if Miss Roberts doesn’t go with you to the locations, the
contract will be null and void.”

“
And what about the money?”
I asked.

“
It will be held by this
office indefinitely.”

Jake looked at me with his eyes wide.
“Ashly,” he said softly, “if you don’t do it, I’ll get
nothing.”

“
Yeah, I got that much,
Einstein.”

“
There’s so much I could do
with this money. And why give away your inheritance to a lawyer? I
can’t believe you’d do that just to get back at me. At least if you
go, you’ll get half of what your mom left behind.”

“
I don’t care about the
money,” I said. “Revenge is so much sweeter. Maybe that’s why Mom
planned it this way. She knew I’d sit here and let you suffer, you
pitiful idiot. How’s it feel for someone to dangle something great
in front of you, only to have it snatched away?”

“
I’m so,
so
sorry.”

“
Is that all I get? Some
lame apology? I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with you,
a man I foolishly loved and cherished. But you threw me under the
bus for your freedom. You’re pathetic! What was it Nadia called
you? Despicable!”

“
Maybe you two need some
time to think,” the attorney said. “Now that the Will has been
read, you have one week to change your minds. If you’d like to
proceed, just contact my office and come in and sign the
papers.”

“
I don’t plan on changing
my mind. If my mother thought I was gonna prance around the globe
with this idiot and smile for pictures, she was sadly
mistaken.”

“
We don’t even have to
smile,” Jake said. “You don’t even have to be near me, except to
take pictures. Why not just do it and get our money? After that, we
can go our separate ways—just a little wealthier.”

“
If you’ll have a seat, Mr.
Connors,” the lawyer said, “we’ll get started.”

I stood and reached for my purse. “No,
I don’t think so.” Seeing Jake had been too great of a shock. I had
cried my eyes out over him for way too long, and I wasn’t ready to
hand my mother’s money over to the man who had hurt me so badly. “I
think it would be best if I just go,” I said, my voice
cracking.

Again, Jake reached for my arm, and
again, I shuddered from his touch. “Please,” he begged.

“
I can’t control what you
do and where you live, but you’d better stay as far away from me as
humanly possible. If you come near me or bug me, I’ll slap a
restraining order on you so fast that your head will be
spinning.”

“
Listen, I promise to leave
you alone if that’s what you want. I was really just hoping to
spend some time with you, but if you feel this strongly, I…well, I
won’t cause you any further heartbreak.”