Chapter 29 - Ben
I had found myself standing in the middle of the airport before I realized what I was doing. All I knew was that I needed to get away. I couldn’t go back to that empty house and be surrounded by the life I had lost.
When it came time to pick a destination, I stared at the board for a long time. Part of me wanted to chase after Melanie, but the idea of facing them all after reading those letters made me physically ill.
I could go to one of my other properties, but I would still be alone, and the idea of putting energy into finding companionship for the night was just as unappealing as being alone.
Angela.
That was an easy option. It was a hell of a distance to travel, but it would get her to stop calling every day.
Where the fuck did she say she was going?
“Call Frank.” I barked into my phone. He answered on the third ring with a terse tone.
“What?”
“Where did Angela settle down?”
“Excuse me?” He sounded worried.
“You heard me.” I snapped.
“I don’t know… somewhere in Connecticut. Why?”
I ended the call without another word and turned off my phone.
“One ticket to Hartford Connecticut.” I said and slid my credit card across the desk.
· · ─ ·?· ─ · ·
What the fuck was I thinking? I asked myself for the tenth time as I sat outside the nasty little motel that Angela was staying in and waited for my Uber to arrive.
In the last twelve hours, I’d spent six hours on a plane, an hour in an Uber, an hour inside Angela, and less than four hours asleep just to wake up and get tossed out of her room over a five-minute conversation.
I couldn’t blame her for kicking me out. I was being an asshole for no good reason. I had no idea what I had expected from her when I started complaining about my marriage falling apart, but when she announced she loved me, I knew I needed to shut it down once and for all.
At least it’s finally over.
I felt a surge of guilt as I thought about the look on Angela’s face when I made it clear how I felt about her.
I glanced back at the door I had closed quietly behind me just a few minutes before and sighed. Angela had been a mistake, a very costly one; it never should’ve gotten this far, and even if I’d been cruel, ending it once and for all was for the best.
It had been reckless taking a plane, using my credit card, to a location near her. Even the Uber account was in my real name. All very traceable, all very stupid. Frank was going to lose his mind. I’d just have to convince him that I’d only flown here to get her to stop harassing me.
Maybe I could get the shrink to write up something about how closure was a necessary step in my recovery. If it was therapeutic, it couldn’t be held against me, right?
I heard gravel crunch as a car finally pulled into the parking lot. According to the app, my driver was named Larry and would be driving a silver Impala. The silver sedan came to a stop a few feet in front of me, and the driver’s side window rolled down.
“You Benjamin?” a deep raspy voice called out.
“Yes, are you Larry?” I replied and rose to my feet, my knees protested with a loud crack, and I cringed.
“Yup, you got any bags?” he leaned his head out the window and looked around. “Nice place…” he muttered.
“No. It’s just me.” I opened the back door and sank into the seat. “Could you take me to the airport?”
He grunted and nodded his head.
“I’m just going to rest my eyes for a bit.” I mumbled and let my head fall back on the seat.
· · ─ ·?· ─ · ·
“Where the fuck have you been?” Frank snarled when I walked into his office almost forty-eight hours after our last call.
“I went to see Angela. To end things once and for all.” I kept my voice strong and even. If I sounded confident enough, then he’d believe it.
“You went to see Angela…” he repeated slowly.
“To end things.” I reiterated.
“To end things…” he continued.
“That’s what I said.” I gritted my teeth. He was going to be a pain in the ass.
“I quit.” He leaned back in his seat and steepled his hands under his chin. “I can give you some other names, but since you refuse to listen to my legal advice, I’m going to have to end our client-attorney relationship.” He sounded almost giddy as he delivered his professional breakup speech.
“No.” I smiled.
“No?” The frown lines reappeared between his brows. “You can’t just say no.”
“There is no way for you to ethically drop me as a client because you are implicated in all of the same things I am.” I paused, “other than cheating on my wife, of course.”
“Fuck you.” He growled.
I laughed.
“Frank, you fucked yourself as soon as you drew up those illegal NDAs. You’ve done tons of unethical shit for me and if I have to start over with a new lawyer, I will have to disclose all of it.
They’ll be forced to report you.” I shrugged.
“I’m just a finance bro, anything legal is a mystery to me—who’s to say that you didn’t manipulate me into some of the illegal activities with bad legal advice. ”
“Shut up.” He slammed a fist down on his desk.
“I will gladly forget this little tantrum of yours if you’re ready to get back to work.” I tilted my head and observed his reaction. His body was tensed up with rage, and his face had turned an interesting shade of purple. I wasn’t sure the man was actually breathing.
“Fine.” He let a puff of air escape and deflated before my eyes. “You win. We are both going to wind up in prison but fine.”
“I have faith that you like your own ass far too much to let us wind up in jail.” I joked and watched his jaw clench.
“Ms. Richards is going to write up something about how visiting Angela was a necessary step in my recovery. A version of closure or some shit. I’ve decided I’m going to sign the fucking divorce papers.
Like you said, maybe she won’t look to deep into my shit if I just give her the divorce.
I can always try to win her back after the dust has settled.
” I shrugged. Frank nodded, his relief obvious on his face.
“I’m so glad to hear you say that.” He was sitting up tall again.
“I’ll contact Yang right away and tell her we want to meet for mediation.
It’ll look suspicious if you just sign it without saying anything after you’ve been begging for a conversation.
I’ll demand that Mrs. Landon be present at the mediation but assure Yang that you are willing to give her client a divorce and are hoping to do so amicably.
” He gave me a dark look, “but you will need to be prepped before we go into that meeting, and you have to fucking listen to me for once.”
“Sure.” I waved a dismissive hand. “Is there anything else we need to do to make sure that nothing flags as suspicious before that meeting?”
“The forensic accountant found a few things and wants to meet with us ASAP, but I didn’t know where you were. I’ll call him back first.”
“Alright, see if he can meet today. The sooner we get this shit done the sooner I can start working on a plan to get her back.”
Frank stared at me with a peculiar expression on his face for several seconds before he slowly shook his head. “You’re kind of nuts, Benjamin… You know that, right?”
I chuckled and shrugged.
Wanting my wife back doesn’t make me nuts… worse guys than me get second chances all the time.
“They do say being in love can make you a little crazy.”