Chapter Three Harassed
March
Mirabelle
T he next six months were a whirlwind. Mirabelle’s prediction came true. After a few days at Bastian’s condo, it hit her, and it hit her hard: Eddie cheated on her for a year. She felt like an idiot for not noticing until Bastian pointed out that she did notice, but Eddie had convinced her that she was seeing things that weren’t there. She knew Bastian was trying to make her feel better, but it just made her feel like an even bigger idiot for falling for Eddie’s lies. She had fallen in love with him because he was fun, always up for trying something new, and they had a lot of hobbies and interests in common. He had supported her completely about being childfree, helping her find a doctor who would tie her tubes without needing him to sign off on it. He would have, but he understood her stance on the fact that she shouldn’t need to have her husband give her permission to make a choice about her body. They had just clicked in a way that she hadn’t with anyone else besides Bastian.
She knew he had his faults; despite being confident to the point of arrogance when it came to his intelligence, he was easily swayed by his friends, particularly his group of friends from university, of which Casey was a member and the only regular girl. The others were girlfriends who drifted in and out as relationships happened with the rest. He liked to have his “boy’s weekends” which were usually spent at football games, drinking way too much. She hadn’t cared too much about that, though; he always kept her updated, texting her unprompted to let her know where he was, what he was doing and responding to her texts almost immediately. And he always, no matter how late or how drunk he was, texted her to let her know he was going to bed and that he loved her.
When Casey moved back to New York two years into their marriage, she noticed he didn’t text as often or keep her as informed but still sent his good night and good morning texts. He responded to her, just not as quickly. She also noticed that his stories from the weekends never directly mentioned Casey being there, but he would sometimes slip and say her name, then look panicked, like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. When she asked why Casey was going on his “boy’s weekend,” but none of the wives or girlfriends were allowed, he waved her off, explaining that all of them saw her as one of the boys.
She spent a lot of time questioning what Eddie saw in Casey that made him step out of their marriage. Casey was pretty but nothing overly special. Bastian said she reminded him of every gold digger wife he’d ever faced off with in court. The type of person who married an older rich man for money, convincing him that she was in love with him so he wouldn’t get a prenup. Mirabelle thought she was childish and whiny and needed constant attention, which Eddie had agreed with her about, but he shrugged it off. “We’re just used to it and humour her.”
After letting her grieve the relationship for a week, Bastian began making sure she got out of bed every day again, making her go to work, dragging her to the gym in his condo building with him, and making sure she was eating. When she expressed her annoyance about the gym, which she hated with a passion, he got them a membership at a nearby YM/YWCA that had a pool so she could swim in the mornings while he worked out. Mirabelle leaned on him heavily for the first two months, and he kept her on her feet, including helping her with the down payment on a new condo close to his place, telling her she could pay him back when she and Eddie sold their house.
In the meantime, Bastian was making good on his promise to destroy Eddie. The first thing he did after filing the divorce paperwork was to get subpoenas for Eddie’s financial records and get the law firm’s financial auditor to comb through Eddie’s and Mirabelle’s accounts and joint accounts. The findings were handed over to a private investigator, who followed up on the numerous credit card transactions and was able to obtain quite a bit of security footage of Eddie and Casey booking hotel rooms, going on mini-vacations together, going to expensive restaurants – places he never took Mirabelle to – and buying her expensive gifts of jewelry and perfume.
The private investigator’s report was what brought Mirabelle out of her funk. Eddie had spent upwards of twenty-five thousand dollars of their joint funds on Casey in a year. Bastian found out that Casey had gotten hired back on at Tulk as a PA for the Corporate Law division of Tulk and Associates, the same division that Eddie worked for, something that he failed to mention to Mirabelle. Incensed about the amount of their money he had spent on Casey – most of which came out of their joint emergency savings account, something she hadn’t noticed because she had set up an automatic transfer payment once a month to that account - she gave an anonymous tip to the accounting department at Tulk on a hunch that Eddie and Casey were using company resources inappropriately and later heard through the grapevine their spending accounts had been suspended while they were under investigation.
