Chapter 28
FELIX
I lounged on a lawn chair, watching over Eli and Phoenix as they chased each other around the backyard. The sun descended behind their backs, their smiling faces shining golden with a specific brightness that only came with innocence.
They were carefree and comfortable, and the sight had me so damn grateful that my eyes started to burn. However, the scene was bittersweet… due to the one vital part that was forever missing.
I hadn’t spoken to or seen Stella since that disastrous day in the boardroom, communication strictly made between our lawyers and her dad, who did the go-between drop-offs for the boys—although I wouldn’t really classify his brooding silence and occasional grunts as conversational.
I didn’t blame him. My behaviour had been unacceptable, both in the way I treated his daughter and the drunken night I had tried to break into his house.
When I had apologised, he barely gave a nod before turning to leave. That was more than I deserved.
It had been a week since I had dismantled my life on paper and agreed to most terms advised by Michael.
First, I tackled Stella’s second agenda—a fresh contract emailed since I had so thoroughly destroyed the previous one.
I meticulously combed through the transfer documents of Stella Financial Management. It was painful and surreal, but I knew I had already lost my company the minute I lost my wife. The papers were signed. I asked for no recompense—my silent apology to the company I had built and loved.
Then it was time to address agenda number three. I actively worked with law enforcement to bring Heather down. Since she was being obstructive and combative, I flipped the narrative and offered my full, transparent cooperation.
Lies had become the norm for me, so what were a few more?
I admitted to everything, despite the fallacy that I knowingly agreed with Heather, to transfer funds from my own company on the numerous dates specified.
I confessed that I aided Heather in concealing and facilitating her fraudulent activity.
And I acknowledged that I failed to report the conduct and gave them full access to my accounts and emails, providing material assistance.
However, Stella’s first agenda was something I couldn’t fully accept or even think about.
The divorce contract remained at the bottom of my sock drawer, untouched and threatening. As deadly as a buried landmine, ready to go off at the slightest provocation.
Every time I thought about separation and the breakdown of our marriage, I felt physically ill, as if my body was in complete denial of being ripped away from my soulmate. And to know that I was exclusively responsible for it all…. Yeah, I was living in an agonising hellscape of my own creation.
The next day, I was due in court to receive the verdict for my countless indiscretions. Although I took the plea deal, Michael warned that I could still be facing eighteen months in low security federal prison.
Going to jail was a steep price to pay, due to me being legitimately innocent in most claims. But I had no proof against the accusations, only my word. And over the past eight months, I had shown exactly what my word was worth.
I had brought that viper into our orbit, feeding that gluttonous beast with my ego. So I alone had to deal with the aftermath. The trickling consequences were already impacting my family, and I refused to cause more damage.
With regret settling in my bones, I sank deeper into my chair, choosing to shut my crying eyes to bask in the laughter of my sons, not knowing when or if I’d hear it again.
I sat next to Michael, adjusting my cufflinks, trying and failing to calm my rising anxiety.
I was unsure if I was overheating from the packed courtroom, my tight three-piece suit, or in direct retaliation to the inner turmoil choking me from the inside out.
Then it happened. The judge called my name.
I was suddenly a zombie, my body moving on autopilot as Michael guided me forward, past rows of public seating, when an instinctual spark hit me out of nowhere. My head snapped to the side, scanning the crowd, and my gaze collided with two sparkling blue orbs that I’d recognise anywhere.
My wife had always been beautiful, but seeing her all poised and sitting amongst the masses was like capturing a bright beacon in the middle of a storming sea. The only recognition from her was a gentle softening around her eyes, yet that subtle tell was enough.
I didn’t know if she was there for support or to rejoice in my downfall, but her presence alone helped bolster my confidence. Either way, it meant something, and I was going to take the little wins I could.
But before I could get too giddy, a sudden movement from her side caught my attention. A tanned hand reached for Stella’s, intertwining their fingers, and my mind glitched from the abhorrent display.
What the fuck is Curtis Wright doing at my trial, with my wife?
The only thing holding me back from raging over and tearing them apart was Michael pulling on my sleeve to shift me into position.
He could sense my seething rage and whispered out the side of his mouth, “Get it together, Felix.”
He was right. I doubted the judge would take kindly to homicide. I was already threatened with a prison sentence. I wasn’t about to make it easier for that asshole and get locked up for life.
Rolling back my shoulders, I refocused my attention on the person front and centre, the decider of my fate.
If I thought I was uncomfortable before, that had nothing on how I felt now.
I tried to concentrate as the judge continued in monotone fashion, stating the relevant facts, taking my remorse, cooperation and guilty plea into consideration.
Michael had done a phenomenal job in his memorandum, pinpointing how I had realised the gravity of my actions and how I planned on improving myself and being better in future, which was the truth.
Yet, that barely eased the feeling of suffocation as my chest ached with each and every inhalation.
I didn’t give a fuck about all those randoms present to witness my ruin. Only one mattered, and she was currently being comforted by her best friend a couple of rows behind me.
Stella already knew the intimate details of my sins, but to have them read aloud with that asshole right beside her, holding her hand, comforting her… It was fucking soul-destroying.
And now, countless emotions swept through me as my verdict was to be announced.
“Mr Johnson,” the judge stated. “You appear for sentencing today having plead guilty for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Having taken into consideration the information before me, I’ve reached my decision. You are sentenced to twelve months’ home detention…”