Chapter 14 - THE DIVORCE TABLE
Six months later, Adrian and I sat across from each other at a conference table.
No fashion cameras.
No mistress.
No emeralds.
Just lawyers.
The criminal case was ongoing.
The divorce was not.
He had agreed to settle.
Not because he became decent.
Because the evidence made fighting expensive.
The forged signature.
The stolen inheritance.
The false competency petition.
The affair.
The shell companies.
The abduction.
The gun.
At some point, even Adrian understood numbers.
My attorney slid the final papers toward him.
He signed.
His tapping finger had stopped months ago.
Maybe because there was nothing left to hide.
When the lawyers stepped out, Adrian looked at me.
“Did you ever love me?”
I almost smiled.
“You’re asking me that?”
“I need to know.”
“No. You want one thing from me that doesn’t feel like losing.”
His face tightened.
I continued.
“Yes. I loved you.”
He closed his eyes.
“That’s worse.”
“I know.”
He looked thinner.
Not broken.
Adrian was not a broken man.
That would’ve been too easy.
He was a man finally living inside the consequences of his own choices.
He asked, “Vanessa testified?”
“Yes.”
“Of course she did.”
“You lied to her too.”
“She knew I was married.”
“She did.”
I wasn’t going to rewrite Vanessa into a victim.
She hurt me knowingly.
But she also gave evidence that helped expose him.
People could be both.
Life was annoying that way.
Adrian leaned back.
“What are you going to do with the shares?”
“Keep them.”
“Vale Textiles?”
“Five percent.”
“You hate the company.”
“I hate what your family did with it.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
He laughed quietly.
“You’re becoming ruthless.”
“No.”
I stood.
“I’m becoming informed.”
At the door, he said my name.
I turned.
“I’m sorry about your mother.”
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
His eyes lowered.
“I knew Graham pressured her. I didn’t know about the treatment until later.”
“You still stayed.”
“Yes.”
“You still worked with him.”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t ask me to measure your guilt by percentages.”
He nodded.
For once, he accepted the answer.
I left.
Outside, Naomi waited.
“So?”
“Done.”
“You’re divorced.”
I expected relief.
Instead, I felt empty.
Then my phone rang.
Celeste.
“You need to come downtown.”
“What happened?”
“The board voted.”
I smiled.
“The royalty settlement?”
“Not that.”
“What?”
She sounded almost amused.
“Your company.”
“My company?”
“Linden Studio.”
“What about it?”
“The investors want in.”
I stopped walking.
“Investors?”
“Three major houses.”
“Celeste—”
“And before you say no, one of them offered twelve million.”
My mouth opened.
She laughed.
“I thought that would shut you up.”
Then she added:
“Also, Vanessa is downstairs.”
My smile vanished.
“Why?”
“She says she has something that belongs to you.”
When I arrived, Vanessa was holding a small black box.
The real emerald necklace.
May you like
And underneath it was an envelope in Adrian’s handwriting.
TO CLAIRE — IF I LOSE EVERYTHING.
