Chapter 4 – Cora #3
He flips through the prenup, his expression turning thoughtful. “You know, take this for what it’s worth, but you do have some leverage here.”
“I do?” It doesn’t feel that way. I feel trapped. Locked up again by my own bad decisions.
“Your husband seems to place a great deal of value on having a male child. Fifty million dollars to be precise.”
“I don’t see how that’s leverage.”
“Well, you have something that he wants. Or rather you can give him something that he wants. Sometimes what you can’t win in court, you can win in private negotiations.”
“I give him a boy, and he lets me keep my girls?” I would never do that.
Drake shakes his head. “Based on this prenup, I can’t see him going for that, but maybe there’s something else that would make this situation more tenable to you.
A settlement of some kind. A commitment to marital counseling or a fidelity clause with a penalty payment stipulated.
You’re not completely without power here. ”
I will never willingly see a shrink, certainly not with Adrian, and I don’t want him to pay me to cheat. I want him to never have existed. I want to shove him in the car and push him out on someone else’s front step. I want to walk past him on the street and not even notice him.
“I want a divorce,” I say instead.
“I understand. I am going to work every second from here on out to make that happen. I just need you to hold on for now. Can you do that for me?” His Ken doll eyes are clear and kind. I want to be reassured, to truly believe that I have someone on my side. I can’t, but I long for the fiction.
I nod and tuck his card into my pocket. He rises from his desk to fetch my jacket. “Jules has the letter of retainer for you to sign, and she’ll take your payment.”
He opens the door and ushers me out, all of sudden in a hurry again. “It was so nice to meet you, Cora. I’m sorry it was under these conditions.”
I startle when I see Pence sitting in the waiting room, her elbows propped on her knees, staring at the floor. She immediately stands and scowls at me.
Drake looks at me, his forehead creasing.
“My security,” I explain.
“Of course.” He smiles, dismissing her, and takes my hand, squeezing, not shaking. “Chin up. You and me, Cora. We’ve got this.” Then he’s gone, vanished back into his office. I feel like I’ve been through a whirlwind.
Jules waves me over to her counter where she’s laid out a document in duplicate with yellow “sign here” tags at the bottom. “Take your time, and ask me if you have any questions at all,” she says.
I stare at the paper. The words blur together. I try, I really do, but phrases from the prenup keep erupting in my mind. Sole legal and physical custody. Visitation. Conducted under the supervision of Mr. Maddox or his designee.
I need to see my babies. Now. I scrawl my signature on the line and dig in my pocket for my wallet.
“Here,” I say, laying my black credit card on the counter. “For whatever I owe you.”
Jules smiles and runs the card through the reader attached to her phone. Her smile fades. She runs the card again. “I’m sorry. It’s declining. Do you have another card?”
No, and I don’t have any cash. I’m not allowed to carry it for security reasons. My card always works. It’s black. It can’t decline.
I turn to Pence. She’s standing by the door, her hands clasped in front of her like a bouncer, intentionally looking away. Her lips curve ever so slightly in smug satisfaction. The bitch ratted me out.
Blood rushes to my head, and a band squeezes my lungs.
I haven’t felt this powerless since I left Baltimore.
My hands curl into fists. Jules is talking, but I can’t focus on the words.
She sets my card back on the counter, gives me a reassuring smile, and raps on Drake’s office door with her knuckles.
He emerges immediately, his eyes clouded with concern.
Jules explains the situation. Understanding dawns on his face.
“No worries at all, Cora. We can proceed without payment at this time. This is going to be a process. I’m in it with you for the long haul.
Don’t let this throw you. Just focus on yourself and your babies.
I’ll make sure that you have access to your rightful assets. ”
I haven’t been short of cash since I met Adrian, and the feeling burns like salt in a cut.
My embarrassment is complete. I couldn’t read my own prenup, I was so stupid that I gave up my own children like the dumbass from Rumpelstiltskin, and now I have to rely on charity since I’ve got nothing that Adrian didn’t give to me.
My stomach churns. I slip the credit card back into my wallet. When I shove the wallet in my pocket, my fingers brush plastic.
The key fob to my new Rennard.
“Wait,” I say, even though Drake hasn’t moved back toward his office yet. “Here. You can have this as collateral. It’s a Rennard.”
