AUTHOR’S POV

"Why do you smell like a woman’s perfume?" Victoria Wolfe leaned in, her eyes squinting into slits as she took a whiff of her husband.

It was shocking, maybe a bit awakening that Finnegan was finally, finally after fifteen years of marriage, getting his pleasures elsewhere.

Oh, she had suspected for a while now. Finnegan was a softie, a big old softie, that’s why it had been easier to marry him after the incident fifteen years ago.

He had a huge heart, had comforted her when Devin’s funeral was held and it felt like her whole world was going to fall apart.

That was why it was weird that over the past month, he hadn’t bothered to check on their home to see if it had been completed.

Her eyes swept over his outfit. He looked as immaculate as always. Hell, even his collar was at the perfect ninety degree angle it always was, it was so annoying.

He was like a walking robot.

"Why are you in my home?!" Finnegan demanded instead, deflecting her question. She had no right to ask him that after consecutively cheating on him for years.

"Oh come on, spill,"

"I don’t owe you an explanation," He spat, moving past her toward the bedroom corridor.

Victoria stepped in his path, blocking him, her eyes having a teasing glint in them. No, she couldn’t believe it. Finnegan couldn’t have taken a lover.

"You’re seeing someone?"

Those green eyes looked down at her with irritation. He could hardly believe she would talk to him as if she was some saint. The only reason they were still married was because he was sure she had the backing of his mother.

"Stop being a hypocrite," he scoffed.

She threw her shoulders back in a light airy laughter. "Fair enough." Her head tilted to the side. "I’ll find out eventually. You know that."

"Then you’ll find out eventually." He moved to step around her.

"Next month is close," she murmured and that halted him in his tracks.

Victoria fought a smile from tugging at her lips. She had known it would stop him. His jaw tightened, pulling on a mask of concern on her face, she sashayed closer to him, brushing her fingers down his chest, teasing the buttons on his shirt.

"I know how that month is for you," She sighed, batting her lashes up at him. "I came to see how you were. To take care of you, honey."

If Finnegan hadn’t lived with her for years, he may have believed that she genuinely cared for him. Hilarious, Victoria cared for nobody except herself.

"You should worry about yourself," He said coldly, grabbing her hand and shoving it away from him. "You and I both know you came because I haven’t moved back into the house,"

Well, it was true. Their home that she had burned down the kitchen was now fully repaired. Yet Finnegan hadn’t moved back.

Irritation curled around Victoria’s spine. How did he know that? This was exactly why she and Gina needed to walk on egg shells for their plan!

Because he was so annoyingly perceptive, it was irritating. God, it was hard living with someone who could read between the lines trying to hide a secret as huge as what she carried from him.

They had to move so slowly, at a snail pace because he was too perceptive and it had been so frustrating

"I thought since you burned it down, you would be happy that I haven’t moved in," Finnegan muttered, eyeing the elevator doors behind them.

It didn’t look like Victoria had any intention to leave tonight and he would rather play hooky with a snake than spend the night in the same place with her. He moved past her back to the doors. "I’m leaving."

"Oh, don’t be dramatic," She whined, throwing her hands up in the air. "How are we supposed to fix our marriage if you keep running away from me?"

"You dont seem to get it. I don’t want it fixed, I want it gone," Finnegan snarled, his hands clenching into fists next to him.

"I want you gone. I’m so damned tired Victoria. We’re not happy. I’m not the Wolfe you wanted, I’m the one you got stuck with and like a fool I latched and held on. Why the fuck won’t you just sign the papers and leave?"

She sighed, strutting to the couch in the living room.

"You’re so cold, Finn," she sniffled. "I came all this way for you. I’ve given my all for this family-"

"Tell all that bull to someone who doesn’t know you. Angel will be soon be home," He spat.

"Did you know that? Did you even think to ask? Our daughter is coming home for her break, I’ll bet you didn’t even know she had a break. You care about nobody, nobody else but yourself."

Victoria held his gaze with a bored look on her face. "Are you done?"

Finnegan’s entire body vibrated with pulsing anger. He wanted to scream at her, to bellow and rave but none of that usually worked with Victoria anyway.

"I regret the day I asked you to marry me," he said in a flat and tired voice before storming off to the elevator, leaving the penthouse.

Victoria cackled at the silence, throwing her hair over shoulder. She whipped her phone out of her purse and called her precious mother-in-law.

"I did what you asked," She drawled when Gina picked the call. "He doesn’t seem to suspect anything."

"Are you sure?" Gina’s voice filtered on the other end. "He didn’t mention me at all?"

"Of course he didn’t," Victoria replied, reaching up to twirl her hair. "Are we really going all out now?"

"We are fifteen years too late anyway. The timing is perfect, besides, I may or may not have found the perfect way to get him out of the picture once and for all."

"Mhmm, you’re diabolical, Gina," Victoria grinned. "Doing all this to your poor son,"

"Says the woman who abandoned her daughter," Gina retorted. "Is that all?"

"I think he has a woman he’s seeing. I want her found. I may not want him, but he is mine to play with. I can’t have another woman swooping in to steal my doggy bone."

"Of course. We’ll find her." Gina promised, causing a wide smile on Victoria’s face. This was going to be fun.

Chaotic but oh so deliciously fun.