Chapter Twenty-One
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
We drove to Emily and Noel’s house that night. It was a long trip. The tall skyscrapers and city lights faded behind us, replaced by streetlights, leafy trees, and expensive mansions. Some were old-fashioned, reminding me of French chateaus. Others were modern and geometrical, with manicured lawns and huge garages.
Robert pulled up to a house, and even in the darkness, I recognized it as Mike’s home. When I’d visited it during college, I’d been intimidated by it. It was three stories high, and each bedroom had its own private balcony. There was even a water fountain in the front garden, as well as security cameras tucked around the residence.
Afterward, I’d been too embarrassed to invite Mike to my family home. He’d never met my family either, come to think of it. In fact, none of my boyfriends had ever met my parents or my brother. The men I’d dated since graduating law school were all white-collar professionals who went skiing during the winter. I was sure they’d look down their noses at my family.
Robert was the only one who’d met them, and he hadn’t run away from me in disgust. Instead, he’d pulled me closer. He’d accepted me, in spite of them. Now, I curled my fists, my determination growing. It was time to stand up to his family.
“Sometimes I forget how nice it is,” Robert murmured, looking up at the house. The lights were on, filling the windows with a warm yellow light.
I thought of that cramped apartment Robert had shared with those three young men. He’d been living there, while his ex-wife lived in a place like this? Ot wasn’t fair.
I opened the door, ready to talk to them, but before I could step out of the vehicle, he grabbed my hand.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked.
I nodded. “You trust me, don’t you?”
“I do,” he said, then took a deep breath, as if to prepare himself. He squeezed my hand once before letting go. Together, we got out of the car and walked up to the front door. A bright porch light beamed down on us as I tapped the doorbell.
An obnoxious, sing-songy chime echoed throughout the house. While we waited, I fought the urge to tap my foot impatiently. I didn’t care what people did with their hard-earned money. They could buy whatever they wanted for all I cared, but what didn’t sit well with me was when people took advantage of others.
Finally, the door unlocked and opened, revealing a thin woman with black hair. Mike’s mother. Emily. Standing beside her was a light-haired man with a clean-shaven face and a bit of a beer belly. He must’ve been Noel.
“Robert,” Emily said, in an icy voice. She must’ve seen him through the window, which was why she wasn’t surprised. “What are you doing here?”
There was a tense pause, and that’s when I jumped in. “Good evening, Ms. James —”
“Drucker,” she corrected. “I remarried.” She shot Robert an ugly expression.
“Apologies. Mr. and Mrs. Drucker.” I smiled at Noel and Emily. “My name is Brooke Collins, and I’m a lawyer at Ashcroft.” I dug out two business cards from my jacket and handed them to the husband and wife. “We need to talk, urgently. Would you mind letting us inside?”
Noel screwed up his face. “Talk about what?” he asked. “It’s late at night. Surely, this can wait until the morning.” He glanced at Emily, but I saw her shake her head ever so slightly.
I pulled on one of my professional smiles. “I understand that it’s late, but this is quite an urgent matter. It would be in your best interests to let us in. Now.”
That hung in the air. Emily and Noel glanced at each other, then read my business card again.
“Ashcroft…” Emily murmured.
“I’ve heard of it before,” Noel said. “It’s one of the big firms in the city.” For the first time, the man looked a little worried, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening.
Emily looked at me, then sighed dramatically. “Fine,” she said, swinging the door open. “However, I’ll let you know that this hour is highly unprofessional.”
“Thank you,” I said, leading Robert inside. “The law doesn’t care about the time of day, unfortunately.” I used an upbeat tone of voice. Really, I wanted to snap, but letting my temper get the better of me would achieve nothing.
We walked through the foyer, which was expansive. It split three different ways, including two doors on either side and a staircase in the middle that led to the second floor.
“This way,” Noel told us as they headed to the left, taking us into a large dining room with multiple cabinets of fine china. They took a seat on one side of the table, while we sat on the other side. “So, what exactly is this about?” He eyed Robert. “Why are you here, after all these years?”
