• WATTYS 2022 WINNER •
When Iris Monet married millionaire Jared Darling, she had only one rule - that he could cheat on her with anyone except the household staff. This arrangement of theirs would have gone on quite happily if she hadn't caught him...
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iris 👁
IT turns out Spencer wasn't the only man who followed Heather down.
"You stalked my sister here?" I'm aghast.
"Correction: I've had a tail on her for the past month." Jared waves it away like it's a minor detail. "Anyway, that's not the point. The point is I'm here."
I cross my arms to stop myself from shaking him by the collar. We're standing on the bridge that borders Ryefair from its backdrop of woods. Underneath us the river runs, a bubbly stream of water about six feet wide and three feet deep.
"And why," I grind out between gritted teeth, "are you here?"
Jared smiles, that charming smile I know so well. "But my love, surely you've not forgotten our Cappadocia trip? The flight is tonight."
I stare at him. Is his skull made of wood? Did his ears go deaf over the past few weeks?
"Jared," I enunciate slowly, "I'm not going anywhere with you. We're divorced."
"No, we're not. Not until next month, at least. When the papers are finalized."
"You're not supposed to come find me. You're not even supposed to talk to me. Martha says – "
"I don't give a fuck what that woman says!" Jared roars, suddenly and loudly. I realize we're both out above rushing water, with no other soul in sight. And Jared is an entire foot taller than me.
He's not a man for physical violence, I tell myself. I've seen him cry over a ruined dress shirt before. Granted it was Ralph Lauren, but still. A man who cries over spilled sauce on fabric doesn't exactly inspire menace.
But now I'm not so sure.
"Babe, please," he says, and there it is, back to that nasally whine again. "Come on! I drove three hours to get here! What's it going to take for you to forgive me? I've fired Janice. I fired my secretary – and that wasn't easy to do, by the way. Not when she's the niece of my client. But still, I did it. For you. And apparently I'm fighting against Kanye West right now because both of us want the same Dior dress for our wives."
He takes a step forward and I take a step back.
"Don't you see what I'm doing for you, Iris? Don't you see how hard I'm trying? How much you mean to me?"
"From a business standpoint, you mean." I raise my chin. "Don't lie to me, Jared. That was all I ever meant to you."
"You say that like it isn't mutual." A nasty expression I've never seen before flickers across Jared's face. My heart starts beating fast, and not the pleasant kind. "Those were my millions you spent, Iris."
I swallow. "You're right. I used your money, and you used my family name. And it got us both what we wanted, and it was fun while it lasted, but now I'm done."
