Read Online Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) by Trevion Burns - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Trevion Burns
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there by the time New York has toweled itself off, I will be as soon as I can. Do not let this case go to trial without me, Hank. I can’t let him win this. I need this money more than anything.”
“The trial is in three weeks. Just be sure you’re right outside the gates of this city the moment that day comes. I don’t care if you have to swim across the Hudson to get here, just get here. Your husband is relentless, and the judge lost patience with us a long time ago. She will not grant another continuance once this city is drained. So get here and be ready. With the retainer.”
“You’ll have it the moment I arrive. Thanks.”
She hung up and spent a long moment staring at the phone, having an internal battle with herself. Before she could change her mind, she dialed the second phone number.
“Hello?” a male voice answered.
Goosebumps tickled the skin of her arm once more.
“Hey,” she whispered.
At the sound of her voice, he responded with a laugh. “The restraining order says I can’t call you, but you can call me whenever the hell you feel like it right?”
She took a deep breath when the pain in her stomach exploded with a fury. She always forgot about the power of the fury until she was in the presence of this man, even over the phone. It was as if her body was turning itself inside out just at the sound of his voice. She could feel her sanity taking a back seat like it was happening in real time.
“Please,” she whispered. “Anthony. Please, please, please just give me my money. Why do we have to take this to court? Why the hell can’t you just do what’s right for a change?”
She could hear her voice rising, but couldn’t stop herself. This time, the curious eyes that hit her from every angle were no longer about her hair, but the tremble to her voice, the bend to her spine and the tears in her eyes. “You’re stealing from me, Anthony. That was my money before we even got married, and you know it.”
“Once again, Nina, the definition of the word marriage has eluded you. I don’t remember the specifics of the day I made the worst decision of my life, but the gist of it was, ‘for better or worse, richer or poorer, death do us part, as long as we both shall live.’ It will never matter when you had it, or who gave it to you, or how much it is. No matter what you say or do, half of that money is mine.”
“What kind of a man are you, huh? What the hell kind of man takes from a woman? I worked for that money,” she said through clenched teeth, jamming her finger to her heart. “I gave up everything for that money. I put it in a private account for a reason, before your blood-sucking vulture of a lawyer dug it up. It was because I knew what a sham of a man you were, even before I married you. I knew you would use it to hurt me one day.”
“No one is using anything to hurt you; I’m taking what’s rightfully mine.”
“I need that money for him.” She covered her nose and mouth with the back of her hand. “I need that money for him, and you’re just… shitting all over that. You don’t give a damn about him, at all.”
This time, a silence stretched in from the other end of the line. So long, she was sure he’d hung up.
“I think about him every minute,” he said. “I love him more every single minute, but I can’t let it own me anymore, Nina, and I’m not going to let it own you anymore either.”
“That is not…” her voice rose to ear-splitting levels, “your choice, Anthony. That is my choice. How dare you try to take that choice from me?”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Yeah, hang up. Turn a blind fucking eye. That’s what you do best, isn’t it?”
“I’ll see you in court.”
“Yeah, you will—” He hung up before she could finish, and she stared at the ‘call ended’ notification on the screen in shock. She stood statue-still, eyes widening. She finally jolted
“The trial is in three weeks. Just be sure you’re right outside the gates of this city the moment that day comes. I don’t care if you have to swim across the Hudson to get here, just get here. Your husband is relentless, and the judge lost patience with us a long time ago. She will not grant another continuance once this city is drained. So get here and be ready. With the retainer.”
“You’ll have it the moment I arrive. Thanks.”
She hung up and spent a long moment staring at the phone, having an internal battle with herself. Before she could change her mind, she dialed the second phone number.
“Hello?” a male voice answered.
Goosebumps tickled the skin of her arm once more.
“Hey,” she whispered.
At the sound of her voice, he responded with a laugh. “The restraining order says I can’t call you, but you can call me whenever the hell you feel like it right?”
She took a deep breath when the pain in her stomach exploded with a fury. She always forgot about the power of the fury until she was in the presence of this man, even over the phone. It was as if her body was turning itself inside out just at the sound of his voice. She could feel her sanity taking a back seat like it was happening in real time.
“Please,” she whispered. “Anthony. Please, please, please just give me my money. Why do we have to take this to court? Why the hell can’t you just do what’s right for a change?”
She could hear her voice rising, but couldn’t stop herself. This time, the curious eyes that hit her from every angle were no longer about her hair, but the tremble to her voice, the bend to her spine and the tears in her eyes. “You’re stealing from me, Anthony. That was my money before we even got married, and you know it.”
“Once again, Nina, the definition of the word marriage has eluded you. I don’t remember the specifics of the day I made the worst decision of my life, but the gist of it was, ‘for better or worse, richer or poorer, death do us part, as long as we both shall live.’ It will never matter when you had it, or who gave it to you, or how much it is. No matter what you say or do, half of that money is mine.”
“What kind of a man are you, huh? What the hell kind of man takes from a woman? I worked for that money,” she said through clenched teeth, jamming her finger to her heart. “I gave up everything for that money. I put it in a private account for a reason, before your blood-sucking vulture of a lawyer dug it up. It was because I knew what a sham of a man you were, even before I married you. I knew you would use it to hurt me one day.”
“No one is using anything to hurt you; I’m taking what’s rightfully mine.”
“I need that money for him.” She covered her nose and mouth with the back of her hand. “I need that money for him, and you’re just… shitting all over that. You don’t give a damn about him, at all.”
This time, a silence stretched in from the other end of the line. So long, she was sure he’d hung up.
“I think about him every minute,” he said. “I love him more every single minute, but I can’t let it own me anymore, Nina, and I’m not going to let it own you anymore either.”
“That is not…” her voice rose to ear-splitting levels, “your choice, Anthony. That is my choice. How dare you try to take that choice from me?”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Yeah, hang up. Turn a blind fucking eye. That’s what you do best, isn’t it?”
“I’ll see you in court.”
“Yeah, you will—” He hung up before she could finish, and she stared at the ‘call ended’ notification on the screen in shock. She stood statue-still, eyes widening. She finally jolted
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