Chapter 1
My lawyer said that she’d meet me on the third floor, one floor below the conference room where we were supposed to be hashing out the last bit of details regarding my divorce.
Our divorce.
After nearly six months of negotiating back and forth over property, bank accounts, pets, airline loyalty points and the like, we were finally at the finish line. It was almost too much to believe that we’d arrived at this point in the process. When everything kicked off in the beginning of the summer I really thought that we would be fighting one another until the end of time. But Jayson decided to bring this to an end.
He didn’t call me or my lawyer. He didn’t even alert his own lawyer about his decision. Just woke up one morning, I’m guessing, and decided that enough was finally enough.
How did we get here?
“You look lethal today,” my lawyer, Mercy Johnson, said to me as I exited the elevator on the third floor.
It was intentional. I wanted…No, I needed to show Jayson that he hadn’t broken me. That he couldn’t break me. No matter how much he’d wanted to. I was gonna come out of this with my head held high. And that’s why I’d chosen the off-cream, bespoke, three-piece suit that hugged each and every one of my curves for dear life.
I’d been using a trainer and had committed to pilates at least three times a week.
My body was a lean, mean, fighting machine now.
“Thank you,” I said. Chuckling to myself because Mercy was dressed in her usual stunning ensemble, looking like someone who was about to kill it in the courtroom, but I was the one who looked like I was made of money.
From my handcrafted, one-of-a-kind bracelets and necklaces, layered to the gods, but always tasteful to my newly-acquired diamond and sapphire ring. Strategically placed on the ring finger of my opposite hand. The message was loud and clear. My makeup was simple and never too overpowering. I wasn’t a fan of leaving a full face behind on anyone’s clothing after I’d given them a hug. I never had been. I looked like myself, but more stealth and so much healthier.
Six months was a long time to suffer in silence of an impending demise of one’s marriage. But I refused to look like what I was going through. Each time I’d been forced to sit across from Jayson, I made sure that I looked my best.
But today, today was different. Today, I would become completely free and I was only too proud of this moment for myself.
“Now remember, it’s just a simple signing. I’ve been over the paperwork a zillion times and you and I have discussed everything. There will be zero surprises today. We’re here. We’re at the finish line and this is about to be over.”
Hearing those words from Mercy made my heart flutter a little. This is what we’d been working towards for months. And if I was honest with myself, it was what I’d wanted for years. Marrying Jayson had been the best decision of my life. Divorcing him was the best decision of my life as well.
The elevator ride to the fourth floor conference room of Bradford, Thomas and Ing, PLLC, gave me just enough time for my heart to begin racing.
This was it.
After this meeting, there would be no more Jayson and Essaiou. ‘Jay and Ess’ would be no more. We’d both be going our separate ways and everything that we’d been through as a couple would just be a distant memory.
“Don’t be nervous,” Mercy chimed in just as we reached the double doors to the conference room. We’d been escorted by a diminutive older woman who must have been the administrative assistant for the firm. The way she’d looked at me when Mercy told her who we’d come to see told me that she knew that there was a dissolution of a marriage happening on her floor that day. There was pure judgement in her eyes.
Anyone else would’ve said I was overreacting, but I could feel it. I could sense it. She didn’t approve.
Out of rote professionalism, she asked whether or not we wanted anything to drink when we were seated in the room. Mercy and I both said no, but it didn’t go unnoticed that we were the first occupants in the room.
Mercy gave me a half-smile to try and reassure me, but I didn’t like what I was beginning to feel.
Just as we were taking our seats, the conference room doors opened and in walked Edward Bradford and my soon-to-be ex-husband, Jayson Hillson.
Mercy placed a comforting hand against my own as my leg started to bounce on its own underneath the table.
“It’s good to see you both,” Edward said.
I smiled in his direction although I was trying to avoid direct eye contact with my ex and he was standing directly behind him.
But eventually, our eyes did meet.
Jayson held my gaze and I was worried that dropping my own would show signs of weakness. And the last thing that I wanted to be in front of him today was weak.
“It’s nice to see you, E. You look…stunning,” Jayson said. Then he licked his lips.
“Thank you. You look well too,” I answered back, patting myself on the back in my mind because I couldn’t detect any tremors in my voice when I’d spoken to him.
Instead of following his lawyer to the head of the table, Jayson took a seat directly across from me. This forced the Edward Bradford, Esquire to do an about-face and take the seat beside his client.
But that was Jayson. He was a leader, not a follower. In all things.
“Perhaps we should get started, gentlemen.”
I could’ve kissed Mercy at that moment. All I wanted was for this to be done with and this chapter to be firmly closed.
Jayson was looking and smelling good. But he always did. He was a man who took pride in his appearance. Worked out regularly, ate clean for the most part and thought that being properly groomed was his duty and privilege. He had his own private barber meet him at the house each week to make sure that his line-ups were sharp and a personal trainer who worked him out regularly in a boxing-ring he had built inside the house we’d once shared. His tailor only dealt with athletes, corporate big-wigs and Hollywood types, so every thread he owned was well-thought out and curated to fit just him. He presented success and commanded respect in every room he stepped into. He’d been that way since we’d met at university. It was the thing that had attracted me to him way back then. Even before he was a successful business tycoon, he owned the spaces he inhabited.
“Mr. Hillson would like a private moment alone with Mrs. Hillson before we sign off on everything,” his lawyer said, and even had the audacity to begin standing up without waiting for a response from either myself of Mercy.
“That wasn’t a part of the agenda for today. Edward, you know as well as I know…” she began, but didn’t have the chance to finish.
“Then no deal,” Jayson chimed in.
I’d felt an entire chill run up the middle of my body when his lawyer had addressed me as Mrs. Hillson. And now, I was feeling a tightness in my chest as he directed his light brown eyes at me.
Jayson had dark, flawless skin, with tiny laughlines being his only textural flaw. Only, I was certain that he hadn’t obtained those lines from laughing. Just like he wasn’t laughing now.
I could see the veins flexing in his neck as he readjusted himself in his seat. His lawyer was already on his feet with his hand on the back of his chair.
Jayson wanted this. And he wasn’t going to let things move gracefully forward today if he didn’t get it.
I placed my other hand on top of Mercy’s which was still on my other hand. I gave her a simple nod before she lowered her chin and closed her eyes. She didn’t want this either, but she knew that after everything that we’d done to get to this point, if Jayson didn’t get his way this time, we might never get to settle this peacefully.
Giving my hand a squeeze, she rose from her chair and directed a stern glare at Jayson.
He didn’t even flinch or acknowledge her unworded threat.
I watched both lawyers leaving and followed the movement of the door as it closed, sealing Jayson and I into this conference room.
Before the door could even click, he was on his feet and walking around the side of the conference table.
I pushed my chair back, ready and in anticipation of whatever came next.
