My Ex-Wife Will Kneel Before Me

Marry me

Chapter 3

Ryan pushed open the door to Jessica's corner office on the fourteenth floor of Palmer & Associates without knocking. The receptionist outside called after him, but he was already inside, shutting the door behind him and locking it with a sharp twist.

Jessica looked up from her desk, her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She was dressed in a cream colored blazer with her hair pinned back, looking every bit the polished businesswoman that Westfield City admired. For a moment, surprise flashed across her face before she forced it into a polished smile.

"Ryan. What a nice surprise. You should have called first."

He did not return the smile. He crossed the room in four strides, pulled the blinds shut on every window, and dropped the two paternity test reports on her desk.

"We need to talk."

Jessica glanced down at the papers, and her smile froze. She recognized the hospital logo instantly. Her fingers curled against the desk.

"What is this supposed to be?" Her voice stayed steady, but her knuckles were turning white.

"You know exactly what it is." Ryan pulled the chair across from her desk and sat down. "I had both girls tested. Katie and Lily. Neither one of them is mine."

Jessica stared at the documents for three full seconds. Then she picked them up, stood from her chair, and walked to the shredder beside her filing cabinet. She fed both reports through the machine without hesitation.

The thin whine of the shredder filled the silence between them.

"There." She turned back to him with a calm expression, brushing her hands together. "No test ever took place. Our family is perfectly happy, and I don't know what kind of stress you've been under, but you need to take a vacation."

Ryan felt the disgust rise in his throat like bile. He leaned forward in his chair and locked eyes with her.

"You just destroyed evidence in front of me and you think that changes anything? I have copies, Jessica. I have digital backups. And if you think shredding paper is going to make me forget what I read, you've lost your mind."

Her composure cracked for just a second. A flicker of panic in her eyes. Then she recovered and folded her arms across her chest.

"You're being ridiculous. Those tests are wrong. Labs make mistakes all the time. Katie has your nose. Everyone says so."

"Everyone is wrong." His voice was low and steady. "And so are you."

"Ryan, listen to me." She stepped closer, dropping her voice to something softer, more intimate. "We have a beautiful family. Two wonderful daughters. A home that people envy. Why would you want to throw all of that away over some piece of paper?"

"Because that piece of paper tells me I've been living a lie for ten years." He stood up, and his chair scraped back against the marble floor. "I want a divorce. You have three days to agree, or I'm filing in court and making every detail public."

Jessica's face went pale. "You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Think about the girls, Ryan. Think about what this would do to them."

"I am thinking about them." His jaw tightened. "That's why I'm giving you three days instead of walking straight into a lawyer's office."

She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.

"One more thing. I got a text message two days ago. Anonymous. It described your affair in detail. Times, dates, hotel rooms. And when I called you seventeen times that night, you didn't pick up once."

The color drained from her face completely.

"Where were you, Jessica?"

"I was... my phone died." She touched her neck, a habit she had whenever she was lying. "I was negotiating a contract with the Chen Group downtown and my battery ran out."

"The Chen Group closed their Westfield office three months ago." Ryan's voice was ice cold. "I checked."

Jessica's lips parted but nothing came out. Her eyes darted left, then right, searching for an escape that did not exist.

"Three days." Ryan turned and walked toward the door. "After that, I let the courts handle it."

He unlocked the door and walked out without looking back.

The moment the door clicked shut, Jessica's mask shattered. She swept her arm across the desk and sent everything crashing to the floor. The laptop. The coffee mug. The framed photo of her and Ryan at their fifth anniversary dinner. Glass shattered across the marble tiles.

She stood there breathing hard, her chest heaving, staring at the mess she had made. Then she pulled her phone from her blazer pocket with shaking hands and dialed a number she knew by heart.

It rang four times before he picked up.

"What's wrong?" His voice was casual, almost bored.

"He knows." Jessica's voice broke on the second word. Tears spilled down her cheeks and her breathing turned ragged. "Ryan found out. He got paternity tests done on both girls. Neither one came back as his."

Silence on the other end. Then a slow exhale.

"How did he find out?"

"Someone sent him a text. I don't know who. But he has proof, and he's demanding a divorce. He gave me three days."

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" She pressed her palm against her forehead. "If this gets out, do you have any idea what it will do to my daughters? To my father? To our reputation in this city?"

"I understand the situation, Jessica."

"Then marry me." Her voice turned desperate. "Divorce your wife and marry me. We can get ahead of this before it blows up."

A long pause. When he spoke again, his voice was measured and cold.

"That's not possible right now. If I file for divorce, my mother will cut me out of the family trust. My siblings have been circling for years, waiting for me to make a mistake. I'd lose my inheritance, my board seats, everything."

Jessica pressed her hand over her mouth to muffle a sob.

"So what am I supposed to do? Just let him walk away and expose everything?"

"No. We handle him."

Her crying stopped. "What do you mean, handle him?"

"I mean we make sure Ryan Mitchell understands that a divorce is not in his best interest. There are ways to apply pressure without leaving marks."

"No." Jessica's voice turned sharp and fierce. "Absolutely not. You are not going to hurt him."

"Jessica..."

"I mean it. Ryan has been nothing but good to us. He raised those girls like they were his own. He worked himself to the bone to give us a comfortable life. Whatever he's done wrong, he doesn't deserve to be threatened."

"I'm not talking about threats. I'm talking about motivation. Financial pressure. Career leverage. The kind of thing that makes a man reconsider his options."

Jessica wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Promise me you won't touch him."

"I promise." His voice turned smooth and reassuring. "I'll make him see reason, that's all. No force. No violence. Just a gentle reminder of what he stands to lose if he pushes this too far."

"And what if he doesn't back down?"

"He will. Men like Ryan always do. They bark loud, but when the money disappears and the doors start closing, they get quiet real fast."

Jessica pressed her forehead against the cold glass of her office window and closed her eyes.

"Just don't hurt him," she whispered. "Whatever you do, don't hurt him."

Her lover reassured her one last time, promising to make Ryan obedient without using overt force while urging her not to worry.