Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Laurie Gibson walked off the elevator and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the two people in the hallway. “What are you doing here?” she asked in shock, but hugged her mother and daughter at the same time.
“We’re here to support you,” Lorissa Stanton, Laurie’s daughter said as she hugged her mother. “Nana said we should show our support to you today. Besides, I want to talk to the lawyers about something.”
“What?” Laurie demanded. “I’m here to talk to the lawyers about divorcing your father, I don’t know if they will talk to you without a separate appointment.”
“I know, that’s why we waited for you here.”
Laurie frowned at her mother, and when she only received a grin from the older woman, she smiled as she looked at her daughter. “What do you want to talk to the lawyers about?”
“I want a divorce from Peter also.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, Mom. Peter hasn’t been a father to me my entire life. Remember when he tried to tell me I couldn’t go to college because there wasn’t any money? He and Grandmother Stanton tried to convince me that I had to get loans out in my name, then they were going to take the money and leave me footing the bill.”
“Yeah, I remember that. That will be one of the issues I’ll be bringing up in the divorce. I understand what you’re saying, and I won’t go against your wishes, however, I don’t know if they can do it at this time. You might have to make a separate appointment.”
“I totally understand that, but at least I can put it on the table.”
“There is that.” Laurie laughed and turned to her mother, Lois Gibson. “And you, Mom? Why are you here?”
“I thought you might want the original copy of the deed to your house. If I recall, you only have the copy.”
“Shit, you’re right. Thanks.” She nodded, then looked at them. “You really want to sit in on this boring meeting?”
“If it gets Peter and his mother out of our lives,” Lorissa began. “Then yes, let’s set the freeloaders free. I just can’t understand why you waited so long to do it.”
“I had my reasons, and they will be revealed during the meeting. I only ask that you don’t interrupt constantly. If you have any questions, write them down and we can discuss them later.”
“Okay,” Lorissa laughed. She had been known to constantly ask questions to the point that the original topic would be forgotten.
“Let’s go then,” Laurie said as she turned, and as she pulled her file cart behind her, she led the way into the offices of Shyster, Shyster, and Shyster. She liked that it was a generational law firm. What she liked even better was they were in the same building she worked in, and she knew almost all of the lawyers there.
At the reception desk, Laurie paused until she was acknowledged, “Laurie Gibson here to see Jason Shyster.”
“He’s expecting you,” the woman said as she stood and pointed down the hall. “Third door on the left.”
“Thank you,” Laurie said as she nodded to her and led the way to their destination. She entered the open door and saw three lawyers that she knew and had lunch with several times over the years, look up at her entrance.
“Laurie,” Jason said as he jumped to his feet and started forward. He stopped when Lois and Lorissa entered behind her. “Who do we have here?”
“Lois Gibson, my mother. She reminded me that she had some important papers for this meeting. Then there is my daughter, Lorissa Stanton, she wants to know if she can do something, but I told her she might have to make her own appointment.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to divorce, or whatever you call it, my father.”
“Cut all ties with him?”
“Yes, and I want to use the Gibson name.”
“Isn’t that Peter’s last name?” Jason asked in shock as he stepped back and indicated with his hand that they should all take seats.
“No, I use my maiden name for my job,” Laurie said. “Actually, if you want to get technical, I never even changed my name after I married Peter. I kept my maiden name.”
“Okay, that’s good information to have,” Jason said as he settled down in his chair at the end of the table. The other two lawyers were introduced, and they sat across the table from Laurie, Lois, and Lorissa.
“I’m going start right off by telling you that I hope you cleared your calendar for the day,” Jason said.
“I did, and I didn’t know Mom and Lorissa would be joining us until I got off the elevator. I hope you don’t mind they’re here?”
“Not at all, it might save us in the long run.” Jason looked over at the other two lawyers with a nod.
“I’m Brandon Shyster. I’m Jason’s cousin. I get the boring job of going over pre-nuptial agreements, and documents like that. While Jason is the actual divorce attorney, and he will be going to court with you if it gets to that point.”
“Let me tell you right now,” Laurie said with a heavy sigh. “Peter is an entitled asshole and thinks the world revolves around him.”
“He also thinks that he’s so perfect that he can’t do anything wrong,” Lorissa said bitterly.
“Along with his mother,” Lois spoke then. “The apron strings were never cut with those two.”
“Good information to have,” Jason said as he took notes. He turned toward Brandon.
“Jason brought me the original pre-nuptial agreement to read before this meeting. I have to say that Uncle Larry was meticulous in his details. If everyone agrees, I’d like to go over each point one by one. If you have any evidence to back it up, we’ll discuss it as we go along.” He looked up and after he received a nod, he began.
“The house, it was Laurie’s before the marriage, and if I remember correctly, you received it as an inheritance from your grandparents?”
“I did,” Laurie said as she reached into the file cart she’d brought with her and pulled the file she needed. She laid it on the table and pushed it toward Brandon.
“I’m Robert, their cousin, but also a lawyer. I go through the paperwork you produce.” He took the file, opened it, and skimmed through it. When he got to one particular paper, he held it up. “This is the deed?”
