Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Julian’s mediation had dragged on for most of the morning, with the husband questioning every item on the extensive list of assets and debts that were being divided evenly by the divorcing couple.
Julian’s client, Victoria Hansen, had begun to wilt from the emotional and physical drain of dissecting the life she’d once treasured with a man who’d cheated on her with his younger assistant.
She’d told Julian she felt like the ultimate cliché, the wife who never thought for a second her husband would betray her and the family they’d built together.
The entire proceeding had devastated her, and now that it was so close to being finished, Julian slipped her a note that said, Be strong. We’re almost there.
She gave him a smile and a small nod as she sat up straighter.
“Actually, I don’t agree with that change,” she said of an amendment that would’ve given her ex-husband their place in Lake Tahoe in exchange for her getting the house in Pasadena, where they’d raised their family.
“I don’t want the Pasadena house. I want Tahoe. ”
Her husband, Larry, was a distinguished-looking guy with salt-and-pepper hair and a goatee that Victoria had told Julian was the first sign that something had gone awry between her and the man who’d once disdained facial hair on other men. Apparently, the girlfriend liked him with a goatee.
Clearly, he hadn’t expected her to toss the Tahoe bomb into the proceedings.
“You know how much I love Tahoe,” he said.
“And you know how much I once loved you,” she replied with a casual shrug that filled Julian with pride for her.
When they first met, she’d been so devastated to learn her husband had been unfaithful that she hadn’t been sure she wanted to continue living.
Now, more than a year later, the shock had worn off, and thanks to a lot of therapy, she’d learned how to advocate for herself.
“Vic… Come on. Be reasonable. The Pasadena house is worth much more than Tahoe.”
“I know. We can sell it, divide the proceeds and you can get yourself a new love nest in Tahoe for you and your child bride.”
“You don’t even like it there! Every time we went, you said it was a tourist trap.”
“That’s right.”
“So why do you want it?”
“It’ll be a very lucrative rental property.”
He sat back, seeming shocked. “So you aren’t even planning to use it?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I plan to use it as an investment.”
“You’re getting half of everything else as well as spousal support. You won’t need it.”
“I want it.”
Larry looked to the mediator, who was known for allowing couples to talk it out at his table. He intervened whenever things took a turn toward the ugly.
“If you can’t agree on a disposition for the Tahoe property, we’ll have to sell it and divide the proceeds.”
“Which is also fine with me,” Victoria said.
Larry seemed to understand all at once that she didn’t care what happened to it as long as he didn’t get to enjoy it with the woman he’d left her for.
Julian had sat back and allowed her to enjoy this moment she’d been looking forward to for weeks as they’d prepared for the mediation.
“This would be a good time to break for lunch,” the mediator said. “Both sides should use the break to determine whether you’ve tendered final offers on these matters. We’ll see you back here in an hour.”
While Larry huddled with his attorney and directed dirty looks at Victoria, Julian escorted her from the conference room at the mediator’s Century City office.
“Damn, that felt good,” Victoria said with a big smile. “When he realized I don’t care about selling Tahoe… That was my favorite moment since this started.”
Normally, Julian encouraged his clients to avoid vindictive moves that only extended the process and cost them even more money than they were already spending on attorney fees. But in this case, he’d understood why Victoria had wanted to exact her pound of flesh.
While Larry had built a successful psychiatry practice, she’d raised their four children, kept a beautiful home, lavishly entertained his colleagues and friends and, as she’d said, played by all the rules.
Finding out about his affair with a woman half her age had been shocking, demoralizing and, once she’d caught her breath, infuriating.
“You’re resolved to stick with selling it if he’s unwilling to let you have it?”
“Fine by me. I don’t care about any of it anymore.”
“I need to check in with the office. Do you want to grab something to eat?”
“I’d rather go out for a walk. I could use some air.”
“Then I’ll meet you back here in an hour?”
“See you then.”
After she headed for the elevators, Julian ducked into an empty conference room to check his messages and listened to the one from Isla. Concerned by her fearful tone as much as his own reaction to the sound of her voice, he called her right back.
“Hi, Julian.” She sounded better than she had in the message. “Thanks for getting back to me.”
When his stomach dropped at the sound of her voice, he realized he had a very big problem on his hands. “Sorry for the delay. I was in a meeting.”
“I can only imagine how busy you are.”
“No worries at all. Is there anything new?”
“Denny was going to try to figure out where the police took Gabriel and suggest a mental health evaluation.”
“Would you like me to find out where it stands?”
“Could you?’
“I can try.”
“It’s strange that even after everything that’s happened, what he did to our home… I’m worried about him.”
“That’s totally understandable. I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you.”
“Thank you so much.”
“I want to add… Right now, he’s in custody, and I’m fairly certain they’ll hold him after two incidents in two days. But just in case he’s released, he shouldn’t have any way to find you and the children. However, if you ever feel unsafe, call the police immediately.”
“I will, and I hope they do hold him until he can get some help.”
“I’ll make a few calls. Hang in there.”
“I’m trying.”
He needed to say goodbye and start making those calls, but he didn’t want to let her go yet. Alarm bells were ringing so loudly he couldn’t hear anything else. “Are you all right, Isla?”
“I think so. I’ve gotten a few things done today despite this new issue with Gabriel.”
“That’s good. Stay focused on the future.”
