We just disagreed on what the best outcome was. All he wanted was for her to settle quietly without stirring up any legal trouble for us. I planned on using her betrayal to stop the divorce. I just wanted her to explain why she hid her pregnancy from me, then we could both apologize for our fuck ups and start over.
“Are you listening to me?” Frank snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I flinched.
“No. Get your hand out of my face.” I snapped and pushed back from his desk. “I’m a little distracted so you’ll have to forgive me if I wasn’t listening to yet another one of your lectures.”
“It’s not a lecture, Benjamin. I’m prepping you for the most important meeting of our lives. You understand what’s on the line today, right?”
“My marriage.”
“That’s the exact answer I was afraid of.” Frank groaned, “Your marriage is already over, the paperwork is technicality. What’s actually on the line, is our freedom.”
“My marriage isn’t over.” I argued and checked my watch. “Are we going to wait for them in the conference room or wait until they’re already seated?”
“If you had been listening,” he said through gritted teeth, “I told you, I want them to sit for a few minutes before we join them. Being forced to wait in enemy territory disrupts their balance. We need to walk in with like we don’t have a care in the world. I’ll give a fake apology and say that I needed to go over some new evidence with you and then we will sit down and smile.”
I nodded and rolled my neck to relieve some of the tension. I knew it wouldn’t do any good; I wasn’t going to truly relax until Melanie was back in our home.
“Mr. Gatti, your nine o’clock meeting has just been shown to the conference room.” Frank's secretary opened the door to hisoffice with a single knock and spoke before either of them had acknowledged her.
“Thank you,” Frank bit out. Each word was clipped, and his eyes were cold.
She sneered at him and closed the door just a little too hard to be mistaken as unintentional.
“Trouble?” I smirked. Frank must’ve been dipping in the office pool and found himself a clinger.
“Shut up.” Frank grumbled. “I need you to focus.”
“Fine. You have my full attention.” I drawled and steepled my fingers together.
“You aren’t going to speak unless I indicate you should. The agreement I’ve drafted is a clean 50/50 split of known assets. I’m going to use her omission of the truth about her pregnancy to counter the infidelity clause. We won’t be able to settle anything about the kid yet, but I can demand a paternity test if you have any concerns.” I slapped a hand down on his desk.
“I don’t know why you are obsessed with the idea that my wife was cheating on me, but this is the last time I’m going to hear anything about it. Are we clear?” I growled. He rolled his eyes but grunted an agreement.
“Her grandmother's lawyer assured me that the inheritance can’t be included in the division of assets part of the divorce, which I expected.” I stared at him in shock. I hadn’t asked him to contact Barb's lawyer or try to take any of Melanie’s money. “It will be considered when the judge tries to determine which pregnancy costs you are responsible for. Since Mrs. Landon tried to hide the pregnancy and will have plenty of money, I think I’ll be able to convince a judge that you shouldn’t need to pay more than whatever the spousal support agreement is. I’ll get the child support down as low as possible, too.”
He was going to ruin any chance I had with my wife if he said any of that to her.
“Stop. Talking.” I jumped to my feet, planted my hands firmly on his desk, and leaned over it. “Do not, foranyfucking reason, bring up anything about paying LESS for our child in this meeting. Melanie will go nuclear if she thinks I’m trying to shirk my financial responsibility to our child. I don’t mind paying whatever the judge decides is fair as long as she can’t take my child away from me.” I stared Frank down without blinking until I saw the resignation settle in his eyes.
“Whatever.” Frank threw his hands up, “If you want to tie my hands then don’t be surprised when she gets the better end of the deal here.”
I stepped back from his desk and walked towards the door. “It’s been long enough. Let’s go.”
My eyes unconsciously began searching for my wife as soon as I stepped out of his office into the main area. Unlike the cluttered chaos that was Frank's office, the rest of the firm had been designed with a modern, minimalist aesthetic in mind.
Upon entering the office, a receptionist greeted you from in front of a floating wall that hid the open-concept main area. Beyond it, three paralegals sat at their desks, which were arranged in a horseshoe pattern around the central waiting area. A long leather couch faced a television mounted on the back of the floating wall, flanked by a pair of uncomfortable chairs.
Opposite the TV, behind the middle paralegal, were three doors—two led to bathrooms and one to a storage room where supplies, IT equipment, and client files were kept under lock and key. The employee break room and the conference room shared the wall directly across from Frank's office. Like most conference rooms, the wall was made of privacy glass, but someone had set it to 50%. The three people waiting for us to arrive had chosen to sit together on one side of the table. Ms. Yang sat closest to the door, on one side of my wife, and other the other side sat Griffin. I felt my fists tighten at mysides when I realized she had brought another man along to what she thought was the first step in our divorce.
“Remember… keep your mouth shut.” Frank whispered and hurried to open the door.
“Apologies for keeping you waiting, my client and I needed to discuss the new evidence that was brought to my attention.” Frank took the seat across from Ms. Yang, and I took the seat across from Melanie. I forced myself to avoid looking at her and instead focused my attention on Griffin. I stared him down with a sneer on my face, as Frank had instructed, and waited for her attorney to speak.
“That’s fine.” Ms. Yang said curtly and ignored the carrot he had dangled before her. Frank shifted, annoyed by her indifference. “Now that you are here, we should get started. We are here today to sign the divorce agreement that my client and Mr. Landon discussed last week.”
“Sort of,” Frank pulled the amended agreement from inside his briefcase, but did not slide it over. “We made a few changes.”
“Mr. Gatti, I don’t appreciate you wasting my time or my clients' time.” Ms. Yang rose to her feet. Her fury was evident on her face. “I can tell from the sneers on both of your smug faces that this new agreement will be exactly that—a waste oftime.” She motioned for Melanie and Griffin to join her. "We will see you in court, Mr. Landon."
