Page 33 of Due Process
“I-I…”
Why is blackness creeping into the edge of my vision? Is that my heart palpitating uncontrollably in my chest? Why does it feel like the world is opening up before me?
“I’ll tell you when,” Stella finished, flicking the last photo, which happened to land perfectly in my lap. It was why I hadmissed Eli’s baseball final. Heather blackmailed me for money and a good fast fuck. Otherwise, she was going to run her mouth.I had no choice.
Fear had me so overridden that all the excuses and justifications I had accumulated rushed out of me all at once.
“Swee—Stella,” I corrected. “It’s not what it looks like—”
Slap.“Shut the fuck up! As if cheating wasn’t bad enough. You were willing to put my health at risk! Heather doesn’t care if you’re rich, famousorhave a raging STI. If you qualify for the first two, she’s happy to spread the third.” Stella jumped to her feet, pacing back and forth. “Thank fuck I haven’t been with you for months. Otherwise, I think I legitimately would have killed you.”
I cringed, self-disgust making me draw into myself as tears began free-falling down my face, saturating my crumbled shirt.STI? FUCK!
“It’s not possible,” I panted. Palms out and open, I fell to my knees, hoping and fuckingprayingshe would hear me out. I wanted to grab her, but I still held some form of self-preservation.
“I never went bare with her,” I ranted. “I always used protection. I never even kissed her. That was always reserved for you.You, my sweet girl. We can still salvage this, salvageus. She meansnothingto me. Never did.”
Stella came to a halt mid-step, then slowly sat back down, realigning herself, hands clasped neatly together. It was eerily silent, and I was petrified.
“Well,” she said, “due to your ‘no kissing’affair, our marriage isn’t the only thing you imploded. With the ironcladno fraternisationpolicy thatyoucreated, there’s no escaping this, Felix. Not to mention the power imbalance between you two. With your age gap and respective positions in the company, we’re already dealing with a logistical nightmare.”
I wanted to vault over the table and pull her into me. She had to listen to my reasoning. Then, it would all make sense.
“Sheseducedme.I’mthe victim in all this…” My sentence tapered off due to the murderous expression on my wife’s face.Victim? Yeah, I shouldn’t have said that.
Stella slowly leaned back all nonchalant, which was terrifying.
“I can’t save you this time. And I don’t want to. Do everyone a favour and sign the papers, Felix.”
“I’m not signing the divorce.”
I sifted through all the folders in rushed hysteria until I got to the required document, then proceeded to rip it down the middle. The scraps of paper fluttered to the ground.
“I’m not signing over the company.”
I followed through with the second contract, ensuring it was also ruined beyond comprehension.
“I’m not signing shit. I’m going to fight for us. Fight for everything.”
A sudden wave of hopelessness took me over as Stella’s blue eyes bled with sympathy—sympathy for me.
“Why bother, Felix? Due to your selfishness…you’ve already lost it all.”God, no!I could feel it slipping away—my centre of gravity.Slip, slip, slipping.
Stella laid one final folder on the table, untarnished and thick. “We haven’t even reached the worst part yet.”
“How can it possibly get any worse, Stells? Tell me how,” I said, voice drained of fight and any dignity. I was defeated and riddled with pain I couldn’t even comprehend.Make it stop.
“The reason you were arrested,” she said, tapping the middle of the document, daring me to open the first page to take a peek at my destruction within.
“Why was I arrested?” I muttered, ignoring her signal.
“That brings us to agenda number three—”
She was interrupted by a sharp knock on the conference door, and my instincts flared like a supernova.Don’t open that door. Whoever they are, don’t let them in.
Unperturbed, Stella checked her watch before a vicious gleam took over her features. “Oh, and here she is now.”
Chapter 19
