Daddy's Little Girl

53. An Ex-wife?

KEIRA's POV

I was not planning on leaving Clint's place without the information I needed to hear. He could take all the time he needed before he felt comfortable enough to let me into his head. Like I said, I was going to be slow and patient with him. And if that meant sitting there with him for hours, I was ready to see through it. It was not like I was in a rush to leave or anything.

A good ten minutes passed and he decided he was finally going to let the cat out of the bag.

"The woman you met here was not my girlfriend," he spoke. "I have not been in a relationship for a long time. At least not one that includes exclusivity."

Clint still was not answering my biggest question. Who was she?

"She sounded like she has known you for a long time."

A slight scoff escaped his lips. "What did she say to you?"

"Just a whole bunch of crap."

Clint smiled. He was in a semi-troubled state but his smile still looked one of the best to me. I missed it. I missed every moment of our conversations.

"I figured. She is my ex-wife."

There it was. The golden moment of truth. I was making progress. Nothing could have prepared me for that information despite bracing myself for whatever he was going to say all along.

To be honest, I had expected something worse. But Clint having an ex-wife that showed up at his house whenever she liked? I did not know what to feel about it. What relationship could they still have together if she was an 'ex'? I didn't even remember most of my ex's names, let alone have them show up at my house.

"I had no idea you were married," I replied. I never thought of that as a possibility. "Then why is she back?"

"We are still in the process of divorce.  Takes a heck of a time to get it over with as it appears," Clint said. "It is a year now since we got it all started. Separated for two years. Married for five good years."

"It must be hard for you." I did not know a lot about marriage or divorce, but I knew breakups could be a bitch. I was always the cause of breakups in ninety-nine per cent of my relationships for obvious reasons and every single time they ended, I felt like I could not pick myself back up from it.

Breakups were nothing close to a divorce, I was aware. But they were somewhat similar. So I had an idea.

"It was. Not anymore. Once the divorce gets finalised, she is out of my life for good. The reason it keeps dragging on for too long is because of her. She is a problem."

She certainly did seem like one no doubt. I met her once and she already screamed in trouble. "Can I ask what caused the separation?"

I might be crossing a line with that question. Clint did not look bothered about it, though. I wanted him to be open, and he was readily giving it to me.

"She cheated," Clint said casually and my eyes widened. "Sounds strange, right? I thought I could save our rocky marriage and suggested a counsellor. Turns out I was wrong. I never had Marie's heart from the onset. She was here for everything other than me."

That was worse than anything I had ever done. The amount of betrayal he must have felt when he found out.

"I am so sorry you had to go through that," I said. "You did your best in trying to save your marriage. You made an effort."

Clint stared into space as if deep in thought, his eyebrows knitting together. "For a long time, I blamed myself. Everything happened because of me. If I had not introduced her to a marriage counsellor, she would not have cheated. But that was just faulty thinking. People would always find ways to cheat if they had it in them. And Marie had it in her."

Was that why he reacted that way when I fucked someone else during his two weeks trip after he had told me not to?

I feel even more terrible now.

"Then why have you not tried getting into a relationship? It has been two whole years."

Clint was an attractive man. There was no way someone would not have tried to snatch him up at least once. I would have tried it myself if I was not so damaged. He needed someone who deserved him.

Clint looked back at me. "I got married at a really young age and never had the chance to explore. I guess I just want the freedom to do what I want without being tied down by commitment."

Looking at Clint now, I had learned a lot more about him in only twenty minutes than I ever thought I would, and I still wanted to believe there was more. He just needed more prodding.

So I asked again. "Why is she back?" I hoped that sounded less jealous than I made it out to be in my head. The first time I asked was out of curiosity but this time, I needed to know why the fuck she was showing up at Clint's place.

"For the worst reasons. I think she wants to blackmail me or something."

"What?" I could not hide the scowl on my face. She was getting on my nerves the more Clint told me about her. What could she ever blackmail him with? He never did anything wrong.

"I did not want to be seen with you in public because of this same reason. Now she knows about you and plans to use it against me in court. I know her. Marie is going to do some digging and find out you used to be my client."

Oh, shit. That did not sound good. We had breached the client/therapist relationship countless times. If it came out in court, it would not be in Clint's favour. He was going to lose everything because of me. I would not let it happen.

"We have to do something about it," I said as he raised a brow at me.

"We? I can handle things on my own, Keira. You should stay out of it."

"No." Did he think I was going to back away because of some woman? Clint was mistaken. "I am not going to let you lose everything because of me."

"It is not up for debate and I am not losing anything because of you. What even makes you think that? I am telling you to let me handle things."

"And I am telling you to let me help," I replied with the same firmness, standing my ground. "It would not hurt to get an extra hand."

Clint heaved a deep sigh like I was being a pain in the neck. I did not care at this point. "You are a college student. How are you going to help?"

"First of all, ouch. You underestimate the leaders of tomorrow." He rolled his eyes but I did not miss the faint smile on his lips. "Second, there is always a way to fight back. Use something against her too. Let's play dirty too."

Clint seemed like he was contemplating it for a moment then quickly shook it off. "No. I am nothing like her."

"Then be worse than she is. Outdo her. You can't win if you play Mr Goody two shoes all the time."

I had learned that the hard way. Clint needed to. If there was one thing I know about life, it was that it did not favour the good any more than the bad. My stepbrother was a perfect example. He had gotten away with all the terrible things he had done and was probably somewhere doing the same thing he did to me to some innocent child. Whereas my mum was six feet underneath the ground for simply being the nicest person to grace the earth.

I had had enough of good people not getting what they deserved. I was going to stand by Clint if he wanted it to not.

"So tell me, what do you think would ruin her life if it gets out?" I asked Clint. Everyone had dirty secrets they did not want to be exposed. He had known her for a long time. There was no way he did not have something against her.

He thought long and hard about it, shutting his eyes close. "I am not sure. My head is buzzing right now. I can't think of anything. I just do not want to think about her for now."

I rested my back on the couch the same way he did and sighed. "I would support any decision you make, Clint. You know that, right?"

"You do not have to worry about me. I am fine."

"You are not." I could tell no matter how hard he always tried to deny it. He needed to understand it was totally fine to need help. He was human like the rest of us, not a robot.

And he needed to know I was never going to let him go through this alone.