5

Chapter 5

Tessa Ford

~•~

I shook my head. “No, I’m not signing the papers. I didn’t cheat on you. I have no idea where you got your information from, but you’re wrong!”

The envelope fell to the ground but Grayson picked it up and tossed it on the bed.

“I’m done talking, Tessa. I already have all the proof I need and nothing you say is going to erase everything I saw.” He said, his voice sharp. “Just sign the papers so we can get over with this shit.”

This shit?

I forced myself to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall from my eyes.

“Can’t you see that someone is trying to come between us?” I asked, my voice catching in my throat. “I didn’t cheat on you. I would never betray you like that.”

Grayson didn’t seem moved by what I had said. He was determined to believe whoever had fed him those lies.

He couldn’t even give me the benefit of the doubt. He couldn’t even talk to me about it when he found out whatever he found.

So for four weeks, he thought I was cheating on him. And he felt the best thing to do was to act cold and distant towards me.

Whatever happened to communicating?

“Someone is trying to come between us?” He asked with a chuckle but there was no humor in it. “You really want to blame this on someone else?”

I nodded. “Yes, someone has given you fake information about me and you are believing them,” I murmured, trying to reason with him.

He scoffed. “It isn’t fake. The person who told me about you is really close to you and the information is credible.”

My heart sank at his words and I drew in a shaky breath.

Someone close to me? Who could that be? Who could possibly be close to me and betray me like that?

My mind immediately started racing through the names of people who were close to me. My assistant, my co-workers, my best friend, my sister, and even my mom, but none of them made sense.

“Who told you that?” I asked with a hint of curiosity in my voice. “What did they even tell you?”

Grayson stared at me for a while before finally responding. “It doesn’t matter who told me. All that matters is that you’ve ruined our marriage.”

I pressed a hand against my head. “I didn’t do anything, Grayson. You have to believe me.” I pleaded. “Think about our daughter. You can’t just end our marriage just because of lies from someone jealous of us.”

“Jealous?” He asked with a bitter laugh. “This person isn’t jealous of us. The person only did it to save me from further humiliation.”

Who the hell was he talking about?

Why wouldn’t he tell me who the person was?

I took a few steps closer to him, reaching out to his hand. But he yanked it away almost immediately.

“Don’t touch me!” He yelled, staring at me like I was some sort of dirt or something.

My heart shattered for the umpteenth time.

I was hurt that he believed that kind of lie, but I was also getting angry because he didn’t want to believe me when I was clearly telling the truth.

“Show me the proof. Show me what they told you.” I said, my anger simmering just beneath the surface.

I was curious to know what had convinced him. From the way he looked at me, whatever he saw must’ve been really bad.

He shook his head. “I can’t show you because I don’t even want to look at them for a second time, but I can tell you the name of the person you cheated with…maybe it would ring a bell.”

His eyes were burning with rage.

I couldn’t even think of anybody that I had flirted with in the last few months.

“Okay, I’m listening,” I said with a tired sigh.

“Asher…Asher Frost.” He said through gritted teeth. “Does it ring a bell?”

Asher?

He's got to be kidding me!

He really thought I would cheat on him with one of my male models?

I already knew who must’ve fed him that wrong information.

“It was Sabine, right? Sabine told you about it.” My voice trembled as I asked.

I didn’t want to believe that my sister would actually do something so cruel and at the same time act like things were good between us.

I thought we had already moved past that situation. So the phone call earlier was just an act? Fake concern?

We started our fashion brand together. But lately, things have been weird between us because of Asher Frost.

But I had no idea she took it that seriously.

When we signed him, he requested that he specifically wanted me to be his personal designer in the company.

And that made Sabine feel a certain type of way. Even if she tried to mask her annoyance, I could see right past her.

At first, I thought it was just a little phase that would wear off with time, but I was wrong. Every time Asher was around, her attitude shifted.

She’d glare at me whenever he complimented my designs, roll her eyes whenever he called me brilliant, and even criticize my work in front of him.

I just let it slide.

But it became out of hand when she accused me of flirting with him. I didn’t even think too much about it after I reminded her that I was married and wouldn’t even date my clients.

“It wasn’t Sabine.” Grayson’s jaw hardened but I knew he was lying. He just didn’t want to throw her under the bus.

“Are you really protecting her? You knew things were weird between me and my sister for a while and you chose to believe her when she said I was cheating on you?”

What if this wasn’t even about Sabine trying to end the marriage? What if Grayson had just been acting, trying to push all the blame to me just so he would be free to be with his ex?

He chose to believe her because it was the easy way out, or else, he would have listened to me when I said I didn’t cheat on him.

I was still curious to know what kind of proof she had shown to him. Who knows if there was even any proof?

My mind raced with different thoughts as I looked at him.

“Tessa, like I said earlier, you can’t lie your way out of it. Sign the papers and let’s get this over with.” He replied, his voice firm.

I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head in disbelief. “You come back home this morning after missing your daughter’s birthday, you don’t even go to her room to see how she’s doing…you just serve me divorce papers without thinking of how it would affect Raven.”

Grayson gritted his teeth in annoyance. “Don’t put Raven in the middle of this, Tessa.”

I scoffed. “She is in the middle of this!” I spat. “Have you thought about what would happen to her if we get divorced?”

Before he could even respond, his phone started ringing. My chest tightened as I saw the name flashing across his screen.

Vanessa.

I stared at him, wondering if he was about to answer the call. He didn’t even hesitate, he picked up the call right in front of me.

“Yeah,” he said calmly. “I’ll be right over.”

My heart shattered.

From the other end, I could hear Vanessa’s faint voice, soft and teasing.

“Unbelievable,” I muttered under my breath. “You didn’t even try to hide it.”

He looked at me coldly.

“And just know that you’re to blame for my next course of action.”

I froze, blinking hard as if I hadn’t heard right.

What was he about to do?