“A copy,” Lois said as she reached into her purse and withdrew an envelope. “This is the original that my late husband said we would keep in our safe at home.” She passed the envelope across the table, and looked at Laurie as she spoke. “Included is the will from Laurie’s grandmother stating she received the house.”
“Great,” Robert said as he withdrew the papers. He either skimmed them or he was a fast reader as he looked at Jason with a grin. “This is good. By the looks of them, they are the originals. We can quickly make sure they’re authentic.”
“How?” Jason scowled at Robert.
“Dad was the lawyer,” he laughed as he passed the documents along.
“Yes, our family has used Shyster, Shyster, and Shyster since it was only one Shyster,” Lois confirmed. “I’m sure somewhere in your files you’ll find the originals to everything we give you.”
“Again, great information,” Jason said as he took notes. He looked at Robert. “Next?”
“Since you received the house before your marriage, Peter can’t touch it. Now, what about joint accounts?”
Laurie again reached into her files and withdrew one. “ I never put my money into a shared account with Peter. Because of the nature of this meeting, I will be brutally honest. I never trusted him with money. I controlled my money, and I monitored the household bills. I would tell Peter what he owed for the utilities, since we didn’t have a mortgage, I never charged him for that. We agreed to split utilities, and major household purchases, and groceries fifty-fifty. That lasted for about the first two years, then he stopped paying all together.”
“Let me clarify something,” Jason said. “You said household purchases? Is there a difference between them and any other purchase?”
“Yes, when the refrigerator shit the bed, we went looking for a new one and he was to pay for half, and I paid the other. At times Peter would live paycheck to paycheck, he was terrible about saving money. Because we really needed the refrigerator and couldn’t wait, I put it on my credit card with a promise he would pay me back.” She opened the file and pulled out the paper she’d drawn up and he had signed. “He never did.”
“Okay, were there ever any other large purchases?”
“Like?”
“Vehicles?”
“I bought mine over the years, but refused to co-sign or even lend him any money for his. Like I said earlier, Peter wasn’t good with money. I can’t tell you how many times he had a vehicle repossessed because of lack of payment. Every single time he received the letters that he was behind, he went to his mother to bail him out.”
“Why? Why didn’t you help him?”
Laurie sighed and withdrew another file. Without saying a word, she pushed it to the middle and while the three lawyers frowned, they opened it and read it.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jason demanded, then shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to swear.”
“It’s okay, I said the exact same thing when I received it in the mail. Behind the letter is the original envelope it came in. I’m going to tell you right now, every point you go over in that pre-nuptial I have files for. I didn’t keep them at home, I either kept them in my old room at my parents’ house, or upstairs in my office. Peter and Beatrice never came here, so I knew they would be safe.”
“May I ask what the letter says?” Lorissa asked in confusion.
Laurie turned to her daughter and shook her head sadly as she took her daughter’s hand in hers. “That letter was delivered when I was eight months pregnant with you. In a nutshell, your Grandmother Stanton called me a worthless cow for not working and providing money for her son in the lifestyle she thought he deserved. If I didn’t start paying him one thousand dollars a week for staying married to me, then he would divorce me and take me to the cleaners. Two days after I received it, I went to the bank and transferred the cash inheritance I received with the house into a different account. It was the account with your name on it and with Nana as the co-owner of the account.”
“The account you showed me when I was sixteen and came to you crying because Peter told me that I had to go out and get a job to help support the family because we were broke? The same time he and Grandmother Stanton demanded that I take out student loans and let them control the money.”
“WHAT?” all three lawyers demanded as one. “Do you have proof of this?”
“I have a voice recording at home.”
“We’re going to need that.” Jason nodded. “That alone can be considered as extortion and could be used as grounds to cut off all legal ties to Peter and Beatrice. This letter might help with it.”
They continued down the list of the pre-nuptial until Brandon looked at Laurie with a scowl. “Why did you wait so long before you divorced this asshat?”
Laurie grinned and pointed toward the papers in his hand. “Go down three more issues and read that. The one labeled longevity.”
Brandon read it out loud, and started laughing. “Uncle Larry?”
“Yes, he had it written in there that if I could last twenty-five years, then if Peter messed up any one of the issues put into that agreement, then I was entitled to five million dollars with no hassles. Believe it or not, Beatrice was the one to make sure that clause was in there.”
“Did you?” Robert asked.
“Did I what?”
“Did you last twenty-five years?”
Laurie grinned and nodded. “Friday of last week was my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Peter was otherwise engaged.”
“What does that mean?” Jason asked with a frown.
“Read the clause about cheating, or extra-marital affairs.” She waited until the paper was flipped, and the clause read aloud.
“I have to ask, have you ever cheated?”
“No, and I never had any work-related dinners with any man without any female co-worker with me. I didn’t want it to come back that I was cheating. This next bit is like one million percent embarrassing, but it needs to be said.” She drew in a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. She looked directly at Jason as she spoke, “Peter stopped having sex with me the second he found out I was pregnant with Lorissa. His reasoning, and I quote, “I don’t fuck mothers” that’s what he said to me, and he never touched me again. No matter how much I tried, he ignored me.” She reached down into the file cart and withdrew two files and each of them was at least four inches thick. She laid them on the table and put her hands on top of them.
