It seems like forever since I’ve made the offer to Jeff. Days pass, and he doesn’t respond. I do my best to work in my new office, but it’s still difficult to concentrate, even without being able to see him. I spend so much of my time thinking about Julia and wondering what Jeff is going to do.I have a file open on my computer, but I’m not really looking at it. I am just reviewing something one of my associates has already done. Probably for the best that I do that for now, until we get all of this sorted out. If I were to try and handle any accounts myself at the moment, there’d be no guarantee that the work would be up to par. It’s a shame, and difficult for me to admit, but it’s true.My phone rings just as I’m starting to respond to an email. I almost ignore it since I’ve finally started to get some work done, but when I glance down to see who is calling and see that it’s Shawna, my head lawyer, I pick it up right away. “This is Braxton,” I say.“Good afternoon, Mr. Merriweather,
Dinner is delicious as always. The kitchen staff makes the best dishes, and this roast beef is no exception, but I am not savoring each bite I slip between my lips. I am focused on the man next to me.Braxton came home with a smile on his face for the first time in a while that didn’t look forced. He is always happy to see me, and I know when he smiles at me, it is genuine, and he means it. But tonight, something is different. Something has changed.He tried to call me earlier in the day when I was working and didn’t hear the phone ringing, and then when I called him back, he was busy, so this is the first chance I’ve gotten to talk to him since this morning. I try to be patient as we eat because I know he likes to wait until after dinner to tell me important information, but I can hardly wait to find out what has him so joyful.After we’ve eaten most of what is on our plates, I can’t help but say, “I’m sorry I missed your call today.”“Me, too,” he says. “And then when you called bac
A few days later, a sea of attorneys gather in my conference room. All of my lawyers are there, as well as Stringer and a few other people I’ve invited for their moral support, even though they have little to do with the event itself.We are waiting for Jeff and his lawyers to arrive, and my pulse is pounding out of my chest. I try taking deep breaths, but it’s not doing any good. I need this all to be over with.“It’ll be fine,” Shawna, my lead attorney, says with a reassuring smile. “It’s all but done now, Braxton. We have the wire transfer ready, all the documents are prepared. All we need is Jeff Thompson’s signature, and this will all be over with.”I nod, knowing she’s right, but deep down inside, I can’t help but think something is about to go wrong. I will admit that parting with such a large sum of money all at once makes me anxious. Every time I do a large transaction in business, I get a little ill at the idea of spending so much money, so it’s nothing new, and I’ve made my
Nervously, I pace around the art room, not able to get any work done as I wait to hear from Braxton. I know that Jeff and his team of lawyers were supposed to arrive in the office around 1:00 to sign an agreement that should end all of this madness, but at 1:30, my phone still hasn’t rang, and I have no idea what’s going on.I am staring at a canvas that I’ve hardly touched today. It’s a piece I’ve been working on recently, so it’s not a stark white, barren landscape looking back at me. But it isn’t finished, and I doubt I’ll be adding much to it today. I can’t seem to concentrate on much of anything as I wait to hear what’s going on. The painting of a couple standing in front of ruins in Rome will have to wait.I chose this scene because Braxton has promised to take me there in the summer. I can hardly wait. I’ve never been out of the country, so the idea of going on a holiday to Rome has me giddy with excitement. He’s seen so many beautiful places, and now he wants to share them all
I don’t even want to go home today for the first time since Julia left Jeff and came to live with me. I want to stay in the office, pretending to work, burying my head in the proverbial sand, so that I don’t have to tell her that Jeff refused to sign the agreement.In the hours since Thompson scattered the offer across the table and stormed out of the conference room, my lawyers have been in contact with his lawyers, and I have learned that it isn’t about the money. It’s about winning and losing. Sure, he wants the world to think it’s about him keeping his wife, but that’s not it at all. It wouldn’t matter if it were Julia, a puppy, or even an ice cream cone. Jeff Thompson is just bitter because he lost, so he’s refusing to give me the prize. It’s all so very stupid and not at all in Julia’s best interest.Shawna, my lead attorney, recommends we fight it completely now, making him sorry that he didn’t take the offer. I am fully with her. If he is going to put us through going to court
Braxton’s face has my heart leaping up into my throat. After my initial statement, letting him know that I have to go, I don’t know how to explain myself to him, to tell him that I can’t stay or why.“What do you mean you have to go?” Braxton asks, taking a few cautious steps toward me but stopping well short of touching me. “Why would you need to go?”I clear my throat, swallowing hard. “Because… it’s for the best if I do.”His eyes widen in shock. “For the best? For who?”“For everyone,” I tell him. “Especially you.”“No, Julia,” he says as he shakes his head emphatically. “It is most definitely not best for me.”I disagree with him. “Braxton, I heard what happened today. Jeff didn’t take the settlement, right?”He doesn’t answer, only continues to stare at me, unblinking. I don’t need him to answer. I already know I am right.“For him to turn down that sort of money, it tells me he will be relentless, Braxton. He’s never going to stop. Never. He won’t leave us in peace. I need to g
She’s gone. I can hardly believe it. I’m still standing in the foyer, near the window, where I watched my driver take her away, wondering how in the world I’m going to function without Julia here.I have no idea. Everywhere I look, I’m going to see her. Every room I walk into, I’ll smell her perfume. Every time I lay down in my bed, I’ll feel her beside me. I’ll see her near the pool, at the dining room table, in the gardens. And… in her art room. How can I possibly go into that room again without feeling the ghost of her?It’s obvious to me that Julia is making a huge mistake, but I can’t change her mind. It was clear to me when I saw her face that she was resolved and wasn’t going to be swayed. The idea of her walking back into that apartment, of her trying to live with Jeff Thompson again, as his wife, makes my skin crawl. I can’t bear to think of him touching her. Tears sting my eyes, and I have to rest my hand against the windowsill to keep from doubling over as a wave of nausea
The driver wanted to help me carry my stuff up the stairs, but I insisted that he leave me. Now, I am standing outside of the familiar apartment door where I lived with Jeff for over two years. It seems foreign to me, like a place I was never meant to be in the first place. The fact that I’ve come back here of my own choice seems surreal. I stand staring at the door for a long moment, unable to force myself to take this last step. I’ve made it this far. I just need to go inside. I just need to speak to Jeff and let him know that I’ll stay with him as long as he promises to leave Braxton alone. The fact that he didn’t choose the money tells me that he’s so focused on winning, he isn’t thinking straight. I know this isn’t about me. It’s about allowing another man to dictate his fate. Jeff refuses to let that happen, even when that other man is a billionaire and his boss.I hear footsteps echoing up the nearby stairwell and know I need to go in. I don’t need neighbors seeing me standing