Chapter 2

Alyvia POV

     I remember sitting in my Avondale office waiting for Jazmine to show up a year later. She was running late that day after her therapy session. She had decided to take my advice & found a therapist to help her work through the pile of issues that Nick had left her with. The wedding was in two days, & I still needed to pick up my dress from the boutique & finalize the menu. When Nick proposed, he had said he wanted to get married on our one year anniversary, so I had managed to plan a wedding in three months.

     I had run into him at his favorite coffee shop on October 1st, a Saturday, & he said that he noticed me as soon as I walked in. He was sitting there eating a raspberry bear claw, while drinking his morning coffee & scrolling through social media. He said that I stole his breath away, and that he had never seen anyone so effortlessly beautiful. I had ordered a tall salted caramel mocha latte with extra caramel & mocha drizzle & an apple cinnamon scone. I sat two tables away from him, & proceeded to immerse myself into my phone.

     I pretended not to see him, but I knew he had gotten up from his seat & wasn't surprised when he asked me if he could join me. I had feigned surprise though, & even added a little jump, which made him apologize for scaring me. I told him he could join me, & he began telling me how the apple cinnamon scones were actually his favorite pastry, but he sometimes got the raspberry bear claw to switch it up. I giggled & asked him if I was allowed to taste it, then let him feed it to me, since I felt it was rude to touch other people's food. And that's all it took to wrap him around my finger. He would have let me take a bite of it myself, to be kind, but I knew that people touching his food was a pet peeve of his thanks to Jazmine’s intel, so I used it to my advantage.

     A little flirtatious conversation & an hour later, I had a date with him. 2 months later we were snowed in at my Edgewater apartment due to a blizzard, which I took complete advantage of. By Christmas I was waking up in his townhouse, meeting his parents & having Christmas dinner with his family. His parents loved me, & his little sister would be my maid of honor at our wedding. It had been a roller coaster that first year, but as the wedding had drawn closer, I felt as if we were finally nearing the finish line.

      The bell to the front door dinged & I looked up to see Jazmine strolling through the door. Her eyes were puffy, but I knew she'd been crying when I talked to her earlier. A gave her a soft smile as she entered the office and sat down. She had lost some weight since our first meeting, & I had the feeling that rehashing everything she had gone through with Nick was taking it's toll on her.

     "How are you?" I had asked her sincerely as I looked into her sad eyes.

    

"I'm doing OK, I guess. Not gonna lie, this is really painful for me. Seeing that ring on your hand, knowing that by Monday you'll be Mrs. Murphy. I loved him so much." She had told me as a tear fell from her eye.

      "I can walk away Jazmine. We don't have to go through with this if you don't want to." I told her solemnly.

      "No, we finish the job. He deserves to feel what I'm feeling. He deserves to know how much this hurts. And I deserve revenge & peace. I deserve closure. I know once you’re done with him he'll never hurt anyone else. We finish the job. So, give me the progress report." She had told me sternly.

       I smiled & nodded at her. I knew that she was hurting & really feeling the pain and sorrow. I noticed that she had become more present since our first meeting, like she was still in shock at how callous he had been during that first meeting. But then, well at this point she was finally feeling it, finally grieving the loss of a man she had loved deeply.

      "Well, everything is still going according to plan. He's in deep. He is excited for Sunday & can't wait to make me his wife. I planned the wedding, he paid for everything, & he planned the honeymoon. I have no idea where we're going, but he's planned it all out & he is excited about the surprise." I had told her.

     Then I paused, trying to decide if I should tell her the rest. I honestly hadn’t been sure that she was in a state to hear it. How do you tell your soon to be husband's ex-wife that he was talking about having a baby & raising a family, when that was what she wanted from him? I knew then that I was right when I assumed this job would be messy all those months ago. I knew it even more so now.

      "He wants kids, right? That's what you're afraid to tell me. He wants to start a family with you." She spoke, pulling me from my thoughts.

      I had only nodded in confirmation, unsure of how she would react to knowing it. This job was taking its toll on both of us, & ironically, the only person who was happy at that point was Nick.

      "I don't intend to give him any. I take my birth control every day at the same time. I keep it in my desk drawer at work so he can't take it & hide it or tamper with it. This is still just a job for me, Jazmine. I promise. And if at any point I do start to develop feelings for him, I'll end it. Exactly how we planned. I got him to agree to the cheating clause in the pre-nup, so I have my out." I  had told her firmly.

