Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 28033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Shayla was horribly late when she arrived at the office. She had always been punctual, but today was just the worst, and—huh?
Why were there so many paralegals crowding the hallway?
“This is ridiculous—”
“Then stop trying to destroy your own marriage—”
“I am respecting my wife’s wishes—”
“You are being an idiot—”
And what were they all staring at that had them so captivated it was as if they were hypnotized? It was like they were rehearsing a scene from Welcome to Derry—
Oh!
Shayla couldn’t believe her eyes. What were these two doing? Why were they playing tug of war over a Mont Blanc pen? Was this some kind of dare? A boy thing that girls could never understand? Or had their office simply run out of pens and common sense?
Oh, whatever.
Shayla rushed past everyone and quickly apologized to Lexy who was already waiting for her in her office. “I’m so sorry. I tried to get here as early as I could—”
“It’s fine. You warned me yesterday you had a meeting before this.”
Shayla noticed the way Lexy was restlessly clasping and unclasping her hands. “Is everything okay? Did you and Leonidas talk again before coming here?”
“We came here separately.”
“Oh.”
“I thought it would be better that way.”
Shayla’s heart ached at the strain underscoring the younger woman’s voice. “May I ask you something, Lexy?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you truly want this divorce?”
“I...yes.”
Shayla didn’t miss the way Lexy’s eyes avoided meeting her gaze as she answered. “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I have a feeling there’s something more to this. Something you’re holding back, and I just—”
“I just need to do this,” Lexy said jerkily. “It’s just...fairer this way.”
****
The tug-of-war only ended when Adriano received a call, and Leonidas came to his senses as he found himself holding the Mont Blanc pen that he just spent the ten minutes of his life actually fighting to retain possession of like it was the title to his most expensive property.
His whole life, he had always been mature and sensible. But now, because of this...this marriage that had gone from convenient to complicated in a blink—he had ended up acting like a toddler who didn’t want to share his toy.
“Is that so?”
The tone that Adrian used had Leonidas’ lips tightening. He knew his friend well enough to understand what that measured tone meant. And so, as soon as the call ended, he did not waste time in asking—
“How bad is it?”
Adriano looked at him soberly. “It’s not what you think.”
“So not about the divorce then?”
“It is,” Adriano allowed, “but not in the way you imagined.” A pause followed before Adrian went on with faint reluctance, “Shayla and I do not speak of this often, but we welcomed an investor in our firm shortly after our marriage. A silent partner who owns a controlling share in the firm.”
Leonidas’ brows shot up at the revelation. Whoever this individual was, he must be someone Adriano significantly respected and trusted, to yield such control over his firm.
“We’ve had our best year ever since working with him. But it’s also because of him we’ve become highly selective with the cases we take on.”
“Does he think my case has the potential to attract the wrong attention?” Leonidas questioned.
“You need to keep in mind that your case and Lexy’s was supposed to be a simple referral. That’s it. But now that it’s come to this...”
While Leonidas had no trouble reading between the lines, he was rather surprised that a law firm would draw the line on divorce proceedings, which most legal counsels saw as the easiest way to make money.
“After the media coverage from the Cannizzaro situation—”
“Which did not actually result in a divorce,” Leonidas pointed out.
“I know that. But the press? The public? They do not care, and since then, we’ve been inundated with requests. Celebrities. Politicians. Anyone who wants their separation handled with discretion.”
“And your investor disapproves of this because?”
“He believes marriage is sacred.” A pause. “So do Shayla and I, and that’s why—”
“You want me to seek legal representation elsewhere,” Leonidas surmised flatly.
“We would like to ask for you and Lexy to consider mediation,” Adriano said at the same time, and his lips twitched when he saw his friend’s subsequent reaction to his words.
“A mediation?” As a Greek, mediation called forth thoughts of the Trojan horse, and the whole world knew what happened after that.
“Ne, my friend. A mediation. A chance to make things right and go all in—but without sacrificing your pride. You can both simply think of it as your legal counsel wanting the best for their client, which is to keep all the assets under one conjugal account...rather than go through the costly, not to mention unnecessary, mess of division of property.”
“And if either of us refuse?”
“Then I have no choice but to go with our investor’s directive, and that is to give you another referral for your case.”