Finished.
Forever.
According to her new lawyer, she had a very strong case for sole custody of her kids, and apparently, her parents had left her money that would make everything easier.Hearing that news had been almost as shocking as Gabriel taking a bat to their home.She’d assumed all their resources had been used to pay for essentials as Denny finished raising her while he commuted to college at UCLA.
In the whirlwind of revelations uncovered as she took steps to end the marriage and move out of their apartment, she’d barely had a second to process any of it.Now that she could reflect, relief was the pervasive emotion.
In truth, the demise of her marriage had been a slow-rolling train wreck or, as she’d seen it described by someone online, death by a thousand paper cuts.That phrase had spoken to her soul.Day by day, week by week, month by month, the paper cuts had added up to a gaping wound that’d scabbed over but never had the chance to properly heal before he did something to reopen it.
And the cycle would begin all over again.
As she’d carved into the drywall in the back of her closet, hoping to find a space where she and the kids could hide if it came to that, she’d been fully aware of the absolute insanity of what she was doing and why she needed it.After having Mila completely on her own, suffering from postpartum depression while caring for two kids and wondering where her husband was for the first month of their daughter’s life, the marriage had been over for her.She’d been biding her time ever since, looking for an exit ramp that he’d delivered with a baseball bat.
She’d begun to move on from him mentally and emotionally even before he smashed up their home, forcing her to make the actual move to leave him for good.
Tonight, as she sat in someone else’s house, surrounded by things that didn’t belong to her, she was more at home than she’d been in the apartment for quite some time.She felt safe, hidden within a city of millions in a place he’d never think to look for her.For once, the massiveness of Los Angeles was coming in handy rather than frustrating her with traffic, crowds and other challenges that came with city living.
She exhaled fully for the first time in years.
Years.
It’d beenyearssince things had been “normal” with Gabriel.
Years of her life that she’d never get back had been lost to an unknown adversary, an illness or an addiction or something that’d taken him over and away from her.She wondered if knowing what was wrong would make her feel better.At one time, it would have.Now, it didn’t matter anymore.She hoped he’d get the help he needed so he could maybe someday have a relationship with his children, but that’d be up to him.All her begging and pleading for him to get help had fallen on deaf ears, and now…
She was done.
Isla drank her wine and gazed at the framed posters of musicians she didn’t recognize on the wall above the sofa in a house on a street named for a president she’d barely heard of.Woodrow Wilson.She had vague memories of learning about him in school, but no solid info on him that she could easily recall.
The Realtor Denny had called had told him the short-term rental that’d checked all her boxes had historical significance to some musician she’d never heard of but whom Denny had gushed about while Isla had made sure the windows were locked.
She couldn’t care less about historical significance.The only thing that mattered was that she and her children were safe and secure and had enough money to eat tomorrow.
Hearing that Denny had protected her money from Gabriel had been both shocking and devastating.But thank God for him, as she’d thought a million times since they lost their parents.They’d been union camera operators who met on the set of a film when they were twenty-one and had been together ever since.Denny and Isla had taken some comfort in knowing they’d be together forever in the afterlife.
Twenty-year-old Denny had stepped up for her then and so many times since that she couldn’t possibly count them all.If she’d known when she first got together with Gabriel that her brother was hiding money that was legally hers, she would’ve been outraged.In her righteous indignation, she might’ve said or done things that could never be unsaid or undone.There was no question that, if it’d come down to a choice back then, she would’ve ended her relationship with her brother to preserve her bond with Gabriel.
What a fool she’d been, but thankfully, she hadn’t lost her brother, too.That would’ve been truly tragic.
Here, she thought as she looked around at the cozy room full of musical memorabilia from the sixties and seventies, comfy couches, terracotta tile and other Spanish accents, she was more at peace than she would’ve thought possible on the day she met with a divorce attorney.
Speaking of Julian, her phone chimed with a text from him.
Gabriel is out on bail.He’s been served the restraining order and been told to stay at least one thousand feet from you and your children.I have some more paperwork for you to fill out.If you’d like, I could drop it off on my way home.I live up the road from where you are in the Canyon.Or I could messenger them over tomorrow.
Oh hello.Yes, please, bring me the papers, you sexy devil,she thought.
Stop it, Isla.You’re about to file for divorce after your husband got himself arrested for smashing up your apartment.The last thing in the world you should be doing is crushing on your divorce attorney.
But he’d been so kind, so understanding,sogorgeous.And he’d smelled pretty damned good, too.
If she was going to hell for thinking her divorce attorney was sexy, then at least she’d go happy.
Her actual reply was all business.Sure, that’d be great.You’ve got the address on Woodrow Wilson Drive?
Yep, I know that house.It’s a landmark.I didn’t know it was being rented.
I heard it’s got history.To me, it’s a safe haven.
