Divorce to Destiny: Reclaiming My CEO Husband

103 Dangerous Game (Ashlyn)

Pathetic, they are all pathetic. As if I'd be stupid enough to fall for their tricks. I'm not confessing to anything I said to Winona in that park. She pushed me. She wanted to kill my baby, Jayden's baby. Her jealousy of me consumes her

Jayden is mine now, and I'm not letting him go. I don't care that his brat is out of my home. Saves me the trouble of getting rid of her. If she ever comes back, I'll do just that. Phillip is back. He's just as pathetic.

Mooning around after Winona like Jayden used to. Winona never deserved Jayden. I was born to be with him. My family raised me to be his wife. No one is going to take that away from me.

I finish my makeup, the ritual calming me, and go out to face the rest of the day. Judy may think she has me fooled, but I know she's here to 'protect' Jayden. She's just as stupid as the rest of them, underestimating me. I've played her for years. Now it's just getting interesting.

I walk out into the living area, forcing a smile on my face. Judy is sitting with a pot of tea and cups, her posture annoyingly serene. "Would you like a cup of tea?" she asks, her voice deceptively sweet.

"No, thank you. I like to get my own drinks. Can't trust anyone these days." I flash her a cold smile, enjoying the flicker of irritation in her eyes.

"Are you feeling better since the incident?" she asks, her tone dripping with fake concern.

"Since that bitch Winona shoved me down the steps and killed Jayden's baby? Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. I'll be glad to get this plaster off, though." I wave my arm at her, my voice dripping with sarcasm, using the moment to mask the tremble of unease that Judy's presence always stirs within me.

"Hopefully you aren't in too much pain," Judy says, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studies me, her gaze sharp and calculating.

"How long are you inviting yourself to stay?" I ask, my frustration bubbling to the surface despite my attempts to keep it contained.

"Jayden invited me. I think it's good we all have family support right now," she replies, her voice steady, the underlying steel barely masked by her calm demeanor.

"Yeah, right. I spent a lot of time with Gus when Jayden was trapped in Santa Monica," I retort, trying to unsettle her with the mention of Gus. "We became very close."

"You did." There's a flatness to Judy's tone now, a hint of steel that wasn't there before.

"Were you jealous?" I lean in, trying to provoke a reaction that might give me an upper hand.

Judy's response is cool, too cool. "Is there anything to be jealous about? Gus likes to keep people he doesn't trust close by." I feel a chill down my spine despite the heated room.

"Is that why he still loves to taunt you?" I challenge, my voice rising slightly in volume, not just to irritate her but to mask the slight quiver.

"Nothing he does taunts me," Judy replies, her voice steady, but her hands clenched into fists.

"Not even making you and his son stay with his cruel-ass brother?" I press harder, sensing a shift in the

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air, a tightening in her posture that suggests I've struck a nerve.

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"That is none she snaps back, her usual composure slipping momentarily.

I laugh. Mocking her. "The great Judy Brennan! Putty in the hands of the man she cheated with. Playing two brothers, Judy? I'm almost proud of you. What a slut you really were," I sneer, each word laced with venom, intended to wound.

Her face flushes, a deep, angry red, and for a moment, the mask of the unflappable matriarch slips, revealing the raw emotion underneath.

I continue while I have her emotionally raw. "No wonder Jayden hates you. He feels sorry for you. That's what he told me. He pities your pathetic attempt at being a mother.."

Judy's eyes harden, her jaw sets, and I realize too late that I've pushed too far. "I doubt Jayden shares much with you," she retorts sharply, her voice icy.

The air thickens, charged with a dangerous energy that wasn't there before. Judy's stance shifts subtly, the atmosphere around her intensifying. Her next words are spoken with a calm that belies the threat woven through them. "Don't push it, Ashlyn. I know your game."

I continue. "Trying to get precious Jayden out of my evil clutches. Trying to pretend you're on that bitch's side now. You won't get anything from me except the truth. Winona pushed me. She'll be jailed for life."

Her confidence, her control over the conversation-it's unnerving. "I guess that solves my problem for me. I won't have to worry about her again. So, I really don't care how you got down those stairs, Winona being convicted is all I care about." *So you say."

"Having her out of his immediate life suits me." Her eyes are saying something I can't quite understand yet, but I don't like it.

My heart is beating fast. "Jayden staying married to me is all I care about, and as for that other sick brat of his, I'm not taking care of her. Ever. Not my problem," I spit out, trying to regain some of my bravado.

"Abby will never be under your care, no. That is correct Judy states, her tone icy, her gaze piercing. "But Jayden staying married to you? I guess we'll have to wait and see."