Chapter 27
Carey
ENDING the marriage was a good idea, I told myself at least a thousand times throughout the weekend to Monday morning. We should finally end this farce and live freer lives. But I didn’t feel free. I felt like I was making a huge mistake and I didn’t know why. She lied to me. Conspired with my father. She’s a gold digger and a social climber. I should be happy to be rid of her.
Frustrated with myself and my conflicted feelings, I threw myself into work as soon as I arrived at the office. The workload helped me forget about my crumbling marriage for a couple of hours until my lawyer barged into my office.
"Is this real?" he said, waving his iPad. Harrison was the family attorney of the firm and I had sent him an email yesterday asking him to represent me in my divorce. He threw the gadget onto the table and sank into one of the two guest chairs. His bulky frame overspilled in the chair as his muscles threatened to tear his suit at the seams. Harrison looked more like a bouncer than a lawyer and took his bodybuilding a little too seriously. "You're leaving her?" His eyebrows shot up and remained there.
"Actually, she's leaving me and I need representation."
He folded his arms. "Wow. Looks like I lost a bet."
"A bet?" It was my turn to be surprised.
"Me and the boys had a bet going on about how long your marriage would last. I bet ten years minimum. Thought you two were the real deal."
"Whatever gave you that impression."
Harrison looked stumped. "I don't know. Seemed like you two were in love. Weren't you?"
"You guessed wrong. Were all the partners gambling on the outcome of my marriage?"
"Nah. Just me, Caldwell and Stimpy. Stimpy bet a year." The junior partners. It was a little comforting that it was only them who were immature enough to do something like that. He clicked his tongue. "I can't believe that fuckward Caldwell won."
"Whatever. Can you look over the papers? I have looked over them myself, but I'm not a family lawyer."
Harrison frowned. "You want me," he pointed at his chest, "to represent you?" and then pointed at me. I nodded. He might be a bit of a douche with immense frat boy energy, but he was good at his job. "Are you sure you don't want one of the old geezers on the case?"
"I could do tricks on your dick if that's what you want, but I am not going to waste my time glazing you," I said, handing him the print version of the document I sent him.
"Fine. I'll take the ringing endorsement." He took the papers and immediately flipped to the settlement clause and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets, reading it. "She wants that!"
"That's what she says."
"That's what they all say until they remember the sweet life they've been living will no longer be possible and then all of a sudden the rules change and they want half. Are you sure this is real?"
I nodded.
"Does she have her own money or something?"
"No."
He looked even more flummoxed. "Then why?"
Before I could speculate, my assistant knocked on my door and popped her head in. "Sorry to disturb you sir, but your brother is here, and I wasn't sure if this meeting is…" she left informal unsaid. I hadn't told her about it.
"Tell him to wait for a few minutes, Lauren."She nodded and closed the door. I turned back to Harrison. "So, what do you think?"
"I think you know your wife better than I do. Did you two have a prenup?"
"Yes. It’s in the other email I sent you. She gets a million for every year of our marriage plus an extra five million if the marriage lasts for five years, which it did. But she wants only a million."
"Wow, yeah. You either got the most selfless wife in the world or she has another trick up her sleeve. Are you sure she's not cheating with someone richer than you? She could be rushing to snag him."
Jack looked like he could barely afford the shirt on his back, and he's the only guy that came to mind. But wasn't she a consummate liar? She could have been with several men already, without me being the wiser.
I shrugged.“You don’t care, do you?”
He shook his head. “I was so sure you two were, I don’t know, in love.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
“Clearly.”
The door to the office creaked open again and this time, instead of Lauren, it was Nolan who came in. I turned to Harrison. “Talk to you later?” Harrison nodded and left the office. Nolan sank into the same seat Harrison occupied. My brother’s commanding presence was effortless and made him look like he was the occupier of this office instead of the opposite. He leaned back, legs spread, and tilted his chin up just a little like an aristocrat. He rarely brought this kind of domineering energy unless he wanted something from me.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Nolan frowned. The corner of his mouth tilted upward. “No need to be testy. I am just here to check up on you.” He’s heard about it, hasn’t he? Thalia and Nolan rarely spoke if at all, so if he knew anything about the divorce, it couldn’t be from her.
“I am fine.”
“Good.” Nolan folded his arms and lazily darted his gaze around the room. He seemed to take it in as though he hadn’t been here for more than a dozen times. “How’s work?”
I sighed. “Are you going to get to the point? I actually have work to do.” One would think he would be knee deep in work ever since the company he runs, Hawthorne Inc, agreed to a joint venture with one of it’s largest shareholders, our brother-in-law’s venture capital firm. Nolan and Damien Sinclair had waged a brutal war over the control of the company and, just when it seemed like Damien had won and was about to sell our family company piecemeal, until he decided otherwise and chose to work with Nolan instead. Ivy, our sister, had somehow persuaded him not to. How she did it, I will never know. But now that the company was back in family hands, Nolan, Ivy and Damien were getting along again.
