The Don Tore Up Our Divorce (Gemma and Cassian) novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Gemma

Shit!

Now these idiots have ruined my escape.

Cassian will never allow me to step a foot out of this house again.

But why the hell is he even here? It’s the middle of the day.

Claire’s elated to see Cassian. She has this look of “I can’t wait to prove you wrong” on her face as she looks at me smugly. Ever the simpering suck–up, she rushes over to

Cassian.

“Cassian, Gemma said you gave her this necklace. But I heard Reyna has been collecting gems recently. Who is it really for?”

Cassian politely maneuvers himself around Claire and

comes to stand by me, his hands resting on my waist in a 1/6 show of possession.

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Chapter 82

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“Gemma is my wife. Show some respect. Besides, who else would I be buying jewelry like that for?”

Claire, clearly disappointed, drops the gift back onto the table and shoots me a venomous glare. All I can do is laugh silently with my eyes.

Cassian just admitted the necklace is for me, and he told them to respect me. Again.

Has he lost his mind?

For the past three years, he’s paid no attention and given zero shits how his awful family treated me. But now all of a sudden I matter?

“Cassian, people didn’t know who she was before. But you’re right. Now that they do, I show her more respect in public.”

Nathalia stands up and calls out Claire. “Show Gemma respect always. Not just in public. We’re family, so we have to be unified. What’s done is done, let’s move on to the next issue. But from here on out, I expect more from

you.”

2/6

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Cassian’s hands are still resting on my waist, and I can feel the heat of him when his hip brushes against mine. He’s a master at putting on a show for his family. For him to pull out something like this after the fight we had this morning makes me question–does he actually care about me, or is he just pretending?

With Cassian here, Nathalia gets straight to the point.

“Cassian, we’re here about Claire’s job. She keeps asking when she can start working. As her cousin, you should care about this,” Nathalia says even as she tries to sound persuasive.

“I don’t ask for much, Cassian. Just give me the Creative Director position.”

“You know you don’t have the skills or experience for that,” Cassian says, his voice sharp. “You never bothered to learn anything. I don’t even know what you’ve been doing with your time. So how can you expect me to give you such an important position?”

Claire’s education was as fabricated as all of the fillers in

her face. Even if she had applied to any of these schools 3/6

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and programs Sibille liked to brag about she sure as shit would never even remotely be considered.

Unless Sibille paid them under the table to fake a degree. I wouldn’t put it past her.

“This is how it’s going to happen. When you finally prove to me that you actually have something you’re good at, and I believe it, then we can talk.” Cassian’s tone is final.

He heads off to his office or wherever he’s going, leaving me alone with the barracudas.

The chef is busy cooking lunch, and because they are the worst, Sibille and the others have no plans to leave. There’s no way they are missing out on a free meal.

An awkward silence falls over the room, even as they all look at me as if I’m the genesis of their problems.

Claire breaks the silence. “Let’s play cards instead of just sitting here bored with nothing to do.”

One of the so–called ladies‘ favorite pastimes is playing cards. I don’t like playing cards and I’m not good at it either, but today they’re short on people. The three 11:48

women have no choice but to call me to join them.

“Gemma, come on! We’re all waiting for you. You can’t say no, right?”

“We’re family, so the stakes are low.”

In the end, Claire yanks me into a seat.

Unfortunately, only a few minutes into the game, I lose the first round–and then I keep losing round after round.

Claire laughs so hard, I think her eyes might pop out.

“You aren’t good at anything,” she says–even though if it weren’t for me, she’d be the one in the losing seat.

“Don’t stress. Cassian’s loaded, so losing a few times is no big deal. Just think of it as paying for lessons!” Sibille and Nathalia say mockingly.

“You’ve played cards so many times,” Claire continues. “Why can’t you ever get any better? You really are just a pathetic loser.”

Playing cards is just like doing business. You need to 1:48

watch your opponents closely, not just stare at your own hand.” Sibille pretends to teach me how to play cards, but her hands move so fast that I can’t keep up.

“Funny how y’all are here throwing shade at me, acting like playing cards is some kind of business, when none of you have anything really working out for yourselves. Seems the only thing any of you are good at that you could give lessons on is how to not do any business but still manage to have a damn good life,” I can’t help but

retort.

That’s below the belt–even for me. I just told them all that they’re parasites and are living on Cassian’s money. If it weren’t for him re–building their family operations after his parents died, they all would never have it as easy as they do right now.

Sibille’s face is thirteen shades of red. She’s about to

answer me, but after glancing up, she suddenly stops.

She’s staring over my shoulder, and I turn to look.

Cassian is standing right behind me.