Page 36 of Just Desserts

I had her literal mess to deal with first, then I would find a way to end this game with her. I went home and took a quick shower and changed my clothes. Grabbing my laptop, I returned to the office building to wait for the cleaners. While they got to work in the office, I caught up on emails in an empty conference room.

Reluctantly, I read the latest paperwork Isla's lawyer sent over and caved in on myself. We had a new judge assigned to the case, who was forcing a court day and clear division of assets per the state's requirements. It was over, there was no other way I could delay the divorce. I couldn't bring myself to admit defeat.

The note Lydia left specifically for me though had my brain completely shutting off. She was going to submit the credit card statement and images to the law firm to prove I was using the company card for personal purchases. A court date was set, and I had no choice but to go. I had less than two weeks to plead my case to Isla. But I was out of resources, connections and money.

I had to pay off all the charges Alyssa racked up on my credit card as well as reimburse the company for the amount she spent on the party. I had to make everything straight here, I couldn't lose my job or my ability to practice.

Alyssa didn't know, because Isla never knew, but my parents had been helping pay the mortgage on our house since I bought it, under the assumption I would take over completely once I made partner. On top of asking my parents for help with Isla, looks like I'm going to need to ask them for a loan as well.

I was losing everything, my entire life was slipping through my fingers like a sieve. All I had left was Isla, I was clinging to the knowledge deep in my gut that she still loved me. I was her first love and despite how angry she is, she wouldn't throw nearly a decade away because of a simple mistake.

I would tell her how Alyssa blackmailed me, she would have to see it's not my fault. Alyssa set out to break us up, it was all an elaborate game to get one over on her cousin. Isla had to see, by now she would have to realize, this was all Alyssa's doing. She tricked me, she played both of us from the beginning. Isla wouldn't be this angry if she didn't care. She had to care, she had to love me still. I just had to make her realize.

Alyssa

Sunlight hit my face causing me to wake up with a grimace. What time was it? How did I get home? What happened at the party? I pulled the blanket over my head to protect myself from the blinding rays only to be assaulted with a vile smell. I looked down and saw I was still in my dress and jewelry from last night, there were wet spots all over me with questionable looking lumps dried onto the lace.

Flashes of memory from last night came swarming through. Jonathan ignoring me. Jonathan locking me in his office. Isla'sstupid face and the whiskey. A shudder ran through me and before I could stop it I was bolting for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before throwing up.

I looked down and realized it was dried vomit that covered my dress. I made fast work of stripping myself and the bed before I dragged myself into the shower. I felt like shit, I was exhausted and off kilter. I managed to rinse myself as best as I could then grabbed the soiled bedding and dress to throw them in the laundry. I stopped when I came upon a large black trash bag in the middle of my apartment.

That sour smell of vomit and alcohol increased the closer I got to it. Holding a hand over my face I gently opened the trash bag to look inside, where there was a suit jacket and photographs sitting in a sea of watery vomit. I gagged and retched, heading back to my toilet only to spit up bile.

Fury ran through me, how could he just leave that here? I headed back to the kitchen, intending to grab my shoes and just bring everything down to the dumpster and out of my apartment as fast as possible. Just as I was about to leave a note on my kitchen island caught my eye.

Last night was unacceptable. I expect every item you ruined to be cleaned and returned to their proper place.

You are being held financially responsible for the damage you caused, I will send you the bill from the office cleaners once they finish.

HR is aware of the property damage incurred in my office, as a result you are on a probationary period with the company until further notice.

For your sake, do not contact me unless it is to return my possessions once restored or to pay for your cleaning bills.

You caught the attention of every senior executive, board member and HR personnel at the party.

Think twice before you make this any worse.

Panic hit me in a flash and all of a sudden I felt like throwing up again. Where did I go wrong? Cleaners? That couldn't cost too much, right? I had been using Jonathan's card recently for most of my purchases as I had maxed out multiple cards already in my name.

Last night was supposed to be my moment, the turning point in this dance Jonathan and I had been playing the last few months. I would have proven myself superior to Isla in all ways, he would have had no choice but to acknowledge that I was the better match.

How did everything change? I walked into the party and the air felt charged, all eyes were on me and I was preening under the attention. I remember taking my coat off and slinking my way over to Jonathan, how his face changed when he saw my dress.

His jaw was clenched, his lips thinned and his cheekbones flushed with repressed emotion, his desire for me clearly overwhelming him. I slid over to the group and was happy to see a good amount of VIPs were included. I made sure to mention my part in the event planning and was electrified, ready to dazzle them all.

In a sharp move that spoke louder than words, Jonathan brushed me off and turned to speak to someone else, effectively dismissing me and making a mockery of me. I didn't let it show just how deeply that blow hit me. I stood tall, I worked hard to look engaged, while mindlessly grabbing champagne flutes as they passed me. I kept telling myself I just had to wait, soon I would rejoin the conversation and have everyone eating out of the palm of my hand.

How wrong I was. The night spiraled downward and now I had more than one mess to clean up. Even though it went against every instinct I had, I took the garbage bag and dumped everything in my tub. grabbing the ruined blazer from the top of the pile I turned to the sink. I rinsed the coat until no vomit was visible then I set that to the side.

Turning back to the tub, the bottom was covered with picture frames featuring Isla and Jonathan together, frozen in time behind the glass. Their smiling faces staring up at me from underneath rivulets of whiskey and puke. I wanted to scratch her eyes out, to castrate Jonathan, anything but what I was actually doing.

Yet here I was, holding back my gags as I cleaned each picture frame individually, almost reverently before placing them to the side to dry. Once that was done, I ran the jacket and my dress to the dry cleaner then came back home to figure out my next steps.

I opened the door and stepped into my apartment only to be hit with leftover wafts of vomit. It wasn't as potent as before, but there was a sour odor seeping into every corner. I opened all the windows, sprayed spot cleaner on the carpet where Jonathan had left his bag of goodies. I lit candles and took another shower.

I don't know if the smell lessened or if there were just competing odors of cleaning products and candles but I was too tired and too sick to do much more. Since my dirty bedding was still downstairs in the washing machine, I had to wrangle a fitted sheet onto the bed before collapsing back onto it.

Using the throw blanket for my couch, I pulled it over my body and tried to figure out the best way to come back from this. I know Jonathan thinks we're over but I can't let that happen. I had uploaded the content of the SD card to my laptop the otherday, I should go through that to see what I could use.

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