“Can’t I visit my little brother every once in a while?”
“Not when you clearly have something you want to ask him.”
He chuckled. “Am I that obvious?”
“I’ve known you for thirty years brother, nothing passes me by.”
“Fine. So let me state my case.” He unfolded his arms and placed his hands flat on the table. “We have a potential seller coming into town for the next couple of weeks.”
“What does that got to do with me?”
“You know them. The Bardwells. I’ve heard they’re friends of yours.”
The Van derMorts were a charming couple in their sixties Thalia and I met on our cursed honeymoon in Greece. Our boat rescued theirs after it nearly capsized. We had to spend an entire week pretending to be a couple happily in love because they happened to be on our boat. And because of our inveterate acting, we ended up making friends with them and every time they come to New York, the Van derMorts always come to our place to visit. I didn’t mind their company, they were fun to be around for a couple that late in age.
“You’re buying out their company?”
“We need to make some purchases to show the investors that the merger is a good idea and their textile business is the perfect downstream purchase. It’s small, well run and I’ve heard the old couple wants to sell their business.”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“Invite them to your place. Wine them. Dine them and make them pliable to being bought by Hawthorne Inc.”
The Bardwells liked Thalia and I as a couple. If I were to entertain them alone, I doubt they would find me charming. They would ask questions about my marriage that I wasn’t prepared to answer. As for Thalia, I doubt she wanted to spend more time with me than necessary. She had made it clear with the packed bags she pulled up when she handed me the divorce papers.
“Sorry. Can’t be done. Wine them another way.”
Nolan jerked backward. “What? Are you busy or something? You don’t have to be with them for the entirety of their stay. Thalia can entertain them while you’re not around.”
“That’s just the thing. Thalia and I are getting divorced. She’s probably out of my house as we speak.”
Nolan froze. It took him a while to recover his speech, after which he said, “You can’t.”
“Already in process, I’m afraid. Thalia presented me with the papers. I’ve got my lawyer to look at them, you saw Harrison. Soon her and I will be history.”
“Impossible. You can’t just end a long relationship like that. You’ve been together since high school.”
“We were never together in high school. Where the fuck did you get that idea?”
Nolan looked at me like I was growing a second head. “I could have sworn you made sure none of your friends or mine ever tried to date her. Heck, you beat me up for even asking if she had a boyfriend one time.”
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I was a teenager driven by hormones.”
“So why are you ending it? You two seem like a nice couple.”
While Nolan and I were close, we were never close enough for me to tell him everything in my life. In fact, I don’t think there was anyone who could understand the yolk my own father had put on me. Nolan had his demons when it came to the man, Ivy too for that matter, but my case always felt, special. His ambitions for me were tenfold whatever he put on them. They could never understand. Also, my pride wouldn’t let me. There was no way in hell I was going to tell anyone that my father tricked me into marrying Thalia.
“Not everything is as what it seems.”
He cocked his eyebrows. “Care to tell me what’s going on?” The compassion in his voice was oddly sweet. It made me feel like the little brother that I am and want to tell him everything. Swallow my pride just this once. But I am a coward.
“People make up and break up,” I said instead. “That’s all there is. You’re going to have to glaze the Bardwells on your own.”
Nolan closed his eyes, scrounging his forehead. He rubbed his temples then said, “Can you postpone your divorce? Can’t you just pretend you two are still together? Arther and Mae love you two together, I hear.”
“Hell no.”
He leaned forward and stared directly into my eyes. “The entire merger is riding on this. The company is riding on this.”
“A company I don’t work for.”
“But one you own shares in and is the biggest client of your law firm.” His gaze darted around the office. “Hawthorne practically pays for this really nice place.”
“Careful,” my voice lowered, “you’re starting to sound like father.”
“I’m not threatening you,” he leaned back in the chair and clasped his hands, “I am just pointing out that you have as much at stake in this deal succeeding as any of us.”
“You definitely sound like father.”
“Oh, stop it. How hard can it be? Just pretend you love each other for two more weeks.”
“Two weeks!” I thought it was going to be a weekend. The thought of pretending to be in love with Thalia for that long made my gut twist. But then there was another emotion below the surface. A need for her that was never fully satisfied making itself known. The feel of her lips on mine, and how long it had been, filled my thoughts. I wanted to feel their pillowy softness again, I realized. I shook my head. “No.”
“Think about it. You’ll not only be doing it for me, but for the family.”