Robert looked calm, his hands resting on the table, but I could sense a thrum of nervousness running through him. Thankfully, when he spoke, his voice was level. “Ms. Collins is my lawyer,” he said.
Their eyes swiveled to me.
“Excuse me?” Emily asked. “You’re his lawyer? For what?”
I folded my hands in front of me and sat up straight. “Mr. James came to me regarding a different matter,” I said. “However, when looking through his divorce papers, I realized something was extremely wrong.”
There was an immediate shift in the air. Noel and Emily quietly glanced at each other, their bodies stiffening.
However, a second later, Emily leaned back and crossed her arms, steeling her face. “What, exactly, was wrong? We had a lawyer oversee the divorce. Everything was done properly.”
“Yes. You hired Seth Blackmore, didn’t you?”
Emily nodded.
“Seth Blackmore is notorious for taking advantage of spouses,” I said. “The divorce agreement — including the terms of the alimony payment — is categorically unfair. I’d even so as far to label it as exploitative.”
Noel scoffed. “If it’s so unfair, then why did Robert agree?” He looked at his old friend. “You signed it.”
For a second, I thought Robert might back down. But clearly, I needed to trust his strength more, because he tightened his jaw. “I wasn’t in a good headspace when I signed the agreement,” his voice clear, yet firm. It reminded me of how he’d spoken when he’d stood up for me in front of my family, that day in the apartment. “I felt guilty, and in that moment, I would’ve given Emily anything she wanted. You both knew that.”
Shame flashed across Noel’s face, but then he shook his head. “Why are you bringing this up now? You haven’t said anything for years.”
“Because I had a fresh set of eyes look at it,” Robert replied calmly.
It was my time to speak up. “We’re here to tell you that we will either change the agreement, or get it nullified. You will pay back all the money you owe him. You are more than welcome to hire your own lawyers — in fact, I encourage it. I hope that we can settle, but if not, we won’t hesitate to take this to court.”
Emily and Noel stared at me in silence. A minute passed, and I felt like I was going to crack, but I held my composure.
I had to remain in control, even if all I wanted was to demand how they could treat the man I loved so badly.
That’s when Emily spoke. She whirled on Robert, eyes blazing with fire. “How can you do this to me?” she demanded. “I was finally starting to live in peace, and then you come back to tear it all up. And for what? Your own greed?”
Noel comforted her, placing a hand on her back while shaking his head at Robert.
“You’re the one who destroyed this family,” Emily continued. She almost sounded like she was sobbing, but her face was tight with anger “You abandoned your son. You abandoned me!” Her voice was shrill.
“I did not abandon Mike,” Robert said evenly. “I worked night and day to provide for him. I gave him the best I could. I paid for him to go to college. We divorced after he graduated, when he was an adult. I did not abandon you, Emily. At the time, I felt so guilty about my own infidelity, but isn’t it a coincidence that mere weeks after we divorce, Noel moves in? Isn’t it a coincidence that in the span of a few weeks, you two own the majority of the company? How long had you been planning it?”
Noel’s face went red. “How dare you?” he yelled. “How dare you accuse me of something like that?”
“I trusted you,” Robert said to him, and there was a hint of hurt in his voice. “We grew up together. You were like my brother. We played football together when we were kids, and then we worked shitty jobs together, and then we decided to build something of our own, together . I thought you were my friend.”
Noel opened his mouth, then closed it, apparently speechless. Despite his red face, I could see the shame and guilt filling his eyes.
Robert shrugged, looking more nonchalant than he must’ve felt. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t care that you’re living in the house I bought with my money. I don’t care that you stole my wife and the mother of my son.” His eyes hardened. “You’re the one living with my leftovers.”
That was cold. Noel thought so too, because he looked frozen.
What a pathetic man.
“Don’t you dare insult my husband,” Emily shrieked, thrusting a finger at Robert. “He’s more the man than you’ll ever be. You’re back here, trying to destroy my life, because you’re unsatisfied with your own pathetic existence.”
“Mom? Why are you yelling?” asked a familiar voice. The man walked into the dining room, wearing pajama pants and an oversized shirt, and rubbing his eyes like he’d just been woken up.
Robert stiffened beside me.
It was Mike.