They went into mediation, where Eddie bulked on everything, even though their offers were more than fair. Mirabelle didn’t want alimony; there were no kids, so custody and child support weren’t issues. She just wanted the house sold and the proceeds from the sale divided so that Eddie could pay back the money he spent out of the joint account and take on the credit card debt he accrued while married that she had been unaware of.
Eddie, on the other hand, wanted spousal support, stating Mirabelle made more money, and he was used to the standard of living he had while living with her and wanted her to take on half the credit card debt since he accrued it trying to keep up with the bills. He then offered not to go after spousal support or debt if she signed the house over to him. Bastian practically laughed him out of the mediation room, pointing out that his income from his trust made him ineligible for spousal support, reminding him he owed Mirabelle her portion of the money he had taken out of the emergency funds account to spend on his affair and if he hadn’t spent so much money on Casey, he wouldn’t have needed to run up his credit cards to pay the bills.
Realizing he wouldn’t get anywhere with them in mediation and that going to court would destroy him, Eddie began to follow Mirabelle. He would wait outside her condo, follow her when she left the underground parking lot to wherever she was going, and beg her to stop what she was doing and show some mercy. He caused several scenes, yelling or crying in public places, flipping between anger and despair about her ruining his life. It got so bad that Bastian put front and back dash cameras in Mirabelle’s car and instructed her to have her phone recording at all times when she wasn’t in her condo or office. Bastian filed a report for harassment, and Eddie was given a warning by the NYPD. He eased off and left her alone for a few weeks, and then the investigation into his spending was completed.
When Mirabelle passed on the anonymous tip, she hadn’t thought they would be stupid enough to use company funds; she just wanted to make their lives difficult by having their spending accounts suspended until the investigation was complete, but it quickly came out that Eddie would take Casey to lunch a few times a week and claim it as business meetings with clients. The law firm also allowed lawyers to book a room at a nearby hotel if they were working on a case that required long hours so they wouldn’t have to drive while exhausted or get public transportation late at night. Eddie had booked the hotel at least twice a month for the entire year, and shockingly, his overtime hours didn’t line up with the hotel stays, which led to an even more in-depth investigation where co-workers were questioned.
Mirabelle hadn’t hidden why she and Eddie were divorcing from her friends at her former place of work, and she had lots of friends in the law firm, having worked there for so long. Knowing what happened when the whispers of an affair between two otherwise married lawyers started in the past, she knew people would start to distance themselves from them. She had intended to make life a little more miserable for them, but it had an outcome she hadn’t considered in her anger.
Tulk and Associates was a giant law firm with offices all over the country, and they had stringent rules about office relationships, particularly relationships where there was a perceived power imbalance, such as lawyers dating support staff. Eddie and Casey had disregarded two of those rules. The first was that all relationships must be disclosed to the Human Resources Department, and the second was that support staff couldn’t work in the same department as the lawyer and had to be transferred to another division. So, when the rumours reached HR that Eddie and Casey had been together for a year and didn’t disclose the relationship, plus the findings of the investigation into Eddie’s spending, they were both fired.
Both Eddie and Casey started harassing Mirabelle; Eddie went back to following her and approaching her in public, blasting her for being a bitch one day and begging her to stop destroying his life; he was sorry, he never meant to hurt her, and he wouldn’t do this to her the next. He even started following her into the lobby of her condo building, begging her to talk to him and go back to mediation. Mirabelle would ignore him and get on the elevator without saying a word. The only time she said something was when he tried to get on the elevator, and she shoved him out, telling him he was not welcome in her home.
Casey was much worse. Mirabelle and Bastian weren’t sure if Eddie knew what she was up to or not, but she somehow got Mirabelle’s phone number and began calling her. If Mirabelle answered, she was screech into the phone, calling Mirabelle a bitch who was going to get hers, telling her to sleep with one eye open and invest in a good security system. It didn’t matter how many times Mirabelle blocked her; she would get a new number and continue calling her. Bastian finally told her to buy a new phone and get a new number but keep the old one active. He took it from her and downloaded the unhinged voicemails Casey would leave.
