Page 166 of Checkmate
“I’m taking the Austin brothers to the conference room, Soph.”
“Huh?” She said intelligently, catching the amused gaze of Steven Austin. “Oh! Oh, god, I’m sorry. Conference with the Austins, of course.” She looked towards the two brothers. “I’m so sorry, gentlemen.”
“Sophie’s having a rough morning,” Alex explained smoothly. “Our little girl has been playing havoc with her hormones.”
“Is that right?” Steven said with a chuckle. “Well, I hope you feel better soon.”
“Are you okay?” Alex asked, looking perfectly concerned. “I can postpone.”
“Nonsense,” Sophie replied. She chuckled self-consciously, waving a dismissive hand. Inside, she was seething. How could Alex lie so easily? He didn’t care one bit for this child. “You must have your meeting, gentlemen. I’ll be absolutely fine.”
No way was she giving up her opportunity to sneak around in Alex’s desk. With one last nod towards her, Alex led the men to their conference room, holding the door open for them. She held her smile on him, frozen in place until he’d disappeared from view.
Without hesitation, she leapt up from her chair, ignoring the glances in her direction as she let herself into Alex’s office. Locking the door behind her, she glanced around the room, breathing heavily.
“Top drawer of his desk,” she muttered to herself as she approached it. With shaking hands, she opened the drawer, rummaging through the sheets of paper. “Underneath the black diary.”
Sure enough, the hard case of a leather diary lay at the bottom of the pile of documents. Heart pounding, she moved it out of the way and pulled out the crumpled divorce papers Erica had been so sure were there.
Someone clearly balled them in anger, only to smooth them out again soon after. Darker splotches covered the page as though someone had wept over them. She scanned the details, not really taking anything in.
The only thing that mattered was the signatures at the bottom.
There was Erica’s signature, signed hastily in the provided box. Across the page, she recognised Alex’s rushed scrawl, scribbled angrily across the line. She had been telling the truth.
Both anger and sadness welled inside Sophie until her eyes pricked with emotion. He had lied to her for nearly a year. He had sworn up and down it was Erica causing the delay and, like a fool, Sophie had believed him.
She had left her husband for this man. She had given up her comfortable life with a man who worshipped the ground she walked on for this lying sack of shit. What had she been thinking?
Sinking into his chair, she stared at the divorce papers, thinking back to her own. She never should have rushed to sign. At that point, she could have still won Marcus back, she was sure.
Did she still have a chance now? After all this time?
Was that even what she wanted?
It was the anger talking; she was sure. Right now, all she wanted to do was lash out and cause Alex as much pain as he was causing her. Still clutching the papers, it seemed there was only one thing to do.
Grabbing an envelope and addressing it appropriately, she sealed the divorce papers inside. With a calmness that scared her, she left his office and knocked on the door to the conference room. Popping her head around, she begged Alex for an early lunch. No way he’d refuse his pregnant girlfriend in front of his associates.
He dismissed her without question, blowing her a kiss.
Not giving him a chance to change his mind, she rushed out of the office and down the elevator. Still clutching the divorce papers, she only had one place in mind.
After delaying it for so long, Sophie was finally going to grant him the divorce he’d been supposedly begging Erica for.
As the mother of his child, it was the least she could do.
Chapter 49
Erica
The spray of water against her back did nothing to cool the heat she felt as Marcus knelt in front of her, his head buried between her legs. She held on to his hair as his tongue delved between her folds, teasing her perfectly while she held herself steady against the glass of the shower.
“Jesus, you’re so good at that,” she moaned, pressing her head back and locking her knees so her legs didn’t give out on her. “So fucking good.”
Marcus hummed in acknowledgement, the vibration of his deep moans teasing her deliciously. Nudging her legs further apart, his fingers teased her entrance before dipping inside her, curling against the most sensitive part of her. Tightening her fingers in his hair, she called out his name, reaching above her to stabilise herself on the showerhead.
“Baby, baby, please. I’m gonna slip if you keep that up.”
