Chapter 17

AURORA. “What do you mean your client had other things to do?” I stared at Thane’s lawyer with a quizzical look. “Isn’t this equally as important as any other thing he's got going on?” Mitch Manson, my husband’s lawyer, was a man who appeared to be in his early fifties. He struck me as a big shot, with his wrinkle-free dark suit and tensely knotted tie that rested under his jaw. His round face sported a five o’clock shadow and his eyes held a gleam to them that looked mischievous. Mitch Manson wasn’t a particularly handsome man, with his average height and normal-looking face, but he was good-looking in his own right. “My client, your husband, is a busy man, as you may well know. He has asked that I represent him in his absence and I do not see an issue with it. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to reschedule once more and draw this out longer than it needs to be.” I knew what he was trying to do, banking on my obvious desire to get this over with. And he was right. Who cared if Thane decided he did not want to see me? While I would have liked to know what the man looked like, to have him look me in the eyes and tell me he was divorcing me because of a rumor, I was equally glad that this façade was coming to an end. We were both adults and I had wanted to go the diplomatic route. I guessed he did not care much for diplomacy. I exchanged gazes with my own lawyer, Andrea Haller, who nodded at me to go on. “Fine,” I murmured. “Let’s get this shit over with.” Scanning through the new document that Mitch said was directly from Thane, I took my time to understand the words. From the looks of it, he wanted the marriage to be dissolved as soon as possible. Thankfully, I shared the same sentiment. Freedom was in front of me and all I wanted to do was reach out and grab it. However, when I got to the paragraph where Thane demanded the sum of fifty thousand dollars for emotional damages, I had to blink severally to be sure I was not imagining it. “Fifty—? What the hell is this?” I did not have to ask because Andrea, my lawyer, beat me to it. A petite dark-haired fireball, I had hired her for the sole reason that she was one of the best female divorce lawyers in New York. I was paying her a hefty fee for her services and I expected to get the best she had to offer—and no, the irony wasn't lost on me as to where the money was coming from to pay her fee. “We came here to sign divorce papers, not be the butt of a practical joke.” Mitch looked at us and sighed, rubbing his jaw. “Mrs. Quan, a piece of advice? It would be in your benefit to pay the sum and sign the papers. After all, you would agree that my client did suffer some emotional trauma after finding out about your extra-marital affairs.” Gasping, I could not believe it. Then he had heard about the rumors. Did I not deserve to be asked? Was he that gullible that he would eat up whatever news he heard without first confirming to be sure it was true? “That was a lie that has been dealt with. I never cheated on him or anybody,” I said lowly, angry. I hated being called a cheat. “And I certainly will not be paying him a dime.” “Mrs. Quan—” Mitch began. “Miss García, please,” I interjected. In a matter of minutes—or hours, depending on how this went—I would go back to using my father’s name. Answering Thane’s name had begun to make my skin itch. “Call me Miss García.” Mitch narrowed his eyes but nodded. “Miss García, I have it under good authority that there was some infidelity on your part. My client confirmed it himself.” “Then let him prove it in court,” Andrea said. “Why would we want to put these young bloods through that?” Mitch said to her. If I didn’t know better, I’d say either he or Thane did not want to drag this all the way to court. It would make it too public. “I’m sure neither of them would want to go through the physical and emotional stress that will cause.” “I refuse to pay emotional damages.” The words came out through gritted teeth. If he was not getting that I would not budge on my stance, then he had not been paying attention. I should be the one requesting emotional damages. I married a man who did not care to show his face to me. A man who couldn’t bother to be involved in my life, who had given me his card and walked away as if money was the solution to everything. It was obvious that he harbored resentment towards me for some reason. Who knew? Maybe he had been out frolicking around with different women for the past year and a half and when he got a whiff that I had been unfaithful, albeit false, he decided cheating was a terrible thing. “I refuse to pay emotional damages to a man who’s obviously rich. Even if he was flat-out broke, I would still not pay.” If I was not requesting anything, then why was he? Mitch seemed to think about it. The ball was in his court. His and Thane’s. I did not want to go to court but I would if I had to. No one would successfully squeeze that amount of money out of me even if I had it. After a few heartbeats, Mitch cleared his throat and leaned forward, intertwining his fingers and resting it atop the desk. “Look here, Miss García, I like you. I spend my days around liars and cheats and you don’t look like one of them. I don’t know how my client confirmed what he says he did, but I know that neither of you is happy in this charade. So, what we are going to do is, you will sign the divorce papers and I will convince him to let go of that particular clause. Is that okay with you?” Andrea and I exchanged looks. That had been strangely easy. I still had my suspicions but I was willing to trust him. “Let’s get that on the record, shall we?” Andrea said, reaching into her bag and bringing out a small recorder. “Can’t be too trusting, especially of a lawyer.” While she and Mitch recorded his statement once more, I reached forward and grabbed the document, striking out the paragraph demanding the settlement before writing down my name and signature. Once I was done, I heaved in a breath and then exhaled. After a tedious year and a half, I was finally a single woman again. Thane be damned. I was about to be Miss García again. Smiling, I took out my phone. The first thing I wanted to do was celebrate my newfound freedom with my friends. I would think about everything else later.