Page 14 of After Everything
"I told him no." She met my eyes. "I lied to my father's face and told him there was nothing going on. That you were married and I was focused on my career. That whoever saw us was mistaken."
"Okay. Good. That’s… good.”
"It's not good, David." Her voice cracked, just slightly. "He didn't believe me. Or he half-believed me, which is almost worse. And now he’s watching me. Watching us. Waiting to see if there's any truth to it."
I took a step toward her. "So we lay low. We wait for it to blow over. People gossip, but if there's no evidence…”
"There's evidence." She said it quietly. "Your wife filed for divorce."
The room tilted.
"What?"
"I have a friend at the courthouse. She saw the filing yesterday morning. Cited irreconcilable differences, but everyone knows what that means when it happens this fast." Sarah's voice was completely flat now. Clinical. "It's going to be public record. And when people at my firm start digging, and theywilldig, they're going to connect the dots. Married co-counsel suddenly getting divorced right when rumors start about an affair? It's not exactly subtle."
"Emma wouldn't—" I started, then stopped.
Of course Emma would. I'd seen her face that night. The way she'd looked at mewhen she told me to get out. She'd meant it. Every word.
And now she was making it official.
"So what do we do?" I asked. My voice sounded strange. Distant. "We can handle this. We just need to?—"
"There is no 'we,' David." Sarah cut me off. "That's what I came here to tell you."
I stared at her.
"My firm is pulling out of the Henderson case," she continued, and her voice was steady now. Like she'd practiced this. "My father made the decision this morning. We're going to cite a conflict of interest, recommend another firm to partner with you. It'll be handled quietly, professionally."
"Sarah—"
"And I can't see you anymore." She said it fast, like ripping off a bandage. "This… whatever this was… it's over. It has to be over."
"Wait." I moved toward her. "Wait, just… let's think about this. Your father doesn't have proof. The divorce doesn't prove anything. We can still?—"
"I don't want to." The words stopped mecold. "I don't want to risk my career, my reputation, or my relationship with my father. Not for this. I'm sorry, David, but I don't."
Something in my chest felt like it was caving in.
"You said you loved me." The words came out before I could stop them. Pathetic. Desperate.
Sarah's expression didn't change. "I said a lot of things."
She picked up her purse from where she'd set it on the desk. Ready to leave. Like this was just another meeting. Another business transaction concluded.
"That's it?" My voice cracked. "Five months, Sarah. Five months of?—"
"Of what?" She turned to face me. "An affair, David. That's what it was. An affair. I never promised you anything more than that."
"You said we were good together. You said?—"
"We were good together. In hotel rooms. In those dead hours between depositions." Her voice was sharp now. "But I never said Iwas going to blow up my life for you. You're the one who was married. You're the one who made promises to someone else and broke them. I didn't owe you anything."
The words hit like a slap.
"So that's how you're going to frame this?" I asked. "I'm the bad guy and you're just... what? An innocent bystander?"
"I'm the one protecting my career." She slung her purse over her shoulder. "Which is what you should be worried about too, by the way."
