Divorce Me I'm Done Serving You (Ayla and Troy) novel Chapter 844

"Then what do you want? You and I both know you wouldn't be calling unless you needed money." Halle's voice was pure amusement.

Nina dropped the act. "Halle, can you just leave Edgar alone? You're the reason he and I have never been able to be together. He doesn't even love you. And aren't you out there messing around with other guys anyway? What's left between you two that's even worth holding onto? Breaking it off would be better for both of you. For me and my baby too."

Halle's expression cooled slowly, a thin smile settling on her lips, but her voice stayed exactly the same. Calm, unhurried, dripping with the kind of confidence that flattened Nina without effort. "Nina, have you really not figured this out? There are two reasons Edgar and I haven't split. The first is that Edgar doesn't love you. You're not important enough for him to go against both our families and blow up this engagement. That's what happens when you have a baby for a man who doesn't have the spine to fight for you.

"The second reason is that I simply don't feel like ending it. As long as I don't, you'll never get what you want. And I get to watch you suffer. Everything you just said? That was music to my ears, because all I heard was a desperate woman falling apart. I wish I could've taken a picture of your face right now. Something to look at whenever I'm in a bad mood. Might just cheer me right up."

Nina was shaking with fury, her hand trembling around the phone.

"Any other questions, Nina?"

Halle's voice was tender, the way someone might soothe a little sister, but every syllable was a blade buried straight in Nina's chest. It made Nina want to scream.

"What do I have to do to get you to let Edgar go?" That was all Nina could manage.

Halle sighed. Talking to stupid people was genuinely exhausting. It was like they couldn't process basic human language. James was a much better conversationalist. He caught implications without needing them spelled out.

"First, this is about Edgar's decision, not just mine. Don't come to me alone. Second, if you're asking me for something, show up with the right attitude. Understand?"

Halle ran her business the same way she ran her conversations. Straight to the point, always holding the upper hand. She didn't wait for a response. "Figure out how to approach this properly, and then come find me. That's all. Bye now, Nina."

She hung up and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat.

At eight o'clock that night, Edgar called.

But things had spiraled to this point.

Hearing the cold edge in his voice didn't make Halle sad. It made her uncomfortable and, underneath that, surprised. Surprised that he could be this way. That he'd actually talk to her like this.

Why had Edgar changed so much? Halle had spent years turning that question over and never landed on a real answer.

She'd made her peace with it, though. She'd just been too idealistic. She'd wanted to believe certain people stayed the same forever, that whoever they were at the beginning was who they'd be until the end.

Her relationship with Edgar was nothing like what Ayla had gone through with Troy. Halle and Edgar had known each other for too long. They were practically family. Their parents were close, their friend groups overlapped, and everyone knew everyone. Edgar was like a misbehaving relative. No matter how far he strayed, eventually you ended up cleaning up the mess together.

But they weren't actually family, and that was the problem. Halle hadn't cut ties yet, partly because she refused to make things easy for Edgar and Nina and partly because, despite everything, she wasn't ready to let Edgar go.