Divorce Me Once, Your Loss

Brianna

I’ve been to the Armani mansion not more than four times in my life and those were only because I had no choice whatsoever than to show up and pretend to be the ever so dutiful, ever so loving wife of Nico Armani.

Keeping up the appearance of a happy couple was not necessarily a requirement in mine and Nico’s marriage but sometimes he needed me to convince the public he had a heart.

My heels click as I make my way into the mansion, my hair billowing around me in the breezy summer wind even though I tamed it down with a hat.

I can't believe I let Nico kiss me back at the helicopter. And I hate myself for reacting to him the way I did.

But when those lips demanded more from me, the only thought that crossed my mind was giving into the desire that tugged at my whole body.

Never again.

It’s no use pretending that I haven’t always envisioned being kissed by Nico and I’m not gonna lie that it didn’t feel better than my imaginations conjured up but Nico Armani treated me like trash for the entirety of the year we were together. It was one year of me wanting him, hoping he’ll look at me a tiny bit of the way he looked at Arianna. Just a fraction of it.

But he never he did. He could’ve treated me right even if he didn’t love me, but he never once treated me like anything other than a whole messy baggage.

So now even if I have to remind myself every single hour of the day that the man is as cruel and cold as ice, I’ll do it to show them just exactly how much they hurt me.

The doors to the mansions swings open and Rosa Armani steps out, blocking my path.

Nico’s mother is a woman in her prime, beautiful, physically younger than her age with the same dark hair, and striking features as her son that makes her look almost as intimidating as the man.

She is of average height but she still somehow towers over me when she sends me a condescending scowl I’ve come to associate with her.

“I hate to be the voice of reason,” she starts regally, “But what the hell do you think you are doing back here?”

Rosa always gave me the vibes of some stuck up royalty always looking down at her subjects. Or at least that’s the way she was to me.

Refusing to be physically intimidated by her presence, I maintain my stance, giving the men behind me carrying my luggage a simple go-ahead command.

“Trust me,” I take off my sunglasses, “being here is the last thing I ever want.”

She sends me an all too familiar smirk, “Here to act like a fucking leech aren’t you? We’ve gotten rid of you already and I want you gone!”

“Funny,” I reply, “for the first time, Rosa, we both want the same things.”

I’ve never really understood Rosa Armani’s hatred for me. She hated me from the first day she saw me and until this day, she has never once sent a kind word to me – not even once – only always showing me the rotten part of her she kept hidden from the whole world.

Even though I had no choice but to assume her hatred for had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the fact that I was nothing like Arianna who she was supposed to have instead of me as a daughter-in-law, I’ll like to know the full and detailed reason, if any, behind Rosa’s disdain for me.

Now is not the time to wonder, however.

This is a war zone so I flick my hair and return her smirk with a smile of my own, adding an extra sweetness to my tone when I say “From one Mrs. Armani to another –”

“What?”

“You see, Rosa, the thing is –”

Before I can explain further, I feel Nico coming up behind me and saving me the stress of dealing with his mother

“Let it go, mother.”

Great, I was wondering when he would show up. He wanted this divorce as much as I want to and if his mother is going to be a problem to the judges finally separating us, then I know how far her is willing to go to solve that problem.

He is after all making plans to send his mistress away for that effect.

Yeah, he hates me that much.

Rosa’s eyes move to her son’s, “What do you mean – You divorced her! She doesn’t have to be here.”

I feel his eyes trained on me when he says, “Not quite. It’s complicated.”

I send her another sweet smile, “Yes Rosa, it is complicated. But for now, I am still an Armani.”

She blinks, confused, and I get the sudden feeling she is reconciling the old me with the new me. She takes in my looks for the first time and she looks visibly taken aback with what she sees.

No longer the chubby, timid girl with no spine whatsoever.

I’m too tensed to care but for the first time, I’ve managed to bring out another emotion from Rosa Armani that is not some kind of condescending hatred or plain cruelty.

I smirk and turn to send an infuriating wink at Nico, “See you, soon,” then I gesture around my lips, “You’ve got a little bit of lipstick, husband.”

With that I storm off, but not before I catch a stunned Carla by the doorway.

Yes, Carla, that’s my lipstick on the mouth of your lover. It wasn’t an intentional kiss but she doesn’t have to know that from me, and I don’t see Nico trying to explain himself to her either.

Nico never serves an explanation to anybody not even his mistress and for the first time, his arrogant behavior is going to work in my favor.

Let’s see how she feels about another woman in her territory.

Coming back to the Armanis is proving to be a piece of cake – easy, peasy. Or at least a whole lot easier than I envisioned it to be and that accounts for a whole lot of somethings.

In no time, Carla would be gone from the house, either off to be his mistress somewhere else or to be someone else’s mistress.

And in no time, Rosa Armani will find out that the hotel she manages in New York no longer belongs to her son.

It belongs to me now.

And I don’t see why I should keep her working there when I hate her guts.