He Chose The Maid Over The Heiress Chapter 05
Kimberly POVÂ
The words hung in the air between us, final and absolute.Â
“You can have him.”Â
Austyn made a noise–a strangled, desperate sound. “Kimberly,Â
- no. You don’t mean that.”Â
I turned to him. My eyes were dry. My heart was a stone.Â
“I mean it, Austyn. You are fired. You are divorced. You areÂ
done.”Â
“Daddy!” Jaylin tugged on Austyn’s trousers. “Why is the bad lady yelling?”Â
Austyn looked down at the boy. For the first time, I truly saw the resemblance. The same weak chin. The same shifting,Â
evasive eyes.Â
Jaylin pushed past Austyn and ran toward Lily. “Go away!” he shouted. “My daddy hates you!”Â
He shoved Lily. Hard.Â
Lily fell back, her hands scraping against the unforgiving asphalt. She cried out.Â
Something inside me snapped. It was the tether that held my rage in check.Â
I let out a sound that wasn’t human. It was a guttural roar.Â
I moved faster than thought. I was between Jaylin and my daughter in a heartbeat. I didn’t touch the boy–children are off -limits, even the offspring of traitors–but I stood over him, my shadow swallowing him whole.Â
“Back off!” I snarled.Â
Jaylin scrambled back, terrified.Â
Austyn rushed forward. He scooped Jaylin up, clutching him. to his chest. “Don’t you dare touch my son!” he yelled at me.Â
The courtyard went silent.Â
My son.Â
He hadn’t helped Lily up. He hadn’t checked if she was bleeding. He had protected the boy.Â
I looked at Lily. She was sitting on the ground, staring at her father. Her heart was breaking in real–time. She saw it. SheÂ
saw who he chose.Â
I helped Lily stand. I brushed the dirt off her knees. I kissedÂ
her forehead.Â
“Wait in the car with Rocco, baby,” I whispered.Â
She nodded, mute with shock, and walked to the limo. Roccol opened the door for her, glaring at Austyn with murderousÂ
intent.Â
I turned back to my husband.Â
“So,” I said coldly. “He is yours.”Â
Austyn clutched Jaylin tighter. He tried to look defiant, but his lip was trembling. “Yes. He is mine. And Evalena is the mother.Â
We have been together for ten years. Since before I marriedÂ
you.”Â
Ten years. The entire time. Every kiss, every dinner, every ‘I love you‘ was a lie. He had been building a secret family on myÂ
dime.Â
I nodded slowly. “Okay.”Â
“Okay?” Austyn blinked. “That’s it? You aren’t going to scream?”Â
“No,” I said. “I don’t scream at trash. I take it out.”Â
Austyn’s eyes narrowed. He sensed a trap. “I want a divorce, Kimberly. And I want half. California is a community propertyÂ
state. I know my rights.”Â
I laughed. It was a dark, jagged sound.Â
“You think we are in California?” I asked. “You think we are inÂ
a civil court?”Â
I stepped closer.Â
“We are in New York. And you signed a prenuptial agreement that was drafted by the Syndicate’s consigliere. It states that in the event of infidelity, you leave with what you came with.”Â
I looked at his suit.Â
“Take it off,” I said.Â
“What?”Â
“The suit. I paid for it. Take it off.”Â
Austyn stepped back. “You are crazy.”Â
I looked at my guards. “Help him.”Â
The two men stepped forward.Â
Austyn panicked. He backed into Evalena. “You can’t do this! will sue you! I will take the house! I will take the company!”Â
I pulled out my phone. I tapped the screen.Â
“I just froze your accounts, Austyn. All of them. The credit cards. The joint checking. The offshore account you thoughtÂ
I didn’t know about.”Â
Austyn checked his phone. He tapped frantically. His faceÂ
went gray.Â
“It’s gone,” I said. “It’s all gone.”Â
“You can’t leave me with nothing!” he screamed. “I have a son!”Â
I looked at Jaylin, then back at Austyn.Â
“You have a son,” I agreed. “You should have thought about him before you stole from the Miller family.”Â
I turned my back on him.Â
“Rocco,” I called out. “Take us home.”Â
As I walked toward the car, I heard Austyn shouting threats. He was screaming that he would destroy me. That he knew where the bodies were buried.Â
I stopped at the car door. I looked back one last time..Â
He was standing in the middle of the schoolyard, holding his bastard son, next to his mistress in her stolen coat. He lookedÂ
small.Â
He didn’t know it yet, but he was already a ghost.Â
I got in the car.Â
“Drive,” I said.