    I had meant it too, at the time. I didn't want her thinking that I was just going to run off into the sunset with her ex-husband. I hadn’t allowed myself to develop feelings for him at that point. It was still just a job that she was paying me to do. The plan was that the two of us would go our separate ways into the sunset at the same time, with enough money for us to each retire, leave Chicago, & never look back. That was the contract, that was the plan. I just didn’t know that it was going to hurt this badly when I had planned it.

    We had set a date to meet after the wedding & honeymoon, then said our goodbyes. Nick believed that I was an interior designer & that I was meeting with a client. Well, I hadn't lied to him about meeting with my client. Luckily, I had enough money to make it appear that I was working every day when I left the house. I had moved in with him after he proposed, letting the lease on my apartment expire. He liked having me at the townhouse & told me as much every day. He even continued to tell me how much he enjoyed my presence after the wedding.  

     That evening I pulled up in front of the house & got out of the car. Nick had texted me earlier that evening asking when I would be home, and to let me know that he had a surprise for me & was grabbing take-out from our favorite restaurant. Technically it was his favorite restaurant, but I pretended to love it too. My favorite restaurant has been a small soul food kitchen over in Lawndale since I first moved to Chicago. I had driven over there after meeting with Jasmine to check in. I tried to check in at least once a week with the neighborhood guys and let them know that I was still working my job. I remember I had told them that I had a busy week because I was getting married that Sunday, & they had all thought I was crazy. Everyone had been telling me that at the time. Apparently it's pretty insane to go to these lengths for a job, but I had been willing to do so for the retirement money. Thinking about how much I would soon be worth now just made me nauseous.

    When I had told the guys that when I finished this one I would have enough money to retire, they started joking about seeing me on The First 48. They had said that if the job is paying that well then it would be worth killing over. I knew there was a good possibility that they were right, but deep down I knew Nick wouldn’t go to those extremes. Instead of trying to explain that I just laughed that that was why I stayed in this part of town, and to remember that if anyone ever comes to them and offers cash for a hit on me, I'd pay them more. I knew better though. From the first time he told me he loved me, I knew he would let me walk away with his fortune if that was what he thought would make me happy.

 I walked into the house to the smell of steak that night. Though I wasn't hungry since I had stopped & got myself some fried chicken, collard greens & cornbread earlier, I still pretended to be starved. That was the thing about this career path, most of it was acting.

    "Baby, your home finally. Traffic must have been terrible huh?" Nick spoke as he walked out of the kitchen with two plates.

      I remember thinking that he sure was sexy in his low hanging basketball shorts. I had tried not to think about how good looking he was most of the time. He had perfectly bronzed skin & chiseled muscles that flexed with his every movement. He hadn't shaved that week, he had waited to do so until right before the wedding, so he had grown a 5 oclock shadow that made him look devilishly rugged. He had a smile that could light up the whole room & the most beautiful green eyes that I'd ever seen. Had he not been a CFO, he easily could have been a model.

     Under any other circumstances, I would have been a lucky girl. But no, these circumstances wouldn't allow me to be. So, I always did my best to acknowledge how perfectly handsome he was while reminding myself that this was still a job & not my happily ever after. It couldn't be. I knew who he really was & what he was capable of. I would never allow myself to end up like Jazmine.

       I remember how I was just about to sit down with my plate when quick tapping came from the dining room. I had glanced over to him as it continued to make its way towards us. I looked back to the doorway to see a little golden ball of fur trotting through it, with its fuzzy little tail bouncing back and forth. Nick just chuckled from behind me as he reached up to grab my plate.

       The little ball of fur made its way to me & jumped up in my legs demanding my attention. I had forgotten he said he had a surprise until this moment. It was a puppy. He had gotten us a puppy. She was an adorable little thing. I bent down & rubbed my hands through her soft golden fur before pulling her up into my lap. She started jumping on my shoulders & licking my face as her little tail wagged.

      "She needs a name, I wanted to let you name her since she's your first gift of our wedding weekend." Nick had laughed next to me.

     She started trying to climb over to him to get to our food, but I grabbed ahold of her & pulled her back. I had placed my index on her snout & firmly told her no, but she just started trying to chew on it. I put her back down on the floor, knowing that if she got to the food, Nick would lose his shit.

He had told me that while we were on our honeymoon she’d be at puppy boarding school. She wouldn’t return until a week after we did, & then she'd go there every day while we were at work. And that is exactly what she did. We had to spend an hour with her there every night so she could learn to recognize her commands from us. It was a whole 3 month program that trained her & helped us establish a relationship with her, so that she would recognize us as her masters. And it was an amazing program. She was so well trained when she graduated that we never had to crate her when we left the house. I had chosen to name her Justice, and when I left him a month ago, I took her too.