“That’s the goal. Thanks for everything.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
After he ended the call, he stood in the conference room, staring out the window without seeing anything other than red flags dancing before his eyes. As much as he might wish otherwise, he was attracted to her, and as such, he couldn’t represent her.
“Fuck.”
Releasing a deep breath, he closed his eyes and took a minute to process a situation he hadn’t seen coming when Denny had asked him to meet with his younger sister.
Damn it. Denny would be pissed, and who could blame him? He’d asked his friend to help his sister deal with a nightmare. The last thing Denny—or Isla—needed was Julian developing feelings for her.
And what, exactly, did he plan to do about those so-called feelings?
Not a goddamned thing.
He had no room in his life for a single mom with two little kids, even if she was the first woman who’d made him feel anything since Aimee.
The last thing he needed was an ethics breach, which was why he decided to assign Isla’s case to Jackson. He stared at his phone for another long moment before he made the call.
“Hey,” Jackson said. “How’s it going with the mediation?”
“Not bad. Victoria made a play for the Tahoe house that Larry didn’t see coming, and that was interesting.”
“Good for her. How much longer will you be there?”
“We have one more hour scheduled this afternoon, and then I’ve got that meeting at the Beverly.”
“I was going to call you to say the bombshell client canceled. He’ll reschedule when he can.”
“Ah, okay.” It wasn’t uncommon for clients to cancel several times before they actually met with a divorce attorney. “I’m calling because I need a favor.”
“I work for you, Julian. You don’t have to ask me for favors. I’m a sure thing.”
Julian cracked a grin at his brother’s cheekiness. “This is a bit delicate. My friend Denny from the band…”
“You’re representing his sister, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the case I want you to take over.”
“I thought you wanted to handle that one personally.”
“I did. Until I didn’t.”
“Um, okay. You’re being weird.”
“I’m aware, but I need you to take over, starting with some calls to our contacts at the LAPD about what’s going on with her husband, Gabriel Santana.
He was detained a second time after he showed up at the apartment where they lived together and raised a ruckus when she and the kids were nowhere to be found.
I need you to find out what’s going on with him and then report back to her. You ready for her number?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Julian found her number and recited it.
“Got it.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you going to tell her about this change in counsel?”
“I’ll take care of it. Put together the new retainer agreement with you as her counsel. I’ll drop it off to her when I pick up the assets and liability worksheets from her.”
“Okay…”
“Thank you.”
“You’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”
Julian wanted to air it out with someone, and Jackson was good about keeping their professional business private, but this wasn’t professional. This was as personal as it got, and he couldn’t tell anyone why he was handing Isla off to his brother without it blowing up into a big deal.
“That’s an awfully long pause, brother.”
“With the Smithson trial starting next week, I need to stay focused. That’s all it is.”
“Okay, I’m on it. Let me know when you’ve informed her of the handoff.”
“Will do.”
Julian ended the call feeling a little sick over having to tell Isla—and Denny—that he was turning her case over to Jackson. They would think it was because he had more important clients who’d pay him top dollar. He wished that was the reason.
Why her?
Why, after all this time in which he’d gone without a single attachment to any woman, had she appeared to shake up his entire existence?
Was it because he’d recently seen Aimee and been reminded of what it’d been like to truly love someone the way he’d loved her?
He’d forgotten the breathless ecstasy of it all…
And he’d been better off without the reminder.
His reaction to Isla had to be tied up in seeing Aimee and all the shit that had resurrected, things he hadn’t thought about—or felt—in ages.
He wanted to go back to before the Godfreys’ anniversary party so he could come down with a cold or something that would keep him from seeing the only woman he’d ever loved. Going into it, he’d understood he would see her and expected it to be nostalgic and maybe a bit amusing.
Instead, it’d been devastating.
Coming face-to-face with the one woman who’d worked her way all the way into his soul, resurfacing emotions he hadn’t experienced since the last time he’d been with her, had left him rattled and off his game for weeks now.
It’d been a mistake of epic proportions to go to that party.
If he’d had any sense of how upsetting it would be to see Aimee, to talk to her, to remember how insanely in love with her he’d been once upon a time…
He would’ve stayed far, far away, despite both his parents telling their adult kids that they expected them all to attend their longtime friends’ party.
And into that strange state of being had walked Isla Santana to remind him he wasn’t immune to the kind of reaction that would thrill a normal person, who’d welcome a connection with a potential partner.
He wanted nothing to do with that, which was one of two reasons he’d called in Jackson.
The other was that he couldn’t effectively represent her when being in the same room with her sent him into a weird tailspin that he had neither the time nor the patience to deal with.
He could almost talk himself into being angry with her for forcing him to have to manage something so ridiculous, but he couldn’t let that happen.
It certainly wasn’t her fault she was beautiful, sweet, sexy and incredibly resourceful.
That last thing had really done it for him, the way her planning for potential catastrophe had very likely saved their lives. That was incredibly impressive.
She was incredibly impressive.
And easy to talk to and funny and a wonderful mother.
“Fuck my life,” he muttered as he checked the time and found he’d wasted half an hour thinking about a woman.
Enough of that.
She was great. No question about it, but she was no longer his concern. Jackson would take excellent care of her and would consult him if he had any questions. Julian would remain detached from the situation, protecting his heart and his ethics from any complications.
It was better that way.