Done with the harassment, Bastian took the evidence to the next court date for the divorce proceedings. Eddie, who was representing himself, never showed up, so Bastian played Casey’s voicemails, the recordings of Eddie approaching Mirabelle in public, and the dashcam footage. The judge was irritated, to say the least, and signed off on the no-contact order Bastian had requested immediately. He told Mirabelle to text him the next time Eddie showed up and keep him talking until he got there. Two days later, Eddie cornered her in the lobby of her condo building; she sent the SOS to Bastian and stopped to let him talk.
“Mirabelle, please, I made a mistake. I'm sorry, and I'm begging you to stop this nonsense, for God's sake.” Eddie was back to pleading with her for mercy, and Mirabelle was honestly over it. Since she was supposed to keep him talking, she figured she now had free range to answer him.
“No.”
“What do you mean no?” Eddie almost tripped over himself as he switched to angry and started to get in her face. Knowing Bastian was on his way and it would take him less than fifteen minutes to get to her condo, she held her ground.
“I asked you if I needed to be concerned about Casey, and you said no. I asked you to step back from her, not cut her off, just step back because I was uncomfortable, and you told me I had to get over it and deal with your friendship.” Mirabelle folded her arms and glared at him. “But when you wanted me to spend less time with Bast, I did. I told him I couldn't work overtime unless there was an upcoming court case. I stepped back and told him we needed some distance because you were uncomfortable and because I loved and respected you enough to do it.”
“So, to that end, when it comes to Bastian handling the divorce and what you're now going through, I suggest you get over it and deal with it. You're the one who decided to have a year-long affair, not me. You should have just asked for a divorce before you fucked her. I would have given it to you, no questions, none of this bullshit.”
“I didn’t want a divorce!” He burst out, his face going red. “I wanted to stop; she wouldn’t let me!”
Mirabelle scoffed, rolling her eyes. “First, the minute you put your lips on her, our marriage was over, you know I don’t tolerate that shit. Second, you fucked her for a whole year! And third, you’re a goddamn grown-ass man! You didn’t need her permission to stop!”
“It wasn’t that easy, she was going to tell you…” Mirabelle stared at him in disbelief, and he trailed off, looking sheepish.
“She blackmailed you into continuing your affair by threatening to tell me?” she laughed dryly. “Jesus, you must have put a lot more effort into fucking her than you ever did for me.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Eddie looked like she had just insulted every one of his ancestors and their cows. She opened her mouth to respond, but Bastian’s deep voice cut through the lobby as he came storming up to them.
“You were told not to contact my client!”
“Relax, Avery. She agreed to talk...” Eddie trailed off again as he looked back at Mirabelle. “You bitch.” Mirabelle smirked as Bastian stopped beside her andstood so he was just slightly in front of her protectively.
“My client did what I instructed her to do if you showed up at her home looking to talk to her again. Message me and keep you talking until I got here.” Bastain handed him the envelope with the no-contact order.
“What's this?” Eddie opened the envelope gingerly, pulling out the papers and glancing at them. He almost looked hopeful, and Mirabelle figured he thought she might have signed over the house to him.
“A no-contact order. You and Miss Harrison are to stop all contact with Ms. Adrien immediately. You have been told numerous times to stop harassing her by her, me and the police, and you have continued to do so. Going forward, you'll be arrested should you decide to inflict your presence on her again.” Bastian looked at Mirabelle. “Go upstairs, Mira, I'll be up shortly.” Mirabelle nodded and got on the elevator.
Bastian
Bastain watched as Eddie read through the paperwork. It was taking everything in him not to grab him by the shirt collar and throw him into the street. He had never liked him and had no idea what Mirabelle saw in him. All he saw was a weak man who had no original thoughts of his own.
“I can't believe this.” He glared at Bastian. “Seriously? Mirabelle agreed to this?”
