She scanned the paragraph, then read it aloud to give voice to her exasperation. “In the event of separation, annulment or divorce, the following premarital assets belonging to Jonathon Bagdon shall transfer to Gwendolyn Leland—the monetary value of twenty percent of all real property, tangible property, securities and cash owed by—”
She broke off in frustration, too stunned to continue. She glared at them both. “Whose idea was this ridiculous clause?”
Randy held up his hands. “Not mine.” He sounded as offended as she was.
“But you let him include this? Are you insane?” She clenched and unclenched her fingers around the pen Randy had handed her as he gave a what-could-I-do shrug. She smiled tightly at him and said through clenched teeth, “Will you please give me a minute alone with my future husband?”
Randy skittered away like a death-row inmate given a pardon. She didn’t blame him. Someone was going down. She wouldn’t want to get caught in the crossfire either.
The second they were alone she asked, “Twenty percent? Twenty? Are you crazy?”
Jonathon at least had the good sense to try to sound placating. “Now, Wendy…”
“You know I’m not taking twenty percent!”
“After two years being married to me, you may think you’ve earned it.”
She blew out a breath of exasperation. “I’m not taking. A penny. Of your money.”
“Don’t forget, California is a community property state. If you don’t sign the prenup, you’re entitled to half of anything I earn while we’re together. For all you know that could be more than this twenty percent.”
“What? Because you haven’t been meeting your full potential before now?” He just scowled at her. “You know that has nothing to do with why I’m marrying you.”
“I also know exactly how much money you make and that you’ll have trouble supporting yourself and a child on that income.”
“Lots of single-parent families get by on what I make,” she pointed out.
“Maybe they do,” he countered. “But you don’t have to.”
“So what? You’re just going to give me all of that money? Did you somehow miss the conversation yesterday where I mentioned that I’m a Morgan? Trust me when I tell you, Jonathon, I will be fine.”
His lips curved into the barest hint of a smile. “No. I didn’t miss that, but I also know how damn stubborn you are. And I know that you’re not going to ask your family for money. If you were the kind of person who would do that, you wouldn’t be in this position to begin with.”
Hmm. Good point. “But,” she countered, “you thought you’d talk me into taking twenty percent of your assets?”
“No. I rather hoped you’d sign the prenup without noticing that part.”
Well, that she could believe. He was just arrogant enough to think he could get away with a stunt like that.
“Even if I had signed the papers, I still wouldn’t have taken the money. That’s almost—” She struggled to do the math. Jonathon, no doubt, knew exactly how much that was, to the dime, at any given moment. “That’s…tens of millions of dollars.” Certainly more than the trust she’d never bothered to claim, which was a measly eight million. “I’m not taking that kind of money from you.”
He shrugged dismissively. “It’s a drop in the bucket.”
“It’s a fifth of the bucket. That’s a lot of drops.” She forced out a long. slow breath. Why was she angry? Why exactly?
She put voice to her thoughts as they came to her, not willing to give herself time to soften them. “Look, you’ve always been arrogant and controlling.”
He raised his eyebrows. Probably in surprise that she’d say it aloud to him. He certainly couldn’t be shocked by the idea.
“At work, it’s fine,” she continued. “You’re my boss. But if we’re going to get married, then the second we walk out that door each day—” she jabbed a finger toward the door “—you have to stop trying to control everything. Even if this isn’t a real marriage.”
“Wendy, I’m not—”
“But you are,” she said, cutting him off. “Don’t you get it? If I wanted to sit back and be taken care of for the rest of my life, I never would have left Texas. I like having to work for a living. I’ve been rich. I know that money alone won’t make me happy. And I also know that being with someone who’s always trying to control me will make me miserable. So either you back off, or we walk away from this now.”