“Cora, I couldn’t—”
“Just take it. I don’t want it.” I’m already skedaddling to the door. “It’s parked out front at a meter.”
I bolt with Pence hot on my heels. She’s got no cause to worry now. I need a ride from her. My eyes burn with unshed tears as I stab the elevator button.
I’m fucked. Like a rat in a trap. I can’t leave Adrian, and I have to pray that he doesn’t dump me. I have no money. My security are spies.
My breath grows more and more shallow as I hurry toward Pence’s nondescript sedan. “Give me the keys,” I demand.
“Mrs. Maddox, I can’t let you drive in this con—”
Fuck this. She’s close enough to trigger the keyless entry. I elbow her aside and jump in the driver’s seat. She has to hustle to get herself in the passenger’s side before I pull out. She’s lucky I have to wait for cars to pass.
My brain threatens to snap its cord and fly off, but I glue my eyes on the road and squeeze the steering wheel until my knuckles ache. I need to get to my babies. Adrian knows I was here. Is he going to take them away from me now?
I have been so stupid. I can spot a Romeo at a hundred yards.
They can sniff out a foster kid like a bloodhound.
We were easy pickings. A grocery store bouquet, a meal at a sit-down restaurant, it never took much, but I was smarter than falling for that.
I knew that love is how they trapped you.
But I wasn’t smarter, not at all. I just had a higher price tag.
I don’t let myself go faster than twelve miles above the speed limit all the way back to the city. I’m not getting pulled over. I’m getting my babies.
If Adrian tries to take them, I’ll kill him. I’ll blow his brains out. I’ll dig them out of his skull with my bare hands.
I park the car in front of Kendra’s building, race through the lobby, and count the seconds as the elevator ascends to the penthouse. When their housekeeper answers their door, I bowl past her, jogging for the room that Kendra transformed into a playroom for the girls.
When I bust through the door, all three startle where they’re sitting on the floor in the middle of what looks like the entire contents of every bin, trunk, and drawer in the room.
“Mommy!” Pearl calls, raising her arms. I rush to her, my ankle folding as I misstep and land on a toy. Ignoring the pain, I scoop her up, clutching her to my chest.
Kendra rises to her feet, frowning with concern. “Cora, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I say, inhaling the scent of Pearl’s berry shampoo as she wraps her legs around me like a baby chimp. Not letting go, I sink to my knees in front of where Winnie sits in her bouncer. “How’s my little Pooh?”
Winnie squeals, giving me a toothless grin.
The thin feeling recedes, and I come back into my body. My ankle aches, and what feels like a Barbie hairbrush is digging into my knee. Pearl’s Cheerio breath is damp on my cheek. I’m okay. They’re okay. No one is ever going to take them away from me.
I blink up at Kendra. She’s gazing down at us with a knitted brow.
“Can your driver take us home?” I ask. I’m never getting into another car with Pence, and she sure as hell isn’t getting anywhere near my kids.
“How about I make us a cup of tea? We can talk about whatever’s going on.”
I unbuckle Winnie. “I just need a ride home.”
“Did something happen to your car?”
I stand straight and level my gaze at my sister-in-law. She’s nice, but she’s not strong, and there’s nothing she can do to help me. “Please, Kendra. Just lend me your driver.”
Her eyes flicker and her mouth turns down as she decides. What does her prenup say? What is Gideon holding over her?
“Yes. Of course. I’ll call down.” She does and then picks her way around the room, gathering Winnie’s bag and Pearl’s things.
I hold my girls tight, one on each hip. When the driver rings up that he’s out front, she takes the elevator down with us to the underground parking garage.
Luckily, she watches the girls often enough that she invested in car seats, and the driver already took the time to install them.
I buckle the girls in, and the driver stows our stuff in the trunk.
“You know I’m here for you,” she says after she gives the girls goodbye hugs and kisses.
I nod. “Thank you for watching the girls.”
“My pleasure,” she says. As we pull away in her shiny town car, I watch her slowly turn and push the button for the elevator back to her immaculately decorated, multi-million-dollar penthouse at one of the most highly coveted addresses in the world.
Anyone looking at us would think we’re two of the luckiest women in the world.