Ninety-Two Days Before the Ice

Twelve Million Reasons

"What do you mean that bastard divorced you?!"

Michael Stowe glared at the divorce certificate with a burning fire of rage in his eyes.

In this house, Rhys had been nothing but an obedient dog. He cooked, drove, fixed whatever broke, and handed over practically every cent he earned. And now that spineless mutt had bitten back and run off?

Michael simply could not accept it!

"Where is he?!" Henry roared from the couch. "I'm going to beat the hell out of him!"

"Where's Daddy?" Chris piped up, delighted by the commotion. "I wanna hit Daddy too!"

"That bum is dead to us!" Britt snapped.

Instead of crying, Chris clapped. "Daddy's dead! Daddy's dead!"

He had spent his whole life watching the Stowes treat Rhys like dirt. Naturally, he had learned to do the same.

"Seriously, Lexi, why did you agree to this?" Henry leaned forward. "What am I supposed to do now? You know I'm broke."

"Exactly!" Michael began to pace. "We were counting on Rhys's paycheck. Bills, groceries, utilities, your mother's medication. Who's going to pay for all that now?"

He had already divided Rhys's salary ten different ways in his head. Overnight, the river had run dry. To Michael, that was worse than a kick between the legs.

Lexi felt a throb begin behind her temples. Her marriage had just ended, and not one person in this room had asked how she felt. They cared only about the money.

Then again, why would she expect anything different?

"Remarry him," Michael declared suddenly.

Lexi’s eyes flickered with shock, "What?"

"You heard me. Get him back. We can't let that bastard walk away this easily."

Lexi almost laughed. Remarry a man who knew, who had the report in his pocket? But she couldn't say so. She had never told her family what Rhys had found out, and she could already picture the chaos if she did.

A frantic pounding rattled the front door the next second, startling everyone.

"Who the hell is it now?" Michael stormed over and yanked it open.

Mrs. Park stood on the porch, practically glowing. "Michael! Your family certainly knows how to keep a secret!"

A secret? Had Rhys already told the whole neighborhood about the divorce?

"That ungrateful snake!" Michael exploded, his face reddening. "He attacked me, he divorced my daughter, and now he's spreading it all over the street? After everything we did for him?"

Mrs. Park blinked, completely stunned. This was much more interesting than the news she had come to deliver.

"Wait. Lexi and Rhys are divorced?" She craned her neck to peer past him into the hall. "Oh, Michael, your family really is something else."

She gave him a slow thumbs-up. The grin on her face made it clear it was not a compliment.

"Anyway, I only came because I heard your son-in-law..." She paused for effect. "Sorry. Your former son-in-law just bought the big villa across the street. Twelve million dollars, paid in full. And he didn't even haggle."

The living room went silent as the hair left the room.

"What did you say?" Michael asked in a strangled whisper.

Twelve million? Rhys? The man had walked out of the divorce with the clothes on his back. How could he possibly afford twelve million dollars?!

Before anyone could answer, hurried footsteps came up the path. Mrs. Dawson from next door arrived, out of breath, her face green with envy.

"Michael, your family has really made it! I heard Rhys bought that villa for twelve million!"

His grip tightened on the doorframe until his knuckles turned white.

So it was true.

Mrs. Park turned to her with a widening grin. "You haven't heard? Lexi and Rhys just divorced."

"What?!" Mrs. Dawson's jaw dropped. "You divorced a son-in-law like that?" Her expression turned thoughtful. "Well... my Jenna is still single. If your family doesn't want him, maybe I should introduce them."

She wasn't joking. A man who could drop twelve million dollars on a house was the kind of son-in-law people fought over.

 Who cared if he was divorced? Everyone in Maple Grove knew Rhys: hardworking, polite, mild-tempered, a man who had spent years waiting on the Stowes hand and foot.

Only an idiot would throw away a man like that.

"Bullshit!" Michael snapped out of his daze, his shock hardening into fury. "That house was bought with our family's money!"

The divorce was two days old. There was no way Rhys had made twelve million dollars in forty-eight hours. So, the money had existed before the divorce, and half of it belonged to Lexi.

"He planned this from the beginning!" The longer Michael thought about it, the more certain and delusional he became. "He rushed her through the divorce, hid the cash, and bought himself a mansion!"

"Of course!" Britt and Henry caught on at once.

Greed crept across their faces, one after another, like a stain.

Only Lexi felt a cold prickle at the back of her neck.

Something was wrong. She could feel it, like a missing stair in the dark. She replayed the phone call, word by word.

Chris isn't mine. I know he's Curry's son.

A DNA test could prove Chris wasn't Rhys's child. It could not tell him whose child he was.

She had never once spoken Curry's name to her husband. Not in nine years.

"Wait." Lexi raised a hand. "Let me call Curry first. We should know our options before..."

But nobody listened.

Michael was already shoving his feet into his shoes while Britt rushed for her coat. Henry was halfway down the driveway, doubtless calculating how much allowance twelve million dollars would pay him.

"Hey, wait!" Lexi ran after them. "Don't go over there!"

Her words fell on deaf ears. Within seconds, all three had vanished across the street.

Lexi stopped at the end of the driveway, breathing hard, staring at the big lit villa where her husband now lived.

Her ex-husband.

A man who bought houses without haggling. A man who knew a name he should never have known.

For the first time since the divorce, Lexi’s heart hammered with fear.