Chapter Nine
Caroline
Strolling the bustling streets of Chicago again, it feels surreal.
Although I have called this city home for the last few years, I suddenly feel a bit out of place.
It doesn’t feel as light and airy as it used to.
Like an ominous cloud of regret is lingering over my every step.
Instead of being carefree and walking with purpose, I now feel…
untethered? Like I’m not sure which direction to head to, despite taking these paths for the past two years.
I’m surrounded by people, yet I know none of them or their stories.
I finally arrive at the beautifully crafted granite law building and climb the stairs to Richard Green’s office door.
It feels odd to come here alone. I’ve never actually needed a lawyer or known how to navigate obtaining one, until I met Grant.
I was basically appointed my own law staff when joining the family, but I always let him handle those things.
Being here now, without him, feels like I’m walking on enemy territory.
My shiny black kitten heels click-clack on the marble tiled floor as I make my way to the double set of elevators and press the gold outlined up arrow and wait for one to ding.
I make the eighteen floor climb up the skyscraper and finally stop a minute later, as the doors open up to the many windows overlooking the city.
I step out and steady myself, trying not to slip in these shoes.
I swear, I will never get used to wearing high heels, no matter how good I am at faking the ability with ease.
Smoothing out my black pencil skirt and ensuring there are no stray hairs, I skip right past the knocking part and open the heavy wood door to step foot into the paralegal’s office.
“Gooood morning, Mr. Green,” I sing with a smile, as I swing the door open exuberantly. But as my eyes lift from the floor, my smile quickly disappears and I am cut off by the sight that I just walked into.
“Grant?! What are you doing here?!” I exclaim, completely caught off guard at the sight of my soon to be ex-husband across the desk, sitting in the chair that I should be seated in right about now.
“Me? What are you doing back here? At MY lawyer’s office?” he pipes up as if he owns the place. Although… it wouldn’t surprise me if he did, so maybe I should rethink what comes out of my mouth next, but I can’t back down.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I actually had an appointment with the lawyer that you don’t actually own.” I declare, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
“No, I have an appointment right now that you just rudely interrupted by bursting in… And who did you plan on footing the bill for your consultation?” Grant responds, raising his left eyebrow.
“Mr and Mrs Warren, please settle down and have a seat.
Allow me to explain the purpose for today's joint appointment. We are all adults here and I hope that we can have some civility in my office.” Mr. Green attempts to interject the argument, after I almost forgot he was even in the room.
We both turn our gazes and stare at Mr. Green, impatiently waiting for him to elaborate on how we ended up here at the same time.
“I brought you both here so that we could discuss things together,” he continues.
“Absolutely not. This is not what I’m paying you for, Green. I’ve already retained your services and it’s a conflict of interest for you to represent us both” Grant Stonefaced Warren was slowly becoming more unhinged as he cut off Mr. Green with a withering look.
“Wait, you’re working with him?!” How did I not even think of this being a possibility? He has so many other resources at his fingertips though, and he just has to use the one lawyer that I’m familiar with? I know this can’t be a coincidence.
“Or you can go back to your podunk town and find your own paralegal instead of trying to mooch off my family some more.”
Okay, of all the possible next interactions I could have with my ex, this was not one that had been played out in my head. Not that I expected him to be begging for forgiveness at my feet, but I truly didn’t picture him to be such a straight up asshole.
“Excuse me? I have never mooched anything or been anything but kind and grateful to your family. Where is this attitude coming from? Did you forget that you were the one that screwed this up?” The audacity of this man has me more and more heated by the second.
“Settle down!” Mr. Green speaks up again. “Please can I just speak, you two take a seat. There is nothing to negotiate here. I am not charging anyone today, nor am I representing either of you.”
“What on earth are you saying, Mr. Green? Why did you bring us here today, then?” Grant finally calms his voice, more concerned about himself.
