Chapter 373: Don’t You Dare Try to Control Me

“Yeah, right!” Ellis snapped. After everything she’d been through, there was no way she’d ever take a single penny from her ex-husband again. The moment she accepted anything from him, he’d find a way to make her pay for it later—maybe not right away, but the day he was in a bad mood, he’d definitely come knocking to collect. She’d been burned once. She wasn’t about to hand over control of her life to him again.

“You forget the great things you’ve done?” she said coldly. Of course, Easton hadn’t forgotten. As the first time in his life he truly understood what it meant to have zero credibility. As far as Ellis was concerned, he was a man she could never trust again.

“Back then, I didn’t actually mean for you to lose money or… I didn’t mean it the way—”

Ellis didn’t care for his excuses. Not a single word. She didn’t even need to bring up anything else—just that prenup was enough. The whole thing was one giant trap. After three years of marriage, over a thousand days of living together, not to mention two years as his secret girlfriend before that…. nearly two thousand days of her life, and he never once showed her a shred of kindness. He almost pushed her off a cliff. And now he thought she’d change her mind about him? In his dreams.

“Don’t bring up the past,” she cut him off sharply. “Every time you do, I want to beat the crap out of you.”

She had loved him once. She’d poured her heart into that relationship. And all she got in return was pain. She was finally out of that dark hole. Every time he dragged it up again, all it made her want to do was hit him.

“How about you quit working for Maxwell, huh?” Easton shifted tactics, his voice suddenly gentler, almost like he was trying to coax her. There was even a hint of pleading buried in there.

“My job with Maxwell is bothering you now? What the hell is wrong with you?” Ellis said, nearly losing it. “You just can’t stand seeing me with a decent job, can you?”

“That’s not it.” Easton struggled to find the right words. “I just…”

Tough love didn’t work. Kindness didn’t work either. He thought if he helped her map out a new career path, he could ease her away from Maxwell and into something safer, less threatening for him. That was the plan. But it had failed on the first try.

She hadn’t even bothered to read through the documents he gave her. She had no interest in running one of the companies he’d invested in. He was out of ideas. What now? Just sit back and watch her spend every day with Maxwell?

“Enough already! Get out of my apartment!” Ellis grabbed her phone, ready to call the cops if he didn’t leave. “Try to pull this crap one more time and we’re doing this at the station.”

Right as she said it, the door swung open—she turned and saw Maya walk in. Maya froze. Standing at the entryway were her best friend and her best friend’s ex-husband, looking like they’d been in a standoff.

“What the hell is going on here?” Maya blinked, her gaze flicking from one to the other, clearly trying to figure out what she’d walked into.

Ellis had been raging about him just last night, and now tonight they were hanging out under the same roof? Maya’s stare was impossible to ignore.

“It’s not what you think,” Ellis said quickly.

“I’ll head upstairs,” Easton said, turning toward the door. “We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

Ellis frowned, watching him go. Seriously, this man had more control issues than God himself. Now he was trying to control where she worked too! Like bothering her today wasn’t enough—he was already making plans to show up again tomorrow?

Maya was watching Easton leave too. Once the elevator doors shut, Maya closed the apartment door and walked up to Ellis.

“Your ex called me earlier to check if I was home: Was that just so he could have you to himself? Did you actually open the door for him?” Maya asked, clearly skeptical. “What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t open the door,” Ellis said quickly. “He guessed my door code!”

The explanation actually made sense, and Maya, though still suspicious, let it slide.

“Then change it already,” she said, nudging Ellis.

Ellis nodded. “On it.” She immediately reset the password and sent the new one to Maya. Still, it didn’t feel like enough. What if Easton guessed the new one too? Her mood visibly soured.

“So why was he here?” Maya asked, the gears clearly turning in her head. “He didn’t seriously come over to sneak into your bed while you’re asleep, did he?”

Just hearing that made Ellis shudder. Her skin broke out in goosebumps. She crossed her arms, trying to calm herself.

“No. He just wants to mess with my job,” she muttered. “I don’t even know what the hell he’s thinking anymore.”