The Billionaire's Ex-Wife

Katherine looks at the letter in her hand, her personal copy of the settlement. Her heart aches on nights like these. Laying alone in bed is something she had grown used to these past five years, but the pain was still there.

She hates cold nights. The thought of waking up in the morning to nothing but an empty home and bed unnerved her.

She sighs deeply. She used to dream about him coming back for her, but it never happened. Sometimes she still does. Now it has started to dawn on her that he never would. After all, she has nothing a billionaire could ever want. There are plenty of other women who would be more than happy to fill her shoes. That was always the problem though.

She set the papers down on the bedside table thinking about how the cheap bugger photocopied them in black and white rather than in colour. She rolled her eyes. The tight arse. It’s not like the coloured ink would have cost a lot, and even if it did, with the amount of money he raked in every hour, he wouldn't even have noticed a difference in his bank balance.

She tosses in bed trying to shake off the thoughts of her old life. Her marriage. Her ex-husband, the billionaire, and the image of him cheating on her with her best friend.

Such a typical cliché. Man with too much money has a wife. He isn't happy, so he finds someone better, gets caught, divorced, and is free to mingle with whomever he pleases. The wife is devastated and somehow manages to build her life up but still feels something is missing.

No, she stops herself. This happens all too often. One minute she's happy living life and then he comes along and infiltrates her mind.

She thought she had moved on. She even went on a date last night. He was tall, lean, had blonde hair with bright baby blue eyes that pierced into her soul. He was funny and made her laugh. His name was Dylan. He works in the office with her too. It was where they met. She could tell from the way he looked at her that he was interested, but was she? She didn't know.

The clock on her bedside table read 3:45 a.m., and as usual she had spent hours thinking about a man who was no longer in her life. She told herself off for being so silly. He wouldn't ever come back. He didn't need some average woman when he could have anyone. He definitely didn't stay up for hours at night thinking about her. She rolled onto her back, closing her eyes to get some sleep before work in the morning.

Katherine woke up to find the light streaming through the window the next morning. Her blinds left were left open and she still had yesterday’s clothes on. She looked in the mirror on her bedside table and shook her head. God she was a mess.

Getting out of the bed, she stretched her aching muscles and trudged slowly to her bathroom.

The hot water of the shower poured over her body, and she let herself be enveloped in the warmth. Her muscles relaxed as the water massaged her aches and pains. After her shower, she stepped into her usual outfit for work—a blouse and fitted skirt with a pair of heels. She applied her usual light makeup and put her naturally curly hair up in a high ponytail.

The thought of going to work today made her queasy. She hadn't seen Dylan since their romantic date. And somehow telling him she wasn't interested in further contact didn't seem that appealing.

She walks out of her apartment, locking the door behind her, and takes the elevator down to the car park.

The drive to Hudson’s Law Firm is a short fifteen minutes, but today it seems to drag and she can't help but feel something strange is going to happen.

Finding a space in the office car park has always been a nightmare and although she is early, as usual, it’s still a struggle. After spending fifteen minutes waiting for someone to leave, she finally finds a space and sighs in relief while looking at her watch. Still early.

The office is buzzing and smells like morning coffee. Every desk Katherine walks past has a coffee cup from the barista across the road. But she always found coffee too bitter. She prefers something a little sweeter like a smoothie or orange juice.

As Katherine approaches her desk, she drops into the chair and inhales a large breath. Being up all night doesn't help anything. She feels absolutely exhausted, and she looked it too.

Mickey, the boss, walks over to her desk and she turns her head to look at him. He was wearing a navy suit with a striped tie.

"Katherine, I have good news for you." His smile never reaches his eyes, but she smiles back anyway.

"Oh, really sir? Please enlighten me." Waiting for his response makes her nervous. No, talking to Mickey always makes her nervous. He has the ability to sack her with a click of his strangely manicured fingers and she has never forgotten it.

