Chapter 85

Adrian

The car ride with my lawyer is dead silent except for the radio that hums through his speakers. We met at his office, deciding that going together would be best for us since we need to go over the course of action for the day.

Today just feels like hell. It is a random Thursday, one that never would have been so important to me just a few months ago, but it now holds a special significance in my heart as the day that I will forever be at my lowest point.

My company is close to being shut down with millions of subscribers leaving our service after the news of our sudden bankruptcy broke the news. It has been a flurry of nonstop media presence in front of our company’s building and information about my personal life — especially my divorce with Stella — has been leaked as well.

I think this is the paranoia talking to me, but it feels like someone is purposefully ruining my life for whatever reason it may be. I know that it is not Stella, seeing how she has avoided every single one of my calls and has ignored me at every turn. I can’t blame her for it, though, I would do the same thing if I were in her shoes.

My heart twists and turns inside of my chest as soon as my eyes land on the sigil of the courthouse. A sigh leaves my lips as we pull into the parking garage below the building, a swarm of paparazzi and photographers standing at the entrance of the courthouse.

My life has become a spectacle for those to watch. They mock and laugh at me online, calling me ruthless names and telling me that I deserve nothing good in my life.

The pubic used to be on my side, claiming me to be a hero for giving them affordable healthcare and a way to feel safe in their own body. Now, I am someone they hate, a common enemy whose downfall has come of his own volition.

I step out of the car once it is parked, buttoning my suit jacket as soon as my feet feel steady on the ground despite my legs feeling like jelly.

“The court gave us a special entrance, same with your wife,” my lawyer informs me.

I glance in his direction, a frown forming across my lips as I notice his dull brown suit jacket. Will my clothes come to this? A lifeless sense of style, my paycheck only being able to afford low class tailors instead of what I am accustomed to.

Is that selfish of me to think? I am millions in debt and all I can think about is my physical possessions that make people think better of me instead of holding the things that mean the most closest to me.

We enter the elevator. I remain silent as my lawyer speaks to me, his weathered and worn leather briefcase hanging from his hand.

“I’ll use your current business predicament to gain some sympathy with the judge. Stella and her lawyer were ruthless in their motions to him so we don’t know whose side he is on just yet,” he says.

The elevator doors softly ding. We exit and my head is hung low. My feet drag along the cheap vinyl flooring of the courthouse, my eyes memorizing the black specks that lie within the plastic tiles.

I look up and notice Stella and her lawyer, Dominic standing by the door. A man dressed in all black stands behind them, his hair a pale white with a dead look in his eyes.

My gaze floats to her, though, just as she turns her head to look down in the hall in my direction. A knot forms in my stomach, my heart squeezing on the inside of my chest.

Stella raises a hand. A simple wave that seems nice and happy on the surface. After hearing about her motions, motions where she has shown her materialistic and greedy side of her personality, I doubt that the kind smile she wears on her face is real.

“Hi,” she mouths to me. My heart clenches.

Her eyes, though, hold sadness inside them. I unconsciously raise my hand in the air, matching her solemn wave.

“Hi,” I mouth back to her, the distance feeling like it is slowly closing despite neither of us moving towards the other.

We stand across the hall, the distance between us acting like a no mans land. I wish to cross it, to apologize for all of the sins that I have committed against her, to atone for the misgivings I have done in my life, but my feet simply won’t move.

“Adrian?” my lawyer lays his hand on my shoulder. I turn to look at him, clearing my throat. “They are ready for us.”

I nod and watch as he walks inside the courtroom. I take one last look at Stella but she stands behind her lawyer and the man dressed in all black. I slowly nod, swiping my tongue over my teeth, and move inside the room.

It’s just as bare as my lawyer’s suit. The room is painted white and the furniture is a bland color of wood, all of the shades blending together into one big mess.

I sit in the chair beside my lawyer, fixing my suit jacket so I am comfortable in the chair. Stella and her lawyer follow close behind, the man in black sitting behind the wooden gates.

The judge enters the room and sits down, his wire rim glasses hanging low on his nose. He remains silent for a moment, overlooking the papers before he looks up.

I dissociate, his voice muffled in my ears. Leaning back in my seat, I look over at Stella, who stares at her hands in her lap.

This will be the last day that I see her. This will be the last say that I see my wife, the woman who has done so much for me in my miserable and pathetic life.

Remorse floods my body and nausea begins to fester in my stomach. I turn to face the judge as the lawyers speak for us.

I don’t want her to leave my life. I want to be able to look into her hazel eyes and to hear her laugh whenever I say a cheesy joke. I have actually begun to miss her cooking, the warm meals that I would come home to after a long day of work.

I respect her decision, though. Stella has been through so much. Most of which is because of me and my selfish reasons to save a woman who I thought would stay by my side at my lowest point.

She deserves everything that she has been asking her. Stella deserves to live a good life while I pay for what I have done to her. She deserves to live a life of luxury while I struggle to make ends meet.

As Stella’s lawyer begins to talk, I grab one of the pens on the table, sliding the notepad towards me, and begin to write. My lawyer glances at me with one eyebrow raised on his forehead.

As soon as I am done with the message, I slide the notepad over to him, revealing the message.

Give her everything she wants.