“The first time it happened, I never suspected a thing. I was taking Lorissa to her six-week check-up and her first round of shots when I saw Peter entering a hotel with another woman. I knew they were together because he had his arm around her shoulder and leaned in to kiss the side of her head. After I left the doctor’s office, I drove to the office here.”
“Why?”
“I went to Powers and Associates.”
“Oh, shit.”
“What’s that?” Lorissa asked.
“It’s a private investigation firm that the general public uses, and sometimes our office need their services. You know, if someone claims they can’t work because they hurt their back, but something doesn’t add up, and we hire Powers to investigate the claim.”
“Got it.”
“Anyway, I talked to Mike Powers and told him about my marriage and what I saw. I had him on a retainer, and though they didn’t follow him twenty-four seven, whenever they thought about it, they would investigate Peter.”
“I take it that those files are proof of his infidelity?”
“Yes, but before I give them to you, I have a question.”
“What’s that?”
“Read the clause aloud again, the part about the amount of money he owes me if he cheats.”
“Okay,” Brandon said, and read the passage.
“Okay, it says that if he cheats, for every time he cheats he is to pay me one-thousand-dollars. I need to question that.”
“What is there to question?”
“Is it every time or with different women.”
“Can you clarify?”
She opened the files, and everyone saw there were several stacks of papers clipped together. She withdrew the top one and laid it in the middle of the table. “This is Peter’s current side-piece. The last time he was with her was Friday night.”
“Your wedding anniversary?”
“Yes, but as you can see, several papers are clipped together. They have been together thirteen times that we know and have proof of. Do I get one thousand dollars because this is one woman, or thirteen thousand because he’s been with her thirteen times?” She started stacking up the other clipped together pages and as she did so she thought the lawyers’ eyes would pop out of their heads.
“In the last twenty-three years, he has cheated on me, the ones we could record, over four hundred times, with twenty different women.”
“Holy shit,” they all said.
“Wait,” Jason held up his hand as he reached for one of the stacks of papers that held reports from Power and Associates. “You said in the last twenty-three years, yet you’ve been married for twenty-five years and five days.”
“Yes, he didn’t start cheating on me until I became pregnant with Lorissa, when he told me he didn’t fuck mothers.”
“Wow, this is a lot of information to go through. First, thank you for gathering it over the years, second, again, thank you for such meticulous details. I only have one question. Do you have a home security system with cameras in the home?”
“Yes and no.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that yes, I do have a home security system, I have one of those doorbells that record, and I have cameras on the outside of the home. Mike Powers set it all up personally. He said when I went for my divorce if you had any questions to contact him. He would even be willing to testify in court. With that said, on the inside of the home, I have cameras, however, you don’t know they are there.”
“Where are they?” Lorissa demanded.
“None are in your room or bathroom, but they are in the hallway.”
“Oh, right, because we caught Beatrice coming out of my room once.”
“Correct, I won’t tell you they are there, but Mike referred to them as Nanny Cams and placed them all around the house. The feed goes to a program in his office.”
“Smart,” Jason said with a sigh. “I’ll go up and have a word with him after we go through this data. I’m going to be honest here, Laurie, you have a great case, and because from what I see, you have an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement, you have grounds for divorce. However, I’m not going to sugar coat anything here and tell you it will be cut and dried. You’re looking at a long-drawn-out endeavor.”
“I expected as much. I’m not asking for anything above and beyond what the pre-nuptial agreement states. I can be equally honest here and tell you that I don’t need alimony, and Lorissa is over the age of twenty-one, so we won’t need child support. I’m going to also be adamant that I get what the pre-nuptial states, because I put up with twenty-five years of hell with Peter and his mother. Will what they owe me break them? Absolutely. Do I care? Not one bit.”
“Don’t forget the business,” Lois spoke for the first time in hours.
“Oh, yeah, if you look into me having the house and a cash inheritance before the marriage, then you can also look into that I was added to a partner to my father’s business before he died, it was also before I married. It was on paper only until I finished college. After Dad passed, I got control of the entire business. One of our accounts is that we support Peter’s family business. Once the divorce is final, I will be cutting off all funding for that. They are aware of it. Dad wrote the contract after Peter and I were married. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think his family’s company can survive without my help. Again, do I care? Not one bit. Peter and Beatrice need to learn that I was their cash cow, and I will no longer support them. It’s time that I cut the apron strings.”
When it remained silent for almost a minute, Laurie nodded and stood. This time, she folded her file cart so it was very thin, shook their hands and left the meeting. In the hallway, she looked at her mother and daughter with a grin. “Lunch? I’m buying?”
“I’ll buy.” Lorissa laughed as she hugged her mother. She stepped back and studied the older woman. “If I haven’t told you in the past, I love you, and after witnessing what I just did, I have to say, you kick ass.”
“Thank you,” Laurie laughed and the three generations of women locked elbows and turned toward the elevators.