Read Online Ex-Terminator Life After Marriage by Suzetta Perkins - Free Book Online

firm, but within a two-year time frame, I was able to enjoy a healthy income of $500,000 a year and maintain a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.”
    “Every girl needs to know that her man has bank,” Claudette interjected. “I ain’t mad at ya. Wouldn’t mind sharing it with you.” She batted her eyes. “Sorry for the interruption.”
    Marvin smirked. He didn’t like loud-talking women. Claudette was the kind that would have your business on the gossip net, telling every head she shampooed what her man had done for her. He shook her image from his mind.
    “After my business took off and I was in the best financial position I had been in a long time,” Marvin began, “I knew that my life was not complete. I was a hardworking Black man whose ultimate goal was to reach the pinnacle of his career but I needed that someone to share it with. I hadn’t dated much and wasn’t sure if my old lines were still twenty-first century.”
    Rachel smiled.
    “I met my ex-wife, Denise, while on a speaking engagement in New York. When I laid eyes on her, I immediately fell in love. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of that girl. We corresponded for a month or two, but found that we couldn’t be away from each other. After a six-month romance, I proposed.
    “Denise is very attractive, sophisticated—and very high maintenance. She has her hair, nails and feet done every week. Even after I married her, I showered her with gifts from the best stores, wined and dined her at the most fabulous restaurants, bought her the most elegant home in the most upscale neighborhood. But what I really wanted was children, and every time I approached Denise about it, she kept putting me on hold…her career, her figure…”
    “I understand that sister,” Mona said, cutting in on Marvin’s train of thought.
    “It would have been all right, Mona, if my wife hadn’t assured me before we got married that she wanted children as much as I did and that she would be more than happy to be our baby’s mother. I’m not a nag, and I didn’t want to start being one. I had given my heart and soul to this woman…not just to please her but because I wanted to give her the best of me.
    “My sisters told me I was a fool to lavish her with everything she wanted and everything I wanted her to have. I’m sure Denise came to expect these things, but she was always so appreciative.
    “She missed her friends in New York, though, and the fast-paced life she’d led. She would often fly home to see her family and friends, and while I didn’t begrudge her that, I think I was a little jealous. A couple of times I went with her to New York, as I often made presentations there. Sometimes my business partner, my cousin Harold, would go and that way I had someone looking out for my best interests.
    “Three years passed and no baby. Denise became involved with a lot of the high-society folks in Atlanta and became an event planner for a lot of big names—that’s how I met Mona: She catered a big shindig I had a year-and-a-half ago when my company reached another milestone on our way to Fortune 500 status. Denise was the perfect wife in every way—except for not wanting to disfigure her body for the only gift I ever asked for.
    “About three months after the party, Denise announced that she would be in and out of New York to plan this big celebration for her family reunion because her grandmother was going to be eighty years old. It was a bad time for me to go because I was in negotiations for two lucrative contracts with some major players. Plus, I also had a large contract pending with a major New York corporation about the time Denise was heading that way. I really wanted to be part of closing that deal, but I sent Harold instead since there was no possible way for me to be in two places at one time. Harold had negotiated many contracts for us, so I was very confident in his work.
    “I received a call late on a Thursday afternoon to say that the deal