Oh.
My.
Shit.
“Kyle?” I eked out.
He seemed to swallow hard. “Hey, Ruby.”
No way. No fucking way. I tore my gaze from him and glared at Henry. He could have warned me the only man to ever break my heart was representing Crawford’s wife. Only Henry didn’t know a thing about me because he was a sexist pig, and even if he weren’t, my history with Kyle wasn’t something I liked to share.
Henry raised an eyebrow. “You know each other?”
There was a long pause where neither of us said anything. I wasn’t about to do it. Leave-y McLeaverson could.
Finally, Kyle spoke. “We, uh, went to law school together.”
That was what he’d boil it down to. I’d waited five years for contact, waited for his apology. So when I finally got to hear his deep, sexy voice and the first words weren’t, “I’m so fucking sorry that I’m a piece of shit asshole,” I almost reached across the table and slapped him. Instead, I
glanced at the door. How much trouble would I be in if I bailed on Henry? I wasn’t sure I could stay here.
Not with the way Kyle made a tidal wave of memories crash against me.
Or the way he looked now, wearing the hell out of his gorgeous suit.
Henry attempted to clear his throat, but it was obvious to everyone this was his call for my attention. I put my reluctant gaze on him and watched one of his bushy eyebrows lift. His expression said it all. “You fuck this guy?”
I ignored his questioning look, and glared back to Kyle, choking on my temper. I forced myself to be professional. “What happened to New York?”
His lips parted as if about to say something, but he produced no sound. I didn’t know why I was surprised. He’d left me without saying a thing. Ten amazing months with him, and I didn’t even get a goodbye. Not a goddamn word.
No, I wasn’t bitter at all.
“It’s . . . not relevant right now.” Kyle straightened his pad of paper and turned his attention to Henry. “Should we get started?”
Fucking unbelievable.
I took notes, fueled by rage, and pretended I wasn’t thinking about the asshole across from me in the gray suit, or how I wanted to strangle him with his perfect tie. The marriage was breaking down due to irreconcilable differences. The couple was frosty, but cordial. Or maybe it was the open hostility between Kyle and me overshadowing it all.
I stayed silent during the meeting. It didn’t appear to be a contentious divorce, and everyone was civil until the final moments.
“Alimony,” Kyle said, flipping to a new page in his pad.
Henry looked offended. “What my client has offered is more than fair.”
“To who? Your client? He just signed a contract for twenty-seven million over the next six years.”
The wife drew in a deep breath, signaling her discomfort. She appeared uneasy about the money, but I pushed it from my mind. My focus was on our client, not Kyle’s.
It was the first time Mr. Crawford spoke in the meeting. “Nene.”
Her gaze went to her soon-to-be-ex-husband. “Don’t, Tariq. I hate that nickname.”
“Since when?”
She made a face. “Since always.”
“I’m going to be sending over a revised figure,” Kyle said to Henry. “It’s reasonable.” There was a threat laced in his words. Don’t push back, or I’ll hit you hard. I knew Kyle well enough to believe he’d do it. Should I warn my colleague not to challenge him? I hadn’t worked much with Henry, but I was fairly certain he’d be decimated if he went head-to-head with my ex-boyfriend.