When Mike’s eyes fell on us, his jaw dropped open. “What the fuck are you two doing here?” he asked. All of his tiredness melted away as he strode over the table, his eyes sharpening.
“Mike?” Robert’s voice was rough. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” Mike said, like his father was stupid.
Robert frowned. “I would have thought you’d have moved out by now.”
“He’ll move out when he’s married,” Emily snapped.
Mike, like me, was twenty-nine. It was a bit odd he still lived with his mother, but I remembered from college that she’d always been the overprotective kind.
“Mom, why are they here?” Mike asked.
“They’re threatening us,” Emily announced. Her fury from before disappeared, and suddenly, she looked like a weak, vulnerable woman. She clutched at her son’s hands, squeezing them tight. “They’re trying to sue us for money.”
“We’re not trying to sue,” I started to explain patiently. “Rather, we want to amend —”
“Brooke,” Mike interrupted. “Why are you here?” His voice was cold.
“She’s his lawyer,” Noel said.
“You know her?” Emily asked at the same time.
Mike nodded. “She’s my ex-girlfriend from college.”
There was a moment of silence as Emily turned to me, gaze running up and down critically. “I thought you looked familiar,” she said.
“And she’s not his lawyer,” Mike continued, voice filled with disgust. “She’s his girlfriend.”
Everything got very chaotic, very fast. Suddenly, everyone was shouting over each other, and it was hard to understand what was being said.
“I thought you were his lawyer,” Noel demanded. “Are you lying to us? That’s against the law, isn’t it?”
“Your girlfriend?” Emily said, face screwing up with revulsion. “Someone this young? You’re sick .”
“I told you to stay away from him,” Mike said to me. “I warned you, he’s bad news.”
“I remember you,” Emily said. “I remember you from college. You wanted to go to law school, to be a lawyer. Looks what you got what you wanted, right? Well, guess what. I wanted that too. But that man took my dreams from me.” She glared at Robert.
If Emily was anyone else, I would have felt bad she didn’t get to pursue her career dreams. But in that moment, I didn’t have any sympathy for her. She was trying to make me feel guilty for achieving my goals, just like my family. I was sick of being shamed for chasing and getting what I wanted.
I turned to look at Robert. He reached out to squeeze my hand under the table, and like that, the rest of the world evaporated, the shouts and the yells muted.
“Let’s go,” he murmured.
I nodded. We’d said our piece. If we stayed, the fighting would never end.
We stood up, and that made Emily, Noel, and Mike go quiet. As we headed towards the front door, Emily called out. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I looked at her over my shoulder. “We’re leaving,” I said. “But don’t get the wrong idea — we will fight for what Robert rightfully deserves. Not only did you steal his money, you broke the spirit of a good man. He would’ve given you the world if you hadn’t spat in his face.” I glanced over at Mike, then back at Emily. “You should be honest with your son too. Everyone deserves to know the truth.”
With that, we walked out of the house, holding hands. My heart pounded wildly as adrenaline coursed through my veins, and once we were outside, with the front door closing behind us, I fought the urge to sink to my feet.
That had been intense.
Robert held my hand all the way to the car. Once inside, he turned it on and drove down the street. Neither of us spoke.
Finally, he parked on a random street, cut the engine, then turned to me.
Before I could say anything, he crashed his lips against mine. He cupped my face and pecked my lips again, a big grin lingering on his face. “You were perfect.”
“ You were,” I said, resting my hands on his arms. Touching his skin helped me relax after everything that had happened. “The way you were so calm, and how you held your ground. The stuff you said to Noel about your leftovers.”
Robert chuckled softly. “I know it got a bit heated. I wasn’t expecting Mike to show up. I wish he hadn’t seen that.”
“Maybe it’ll help him open his eyes,” I said. “The main thing is that we’ve let Emily and Noel know that we’ve caught them.”
He kissed my forehead. “Thank you for standing up for me, Brooke. It means so much to me.”
The relief in his voice made an ache fill my chest. All he ever needed was someone to fight for him for once. He took so many hits without fighting back, never believing he was worth defending.
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll always have your back.”
Finally, we were fighting. Together.