"I have a new case and you're the lawyer on it." He smiles again. "After the good job you did with the last case, I’m sure you can handle it. Here is the folder and the client’s appointment is in five. You should get to the meeting room now." With that, Mickey turns on his heels and stalks off, leaving Katherine staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

He's lucky she's always in.

She huffs and gets out of her rather comfy chair, gathers up her bag, and leaves in the direction of the meeting room.

Standard meeting rooms at the Hudson are quite nice actually. They have a long table in the middle with chairs on either side, a coffee and tea table, and a digital screen in each corner. They have one glass wall so everyone can see who's having a meeting, but the glass is fogged a little to provide privacy. After all, clients need to feel comfortable during meetings. It still lacks any personality, but then again, it’s a law firm. It certainly shouldn’t be painted pink with rainbows.

There are 4 main meeting rooms and the one she carries out her meetings in is still dark, so she has beat the mysterious client to it.

She unlocks the door, letting herself in and starts preparing for the meeting. The door of the room swings open, and Katherine raises her head smiling in the direction of the door.

But her eyes widen, and her smile drops as she looks at the person standing in the doorway.

"Hello Katherine." His deep voice is still as sexy as she remembers, sending a chill down her spine. She tries to find words to reply but her mouth is dry and coincidentally her throat seems to have vanished too.

"Shall we get down to business then?" The man standing beside him speaks up. Confusion is written all over his face while he stands there looking even sexier than the last time they saw each other.

His Armani suit hugged his muscular figure perfectly. It fit in just the right places, and as hard as she tried, it would be impossible not to drool at the sight of him. His hair was tousled to give the impression that he didn't need to put effort into looking good, which was true. He's sexy in the shower, after waking up, and even after sex.

Katherine shakes her head out of it. She has to focus. She has a job to do but that’s impossible when you’re staring at a Greek god who just so happens to be your ex-husband—the man who cheated on you. The man you caught cheating on you. The man you caught cheating on you with your best friend.

No. That's the past, Katherine. Act civil. Act like that doesn't matter after all. The past is in the past.

James would be lying if he said he knew Katherine would be his lawyer. His version of acting cool seemed to be working though. If the surprised look on Katherine’s face was any indication, then she hadn't known either. After all, if she had, she probably wouldn’t have taken his case on.

The tension in the room made him angry. He remembered what happened vividly and the fact that they split when he thought she had cheated on him. And then she caught him doing very un-Christian things and that angered him further, making his blood boil.

She looked good. Her skirt was a little too short and her blouse a little too fitted. He could tell she was giving the men in her office a show. That thought didn't help James’s mood one bit.

He let his eyes scan her body. Her legs were long and a slender creamy colour. Her waist was small, and her dark hair pulled up in a ponytail. She turned around to pick up a folder and the view wasn't bad. In all Katherine looked sexy and beautiful like she always had.

No, he can't think like this, and thankfully Henry, his legal assistant, spoke up.

"Shall we get down to business then?" he asks. James takes a deep breath trying to clear the thoughts of Katherine from his head and nods.

Katherine points at two chairs on the opposite side of the table and clears her throat.

"Of course. Please take a seat, Mr. Saunders."

He looks at her blankly and sits down holding her eyes captive as he does so.

"Ok, so let’s go over your case." Her voice is still sexy and hearing it again lights up the fire that he used to have every time he was with her. What he wouldn't do to have his arms wrapped around her tiny frame.

James smiles to himself at the thought of it.

"Sir?" James snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Katherine addressing him.

"What?" His tone is icy, and she flinches a little. He can't lose his focus and he knows it.

"I see you are going up against the corporation Reddings. That's a big technology corporation. Why?"

Her professionalism while talking made James think about the divorce. He knew he had hurt her, and the pain was still evident in her eyes. He hated himself for it and he couldn't control his rising anger. Not at her, but himself. But like most, when he found himself angry, he lashed out. He didn't want that to be the case today.