“Seriously.” Bastian snorted. “If you think I could convince Mira to do something she doesn’t want to do, you don’t know anything about her. Want to know what I can’t believe?” He didn’t give Eddie a chance to respond and continued talking. “I can't believe you're a lawyer and are struggling with the concept of only contacting someone through their lawyer when told to do so.”
Eddie’s face turned red, and his mouth opened and closed, then he scoffed and shook his head. “I know the only reason you're doing this is because you think she'll turn to you. I know you’re bitter she chose me over you.”
Bastian narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t bitter Mirabelle chose Eddie over him; he was pissed Mirabelle had to go through the heartbreak of her spouse cheating on her. He knew how devastating that was and wouldn’t wish it on anyone. “I’m doing this for Mirabelle because we've been friends since we were eight years old, and she deserves so much fucking better than you.”
Eddie crumpled the no-contact order in his fist, his eyes flashing angrily. “Fucking Prick.”
Bastian shrugged; he’d been called worse by better, and Eddie’s opinion of him meant nothing. “Yeah,” he chuckled. “I am.” He watched as Eddie stormed out of the building and got on the elevator. When he got up to Mirabelle's condo, he knocked and let himself in. “Are you okay?”
“I'm great. I got to say some stuff I wanted to say. Felt good.” Mirabelle walked over, smiling happily, and handed him a glass of the scotch he had kept there. “And thanks to you, I don't have to speak to him ever again.”
“Mira, it has been my absolute pleasure.” He raised his glass to her and took a sip, following her to the living room and sitting next to her on the couch.
“What would I do without you?” She rested her head on his shoulder, and he felt his whole body relax. She’d had this effect on him as long as he could remember, this instant calm. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
“Find another lawyer who wouldn't be as ruthless.” He grinned at her. “It's only another month, and this will all be over, Mira. They've set the final court date.”
“You just keep bringing me good news.” She snuggled into him and let out a relieved sigh. “I just want this to be over.”
Bastian gently squeezed her shoulders. “I also think the judge is going to agree to all our terms. He’s screwed Bunny, and he brought it all on himself. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, and then he shifted, an idea hitting him. “Hey, I was thinking, when this is done, we should head up to the cabin for a week. I think we could both use a break.”
“That would be incredible!” She pulled back a little and beamed up at him; then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What aren't you telling me? Why do you need a break?” Bastian let out a low chuckle. She always saw right through him. He knew she would be just as unhappy about the other news he had gotten today as he was. He ran his free hand over his face and sighed in frustration.
“John wants to bring in another lawyer. The current front runner is Kelly.”
“As in his daughter Kelly? The one who tried to baby-trap you?” Mirabelle sat up straight and looked at him in disbelief. “The one he promised to keep away from you in return for not destroying her life?”
“That's the one.” Bastian put his feet up on her coffee table and glared at them. Kelly had been a guest at a staff Christmas party his first year at Henderson Law, and Bastian fully admitted to having too much alcohol, but it was his first Christmas without Mirabelle, and he was drowning his sorrows. He woke up to find the daughter of his boss in bed with him and had no idea if they slept together or not. She’d later come into his office, closely followed by her father, John Henderson, and – rather triumphantly – slammed a positive pregnancy test on his desk while John blustered about making an honest woman out of his daughter. When he’d gotten over his shock, he’d laughed and told them he had a vasectomy, he didn’t remember sleeping with her, and if she did screw him while he was blackout drunk, they were going to have a problem. But he would take care of the child if a DNA test proved it was his.
Kelly had gotten very quiet, and it was only when Henderson promised to make Bastian a partner that he backed down from quitting and suing Kelly out of existence. “She's young and stupid, Bast; I'll keep her away from you.” John had obviously forgotten his end of the bargain.
“If I leave and start my own practice, you'd come with me, right? Dust off your law degree and be my partner?”
“Well, duh. I chased you to Henderson, Bastian. I’ll follow you when you leave. You're stuck with me for life.” She smiled at him. “And I'll have your back no matter what.”