Chapter 8 · The Ex-Wife's Comeback

Chapter 8

He stopped at the door."Mrs. Eastgate, one last question. Have you really made up your mind?"I looked at him."Mr. Justice, I have never been clearer about anything in my life."He left.The conference room door closed behind him.Shawn sat back and let out a long breath."When did you put all that evidence together?""Three months ago."He looked over at me."You were already preparing for a divorce three months ago?""Three months ago was the first night Julian didn't come home. I knew then that this day was coming.""So none of this was a snap decision.""It never was."The day after the meeting, Julian showed up himself, and not at the firm. He came to my house.The doorbell rang at 8 that evening.I saw him on the video screen.He had on a black jacket over a white shirt with no tie, which was how he dressed when he wasn't working, and it was what he wore three years ago when he first picked me up for dinner."Open the door," he said.I opened it.He stood there looking at me.Three days had thinned him out a little."Can I come in?"I stepped aside and let him through.He walked into the living room and looked around. "You're living here?""This is my house."He sat down on the couch and said nothing.I took the armchair across from him. "If you have something to say, say it."He lifted his head. "Give me the evidence.""No.""Lauren—""That drive is my insurance. Nobody gets it until the divorce papers are signed."He laced his hands together over his knees."What is it you actually want?""I told you. A divorce.""And besides the divorce?""Nothing."He watched me for a long moment."You've changed.""I haven't changed. You never once looked at me closely enough to notice."He stood and walked to the window with his back to me. "You know now how we got married.""I know.""Your father told you?""It doesn't matter who told me.""That 60 million dollars—""I'll pay it back for my father. Every dollar of it."He turned around. "Pay it back with what?""You don't need to know."He crossed the room and stood over me."Lauren, do you understand what leaving this family means? Your father's company is still 30 million dollars short, and this house plus your savings won't cover it. You have no job and no income—""Julian." I looked up at him. "You really believe I spent these three years doing nothing?"He stopped. "What does that mean?"I didn't answer Julian. "Go home. Wait for the lawyers," I said.He didn't move. "I'm not agreeing to a divorce.""Then we do it through the court.""You think you'd win in court?""I don't need to win. I only need everyone to see the truth."His expression shifted. It wasn't anger. It was something I had never seen on him before, and it looked like unease."Is that a threat?""It's not a threat. It's notice." I stood, walked to the door, and opened it. "Mr. Eastgate, it's getting late."He stood there and looked at me for 10 seconds. Then, he walked out.The moment the door shut, I leaned back against it and felt my heartbeat finally settle.In three years, I had learned one thing, which was that a man who doesn't love me was never worth fearing, because he had nothing left to take from me.*****On the third morning, Shawn called with news."Henry Justice got back to me. Julian won't sign an uncontested divorce," he said.None of that surprised me."Then we file," I said."The paperwork is already going out. But something new came up.""Tell me.""The Eastgates pulled strings at the courthouse. Our case landed with a judge who is a particular kind of problem.""Meaning what?""That judge is friendly with the family. He'll probably look for ways to stall.""Can we get a different one?""We can move for recusal, but we'd have to show a real conflict of interest. That could cost us a month.""A month is too long.""There's another road.""Which is?""We make Julian agree on his own.""He won't agree.""What if he has no choice?"I stayed quiet for a few seconds. "What do you have in mind?""Bidding on Riverside Newtown opens next week, and you enter as L.W.T. If your proposal wins, Eastgate Urban Design Studio is out. That project decides how the family holds the East Side. Losing it to an unknown designer—""Would make him lose his mind.""Right. And it gets better when he finds out L.W.T. is you.""Right. And it gets better when he finds out L.W.T. is you."On top of that, the design fee for Riverside Newtown plus the follow-on share would cover every dollar my father still owed. If I won this one, the rest of it would take care of itself."How did you know L.W.T. was me?" I asked.Shawn went quiet on the other end for a couple of seconds."I followed that international design award all last year. The idea behind the winning proposal, bringing a city back to human scale, was the exact theme of your senior thesis.""You remember my senior thesis?""You were the only student in the school to score a perfect mark on one. Everybody remembers."I didn't say anything."Besides," he said, sounding like he was smiling, "L.W.T. Lauren Winters Tate, your own initials with your mother's maiden name on the end. You didn't hide it very hard."I ended the call and sat down at the computer. I opened the Riverside Newtown project files and started working through the site data.Three years of holding my tongue hadn't been wasted, and neither had three years of quiet work. Every night he left me alone and every event where he looked past me went into one thing, which was making myself better.The time for it had come.

Chapter 8