Kissed by Winter [Discontinued]

27. When The Player Got Played

A/N: A new chapter? So soon? I'm spoiling my rep here :P JK :* Vote, Comment, and Share your love. Heart Heart JPC <3

Meet Nicholas Winter. The proud owner of Grayson Shipping and Co. After being ruthlessly abandoned by his own biological father, he was forced to share a roof with his uncle, Julian Lancaster. A lot of words can be used to describe Julian: self-made, self-centered, self-praising delusional pig—that last one was added by Lyanna—and just generally a selfish man. When he saw young Nicholas—the offspring of his irritating and completely broke stepbrother Edmund Lancaster—Julian saw an opportunity: one that hardly comes along. Julian made sure Nick got the best of best – best school, best high school, best college etc. but the rest was all Nick. Like his beloved uncle, to whom Nick owed his entire life, he decided to become a meritorious student. From an early age, he'd decided to take his mother's last name—Winter. The Lancaster name was synonymous with success but Nick didn't want a piggyback ride. He got scholarships from top universities, dated the hottest girls, started his own business, dated the hottest women, and worked really hard. His investments multiplied into billions, and he soon became the CEO of the largest shipping firms on the face of the United States of America. He didn't stop there. He pushed further on and made global connections. He was no longer an impressionable young man with an estranged father. Today, he is every bit of the ruthless tycoon Julian Lancaster sought to make him. But today, from this moment on, or maybe from the moment he decided to take a wife on his uncle's insistence, he is no longer the perfect man with a perfect plan.

He married Richard Collings' daughter with the sole intention of cutting Richard's already sinking company at its knees. Nick wanted to sabotage his competition and maybe lay with the doe-eyed daughter who had struck his fancy ever since he was a kid. But Nick had secrets: ones that haunted him. Those secrets would never come out, because he wouldn't let anyone close to him. Especially, women. Women were only after him for his money and his status – his uncle had taught him that at a very young age. They weren't good for anything more than bedroom pleasures, and who else knew this better than his enemy? Richard's wife Patricia was a star example of Julian Lancaster's pearls of wisdom. Her daughter, Nick thought, was no different until he was sitting in the guest bedroom of his own apartment holding a file that read 'Divorce'.

"Say something, Nicholas." Lyanna pushed herself from the bed and stood at her full height.

"I have . . . wait this says . . ." The ground under him crumbled and vanished. He had to sit but without letting much of his reaction show. He scowled at the lines.

. . . I, Lyanna Winter (Spouse 1), hereby state that I will not be contesting or requesting alimony in any form from my spouse Nicholas Winter (Spouse 2) . . . Post the requested six weeks of intimation, Spouse 1 wishes to forego any rights she/he may have had on anything belonging to Spouse 2 . . .

. . . This alimony agreement will be entered into the court file pertaining to the divorce no later than July 31, 2015. A hearing before the court to recognize and enact the agreement will be scheduled after the filing of the agreement, for which notice will be provided to you . . .

"I recollect that you wanted to sign a pre-nup, but since you never got around it, I thought I'll put your mind at ease. I don't need any kind of financial support from you now or in the fu—"

"A pre-nup?" Nick stopped scowling at the divorce papers and started frowning at her.

"That guy you sent to our place for a pre-nup, remember? It was one day before the wedding I think," she said with a strong voice.