Chapter 3
Odette
Wynn was standing outside on her adorable wraparound porch when I pulled in. She stalked down the steps before I was able to put my car into park and ripped open the door, scanning me from head to toe, looking for any physical wounds. Unfortunately, for me, my wounds were only internal.
Wynn was a force to be reckoned with; she had that "take no shit" attitude and the looks to match.
Her dark blonde hair had pieces of purple threaded through it, and even though her face was bare of makeup given the hour, she normally sported deep red lips and a smokey eye.
While she usually wore power suits to work, outside of work, she usually dressed in all black with ass-kicking boots to match.
She had on sleep shorts and a T-shirt in her signature black coloring, but with the look on her face, she still looked like she could inflict some serious damage.
She pulled me into a fierce hug. Wynn wasn't the best people-person and didn't like physical touch unless it came from the man who was warming her bed, so I knew she must have seen the devastation sprawled over my face.
"Come inside, let's talk."
I followed her into her cottage, noting it looked a bit barer than the last time I was here two weeks ago.
"Where's all your stuff?" I pointed at the walls, noticing some of her abstract art was taken down.
"I'm actually thinking of selling. I travel too much with work to have a three-bedroom cottage. I bought it in a buyer's market, and now it's a seller’s market, so it seems like a smart move."
The idea popped into my head almost instantly. "Sell it to me."
"What happened, Odette?" She sat at the breakfast nook, gesturing for me to join her. I was shocked that I was holding it together as well as I was.
During the drive here I had nothing but time to think about my next steps.
The way I saw it, I had two options. The first one was to sit down, listen to him, and see what happened.
Unfortunately for me, my husband was my weakness, everything about him made me tremble with want and need.
He had been my haven for ten years. I wasn't obtuse enough to think that those feelings would just go away, and right now they were hidden under layers of betrayal and pain, but the love I had for him was still there.
Because of that I knew, given half the option or chance, I would fold like a deck of cards.
My second option was to cut him off completely.
It would be significantly easier if it were just him and I, but I had Lux to think about.
I would never be that woman who withheld a man's child from him, even the thought of that put a frown on my face.
I know what that woman said, but ultimately, the choice to remain in Lux's life was Murphy's choice.
Since I didn't get the luxury of growing up with parents, I would never take that away from Lux, ever.
"I caught Murphy cheating on me." It tumbled out of my mouth so quickly, even though the words felt like they were burning my throat.
"I'm sorry... What did you just say?" I could feel Wynn’s anger permeating the air.
I met her gaze. I knew my eyes held all the pain I felt, while hers blazed like a raging inferno.
"I'm going to kill him." She got up from the nook.
"I think I'm actually going to kill him.
" She started pacing the kitchen, muttering under her breath about how long a body takes to decompose, and when I heard something along the lines of "No body, no crime," I couldn't help the hysterical laugh that bubbled out of me.
"Wynn, you can't go to jail. I need you. Lux needs you."
Her rage-filled gaze met mine, but softened at the mention of my daughter—Wynn turned into absolute goo over the mention of her niece.
"Tell me what happened."
So, I did. I told her how excited I was about passing my boards and becoming a PA, about how I couldn't wait to see and tell Murphy, and since Susan also adores her granddaughter, it wasn't a difficult task, asking her to watch her for the night while I surprised him.
I got through the part where I walked into the room and what I saw, but I lost it when I tried to explain what I had overheard that wench Helen say to Murphy as I made my escape.
"She...she said that he didn't love me anymore, that he regretted having Lux so young.
" I choked on my sobs, unable to say anything else.
She slid over onto my side of the nook and held me, which was so unlike Wynn, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything other than melt into her embrace and cry.
My heart was breaking. Breaking for the love I thought I shared with someone, for the future I had always envisioned for myself and my daughter.
I saw it melt away, piece by piece—the family vacations, the dance recitals and after dinner meals, the high school dances and worrying together, my daughter growing up with two parents.
Everything laid to waste at the bottom of my heart.
Wynn let me cry until there was nothing left, my mind and body exhausted.
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to leave him."
Her eyebrows shot up. She wasn't expecting this response from me, but a slow smile spread over her lips.
"Good. Let me make a call." She stood abruptly and went in search of her phone.
"It's two-thirty in the morning. Who on earth could you be calling?"
Her face was etched in a frown, looking at the screen of her phone. I knew then that Murphy must have called her, trying to get hold of me.
"Is that him?" I whispered.
She didn't have to say anything, it was written all over her face. Her phone buzzed in her hand again. She declined the call and proceeded to make her phone call and put it on speaker.
"Dan, sorry to bother you at this hour."
"Not at all. What’s going on, Wynn?"
Wynn worked in PR for a huge company, so she traveled all the time and had some famous clients.
"I have to let you know you are on speaker with my sister, Odette. Listen, we need a lawyer."
I heard shuffling in the background, as if he was getting out of bed,
"Is everyone okay?" His voice took a very different tone from the one a few seconds prior.
"I guess that depends on your definition."
"Was anyone killed? Drinking and drugs involved?" he asked calmly.
I balked at that. "What? No! Of course not!"
"You forget what kind of people I deal with, sis.” Wynn winked at me. “That’s the norm."
Dan's voice came through the speaker once again. "Okay... Why don't you fill me in?"
Wynn took him off speaker and filled him in on what I walked in on, clearly trying to spare me from having to relive it over again. After that, she put him back on speaker so he could address me personally.
"Listen, I'm a criminal lawyer, so I don't do family law. However, I can get you in touch with one of the best in this area. Wynn mentioned you have a child. Where is she now?"
"Yes, Lux. She’s with her grandma...my mother-in-law."
"That's good, that will help your case that you don't appear to be keeping her from him."
"I would never do that."
"Is there any chance of reconciliation?" he questioned.
"No." My voice was firm, which once again caused Wynn to look at me with surprise, but I could tell she was proud of me.
"I just...I can't see him again, not for a while. Is there a way to make that happen?" I wondered to myself, but I must have spoken it out loud.
"Once again, I'm not a family lawyer, but if he has access to his daughter, I don't see why you would have to.
I would get in touch with your mother-in-law, see if she can handle the go-between with you guys regarding Lux until you can get in front of a judge.
Give me a few hours, and I'll get you representation.” He hung up without another word.
The second the line was free again, Wynn’s phone went off like a bomb, buzzing and vibrating with the acronym "BIL" flashing across the screen.
"He knows I'm here; I'd have nowhere else to go." I shrugged.
She snatched the phone from the middle of the table. "Murphy," she said with such malice when she answered, even I flinched at her tone.
"Wynn..." I heard him speak, and I felt the bile rise again. I couldn't make out what else he said after that, only her response.
"What kind of man are you that you don't know where your daughter or your wife is at three in the morning on a Friday night?
Be lucky it wasn't me who caught you, because you and your girlfriend's bodies would be six feet under by now.
My lawyer will be in touch first thing," she hissed and hung up the phone. She looked me over again.
"I have a plan," I said.