"They borrowed money from us and haven't paid it back." His cool tone made Katherine wonder if she even had an effect on him. He was being so sharp. He had no reason to be hostile towards her. He cheated on her. The thought brought tears to her eyes. And with her best friend, even! Let’s just say Katherine cut all contact with that friend a long time ago.

"Right. Well I will have a look through the case and arrange another meeting with you soon," Katherine tells him, shutting the folder, and standing up. She held her hand out to him. He stands up and waits for Henry to leave first.

He ignores Katherine’s hand and glares at her.

"I’m not touching a whore," he says with so much certainty. Katherine holds back the tears that threaten to spill out. His anger got the better of him. What he said was wrong, but why would she torture men by wearing that. He knew she wasn’t a whore. She didn't even cheat. But when she stood, and her outstretched arm enhanced her breasts, making her blouse stretch tighter across her chest, he realized what he was missing.

"I don’t understand," she sobs, trying to hold back all the tears.

"You cheated on me. You spread your legs to all the men in the freaking state, you slut." His voice is deep and radiates hate. He's jealous of all the other men, but he would never admit it. She never did cheat. He knows that, but he can’t help the rage that’s burning in him. He wants her back.

She nods her head and walks quickly past him and to the washrooms.

The bathroom is empty, and Katherine locks a stall door. She inhales deeply and slides down the side of the stall. Why her? Why now?

She lets herself cry.

James stands in the meeting room feeling guilty but pushes it to the back of his head. It’s her own doing wearing outfits like that in a professional environment. He signals Henry to grab the car and they leave Hudson law firm.

Katherine had always dreamed of being a big shot lawyer and now she was well on her way. It’s a shame he had to ruin their relationship on her way.

When he found the pictures in the white envelope on his desk from an anonymous source, the pain shot through him. To the world he had always been cold, but Katherine was the one and only person who got to see his true colours. And then she cheated on him with that guy from her office. He felt used and broken. His world fell apart. He didn't even think to check if the image was Photoshopped. The anger boiled and he felt he needed to get revenge, so he slept with her best friend at the time. Her friend had been trying to seduce him for a while and Katherine walked into his office and found them mid thrust.

The memory makes him cringe. She had a pained expression on her face, which he thought was obviously fake at the time. She never cared and he had to pretend he didn’t either.

It wasn't until after he threw the divorce papers in her face and kicked her out of the house that he found out the truth...

Five Years Ago:

The day of the divorce, Katherine had just taken the test and passed. She was glowing with happiness as she walked up to James’s office to tell him the news. She walked towards James’s office door when Penny stopped her.

"Oh, hi Katherine. I didn't know you would be coming in today." She fidgets as she stands blocking Katherine’s way to James.

"It was an unplanned visit. Now would you excuse me?" Penny steps to the side but before Katherine enters, she grabs her arm and Katherine turns to look at her.

"I'm sorry," Penny says, and Katherine stares at her confused, but shakes it off before entering the office.

"Hi baby, I have some—" She stops dead in her tracks as her eyes zero in on the sight in front of her. "What the hell?"

James is naked and atop her naked best friend, Shelly, who looks up at Katherine and smirks. "Hi, wanna join us?" she says.

Katherine nearly vomits at the thought but stares right at James who has frozen.

"I want a divorce, you piece of shit," he spits out coldly with such an icy tone that Katherine has to fight back the tears.

"I-I don't u-understand." She stumbles over her words in an effort to make herself seem calm.

"You’re a slut. I never loved you. I was only with you for sex. You mean nothing to me. Our marriage is one big lie. The divorce papers are on the desk. I want you out of my house. The lawyer will be in touch," he growls at her.

She walks over to the desk, picks up the folder, and walks back over to James, and he looks at her expectantly.

Her hand reaches up and softly caresses his face before she lifts her hand and slaps him hard. He groans in pain and while he is busy nursing his sore cheek, she takes the opportunity to kick him where the sun doesn't shine, which hurt because he was naked. With that she flipped her hair and stormed off, but not before turning and giving Shelly the middle finger. No words were spoken. Just a few unfriendly gestures.