“Well, Mr. Warren…,” Mr. Green took a seat in his rolling office chair, before linking his hands atop the desk. “If you recall, we wrote up an extensively detailed prenup prior to your nuptials.” The tone is slower and more calm now.
“Yes, and?” Grant confirms, but it’s not clicking for him.
“It very clearly outlines everything that is needed for the divorce. My services included.” Richard explains, but we are still putting the pieces together.
“What do you mean? I don’t even remember reading whatever was drafted up. Can’t we discuss this alone?” Grant looks over at me, as if to see if I’m still here or if I’ve magically disappeared.
“No, Mr. Warren. Unfortunately, your prenuptial agreement was made very clear.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“As it stands, in the event of a filing and the terms of the departure… your unfaithfulness will cost you more than you think.” He says this last part, very matter of factly and I didn’t dare breathe.
“My unfaithfulness? That can’t be proven in court. We wrote that agreement to protect me and my assets, back before I even had my success.” I can see the concern start to cross Grant’s facial expressions.
Now this part… I knew where this was going.
And now, I am so glad that I am here to see his face when he hears the news.
I’m not sure how anyone thinks they can get away with anything in this digital day and age, but especially someone as high profile as Grant Warren.
The one who insisted we live in the highest security building with enough cameras to catch every angle and a fully staffed doorman at all times.
Little does he know, I had become very close with our doorman, Reginald.
He may actually be what I miss most about living in that building.
Reginald is the sweetest old man that spoke with me everyday and greeted me with a warm dimpled smile when I got home from work.
He eventually became family and I made sure to bring him Christmas cookies every year.
What I didn’t realize was how much that would help me in the future and how easy it was to access the security footage when needed.
Mr. Green swivels in his brown leather chair to grab his laptop and turn it towards us. Hitting the space bar to roll the footage, Grant’s face instantly drops and renders speechless.
“You see, Mr. Warren, it was made clear that any documented affairs would benefit the other party. Aside from the obvious paparazzi photos, the following security camera timelines were retrieved and verified by the company that lined up an extensive overlap of women during your time being married to Miss Caroline.” Ha.
And with that, Richard closes his laptop, as if it were a mic-drop.
I knew it was bad, but I don’t think I want to know just how bad his use of ‘extensive’ meant.
I suddenly felt ill and couldn’t handle being in this stuffy room any longer.
I should be ecstatic that this was all working out in my favor, but clearly the wounds were still too fresh for me to bear.
As bad as I wanted to run out of there, I didn’t want him to see my weakness.
In an effort to get some air, I stood to move around the room and hoped it looked like a power stance rather than an anxious pacing.
The silence was so loud and I wasn’t sure who should speak first. I watched a full spectrum of emotions play across Grant's face, which was more than I ever bore witness to in the entirety of our marriage. Next thing I know, he’s dialing his phone.
After two rings, I can faintly make out the nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of my ex mother-in-law’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Mother? Yes, can you please come up to the office? I need a new attorney and will no longer be speaking with Mr. Green until I am represented elsewhere.” He speaks, ignoring the rest of us in the room and stands up from his chair.
I couldn’t make out what was said on the other side of the call, but she sounded frantic. Grant made his way to the door, still holding the phone to his ear but made his way out without saying another word to either of us or even making eye contact.
∞∞∞
Mr. Green said it would be best for me to lie low while awaiting further proceedings.
I more than appreciated him taking on my case, especially after all of this time of loyalty to such a notorious family.
I always knew he was a good man, but trusting anyone to do the right thing in this world is the riskiest thing you could do.
The first thing I had to do was get out of the pencil skirt that hardly allowed me to walk. Calling an UberX to take me back to my hotel, I threw on my yoga pants and a comfy tank, as soon as I arrived and took a moment to collect myself.
One adult task down, on to the next. That honestly felt like all of the adulting that I could handle for one day, but I knew the procrastination would only make me feel worse and at this point, I wanted to mark off my to do list and get the heck out of here.
