He blows out a sigh. “I’ll tell you one thing. When we set things straight, Brian McDonough is losing his license to practice law.”
He flips through the prenup, his expression turning thoughtful. “You know, take this for what it’s worth, but you do have some leverage here.”
“I do?” It doesn’t feel that way. I feel trapped. Locked up again by my own bad decisions.
“Your husband seems to place a great deal of value on having a male child. Fifty million dollars to be precise.”
“I don’t see how that’s leverage.”
“Well, you have something that he wants. Or rather you can give him something that he wants. Sometimes what you can’t win in court, you can win in private negotiations.”
“I give him a boy, and he lets me keep my girls?” I would never do that.
Drake shakes his head. “Based on this prenup, I can’t see him going for that, but maybe there’s something else that would make this situation more tenable to you. A settlement of some kind. A commitment to marital counseling or a fidelity clause with a penalty payment stipulated. You’re not completely without power here.”
I will never willingly see a shrink, certainly not with Adrian, and I don’t want him to pay me to cheat. I want him to never have existed. I want to shove him in the car and push him out on someone else’s front step. I want to walk past him on the street and not even notice him.
“I want a divorce,” I say instead.
“I understand. I am going to work every second from here on out to make that happen. I just need you to hold on for now. Can you do that for me?” His Ken doll eyes are clear and kind. I want to be reassured, to truly believe that I have someone on my side. I can’t, but I long for the fiction.
I nod and tuck his card into my pocket. He rises from his desk to fetch my jacket. “Jules has the letter of retainer for you to sign, and she’ll take your payment.”
He opens the door and ushers me out, all of sudden in a hurry again. “It was so nice to meet you, Cora. I’m sorry it was under these conditions.”
I startle when I see Pence sitting in the waiting room, her elbows propped on her knees, staring at the floor. She immediately stands and scowls at me.
Drake looks at me, his forehead creasing.
“My security,” I explain.
“Of course.” He smiles, dismissing her, and takes my hand, squeezing, not shaking. “Chin up. You and me, Cora. We’ve got this.” Then he’s gone, vanished back into his office. I feel like I’ve been through a whirlwind.
Jules waves me over to her counter where she’s laid out a document in duplicate with yellow “sign here” tags at thebottom. “Take your time, and ask me if you have any questions at all,” she says.
I stare at the paper. The words blur together. I try, I really do, but phrases from the prenup keep erupting in my mind.Sole legal and physical custody. Visitation. Conducted under the supervision of Mr. Maddox or his designee.
I need to see my babies. Now. I scrawl my signature on the line and dig in my pocket for my wallet.
“Here,” I say, laying my black credit card on the counter. “For whatever I owe you.”
Jules smiles and runs the card through the reader attached to her phone. Her smile fades. She runs the card again. “I’m sorry. It’s declining. Do you have another card?”
No, and I don’t have any cash. I’m not allowed to carry it for security reasons. My card always works. It’s black. Itcan’tdecline.
I turn to Pence. She’s standing by the door, her hands clasped in front of her like a bouncer, intentionally looking away. Her lips curve ever so slightly in smug satisfaction. The bitch ratted me out.
Blood rushes to my head, and a band squeezes my lungs. I haven’t felt this powerless since I left Baltimore. My hands curl into fists. Jules is talking, but I can’t focus on the words. She sets my card back on the counter, gives me a reassuring smile, and raps on Drake’s office door with her knuckles. He emerges immediately, his eyes clouded with concern.
Jules explains the situation. Understanding dawns on his face. “No worries at all, Cora. We can proceed without payment at this time. This is going to be a process. I’m in it with you for the long haul. Don’t let this throw you. Just focus on yourself and your babies. I’ll make sure that you have access to your rightful assets.”
I haven’t been short of cash since I met Adrian, and the feeling burns like salt in a cut. My embarrassment iscomplete. I couldn’t read my own prenup, I was so stupid that I gave up my own children like the dumbass from Rumpelstiltskin, and now I have to rely on charity since I’ve got nothing that Adrian didn’t give to me.
My stomach churns. I slip the credit card back into my wallet. When I shove the wallet in my pocket, my fingers brush plastic.
The key fob to my new Rennard.
“Wait,” I say, even though Drake hasn’t moved back toward his office yet. “Here. You can have this as collateral. It’s a Rennard.”
