Message: XVII

"My love, you can't just throw me out to the street, I have my needs..."

"That I don't have to even think about anymore. The documents are in the court as we speak. And you're trespassing." Aria frowned, crossing her hands on her chest, the police baton swinging like a pendulum from one of her hands. She saw, not without vengeful satisfaction, that her ex swallowed, seeing it.

"What documents...?" Mendez didn't seem to understand, but Callaghan wasn't the one to actually leave her in the dark, at least not on that matter.

"Divorce ones. And before I put you in handcuffs in non-sexual way, you have the chance, and you better take it, to get the fuck out of here." She snarled, looking at the woman with no mercy. Her ex, though, was pretty sure she could play her way into Aria's life again.

"We had so much together, Ari." She groaned.

"Don't call me that."

"Dearest..."

"Or that." Callaghan rolled her eyes. "You know where is the door. Use it before it's too late for you."

"Three years, Ari! Three years, do you really want to scratch it out just like that?"

"Well, yes." Aria snorted with mocking smile. Everything she had ever felt for that person had evaporated unchangeably. "And I have a bit of advice for you. Deal with that, make your peace with it, or else you'd be arrested."

"You wouldn't arrest your wife." In Mendez's eyes there was a spark of fear, but, at the same time, she had not said anything, hoping she could just turn the tide still.

"Stay three minutes longer and try me." Aria drawled.

"Bunny, please, why are you like this?"

"Because you have a lot in common with a fucking bus stop, since you're both a public space." She stated indifferently, observing her ex's face freezing, and then exploding with a blush. "And sorry, but my hobbies do not include making a DIY atlas of STDs with the samples taken out of my very own body, thanks."

"Ari..."

"This is your last warning, Mendez, you either go out, or I will take you to the precinct myself. And believe me, the cell is not as nice as the cardboard box under the bridge you're leaving in now."

"You..."

"... don't have a soul? Yeah, never had one." She shrugged, catching her ex and pressing her body to the wall, cuffing her hands behind her back. "And since I caught you on breaking in, I will transport you where you belong."

"That's also my house!"

"It's not. Prenupt, remember?" Aria smirked.

"I had the keys!"

"To the locks I changed yesterday? Sure, you can try to lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me. We're going." She snarled and opened the door. She was about to throw out Mendez and then follow her, when she heard steps going down the stairs. Mia, woozy and clearly not in the best state possible, was looking at them.

"Aria, everything's all right?" she asked, confused, but the cop just nodded.

"Yeah, just making sure I don't have roaches in my house. Go back to bed, don't wait with breakfast. Sleep tight. I'll hit you up when I can."

And she slammed the door, not saying shit to Mendez, almost crushing her forehead when she forced her to the backseat of her car.

"So you're having an affair with that whore and...!"

"One more word and you'll regret being born with vocal chords, Mendez." Callaghan squinted her eyes, looking into the rear mirror. Her ex swallowed hard, seeing her glare. "And you know what? Making a recap of our marriage, hell, I do regret not having sex with Mia. Probably I'd come at least once for real."

And the engine revved as the speaker in radio announced it was already four a.m., and the sun started shyly peering out of the horizon.