I decided to take a break and reach out to a dear friend while I’m here.
Lola is one of those friends that is a lot of fun to be around and can always hype you up…
but you’re never quite sure if she’s being genuine or just agreeing with everything you say.
Regardless, she’s one of the closest (and only) friends I made in this city and I feel like I can somewhat trust her because she is the most removed from the Warren family.
ME: “Hey girl, miss me? Come pick me up on your lunch break for an emergency sweetgreen date?”
LOLA: “CAR!! Where have you been?! Absolutely, I get done with class in 30 min.”
ME: “Oh I guess I should mention that I’m staying at The Carlton. Text me when you get to the lobby and I’ll catch you up on everything.”
LOLA: “Girl, the amount of questions I have for you.. Be there ASAP!”
Enjoying the few minutes of quiet alone time that I have, I recharge my battery as I know this chat will both fill my cup and drain my energy at the same time. Lola is highly animated, but I can be myself around her so I don’t mind the theatrics.
12:00 PM on the dot, my phone vibrates with a message from Lola that she managed to find street parking and was walking in. I slide on my Birkenstocks to give my feet a rest and head down to the lobby.
“What is on your feet?!” Lola’s voice echoes across the empty main level.
“Sometimes beauty is pain and sometimes comfort is beauty,” I shrug as she comes in for a hug.
“I will never understand your small town fashion or sayings, but that’s why I love you. Now come on, I’m starving! I worked up a sweat at the studio and then your text elevated my heart rate even more.” She grabs my hand and pulls me out the door for the short walk to sweetgreen.
Lola and I met at a Pure Sculpt pilates class, when I first moved in with Grant.
Since then, we were both recruited to help teach a few classes a week and it’s been so fun getting to work in that environment.
Not to mention, being in the best shape of my life.
It really motivated me to look good in a wedding dress though. Not that it mattered now.
Sliding in the wooden chair across from her, I blurt out, “There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about… I may need to quit my job at Pure Sculpt… or pick up more shifts, I’m not sure which.”
Puzzled, Lola furrowed her eyebrows. “Alright, you lost me there. I know I’m blonde, but please back up a few steps.”
“Ugh, Grant and I are splitting up… and I’m moving out. Which also means losing my job at the hotel…” I try to explain as best I can.
“Woah, woah, woah, go back a minute. You and Grant?! What in the world? I mean sure I saw the rumors, but the paps are crazy with that stuff, I didn’t actually think any of it to be true. What happened?!”
“Ashley happened.” I say flatly, knowing she’ll get it.
Shocked, her jaw quickly dropped. “No! Ashley Ashley? From the work trip Ashley?”
“That’s the one. Well, one of many I suppose. I had to witness it with my own eyes.”
“Oh girl, I’m so sorry… I had no idea. I mean, obviously I never trusted the bitch but wow Grant, really? So what are you going to do?” She says, as our salads are placed in front of us.
“I don’t know… it depends on how all of this works out, but I can’t afford a new place in the city on my own, especially without my hospitality job. I think I’m just going to go back home for a bit and get away from the craziness.” I shrug, slightly embarrassed.
“You don’t mean… Indiana?” She says as if she was going to gag.
“That’s the one… I already went there this past week, that’s where I’ve been hiding. But I came back up to handle business this week and get the rest of my things from the apartment. I just hope Meredith takes it well.”
Meredith is our manager at the pilates studio. She’s sweet, but also takes her business very seriously.
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll cut you a break. I’m happy to pick up shifts or whatever you need! I’ve got your back. Want me to go talk to her with you?” Lola offers in response, cutting back on the loud tone of voice.
“Could you? I was hoping to head back to the studio with you after this… I just need to rip the bandaid off,” I admit, hoping to mark another big task off of my to-do list.
“Of course. But please don’t stay away for too long, it’s so boring there without you!!” At least Lola knows how to make me feel loved.