Chapter 4 - The Deposition of ArroganceThe divorce proceedings were a swift, brutal slaughter. Grant had hired a discount attorney he found on a billboard, as he could no longer afford the high-priced sharks he usually fraternized with. We met in a sterile mediation room three weeks later.
Grant sat across from me, looking entirely broken. Without my hidden financial padding and his corporate salary, he was drowning in debt. The luxury cars were repossessed. Patricia and Nolan had completely abandoned him, furious that he had dragged them into a public humiliation that resulted in their own credit lines being scrutinized.
Even Madison had left him. The moment she realized Grant was facing bankruptcy and a massive lawsuit for corporate fraud—turns out, he had been expensing their hotel trysts to his former employer—she blocked his number and fled to another state.
“My client is willing to sign the uncontested divorce papers,” his lawyer mumbled, looking embarrassed to even be sitting next to Grant. “He asks only that you lift the blacklist so he can fly commercial again, and perhaps offer a small, one-time alimony payment to help him secure housing.”
I looked at the man who had tormented me for years. I remembered the way he smirked as he handed my boarding pass to his mistress just hours after I watched my mother’s casket lowered into the ground. He had wanted to see me broken, crawling, and begging for scraps.
“No,” I said simply.
Grant looked up, tears of actual panic welling in his eyes. “Evelyn, please. I have nothing. I’m sleeping on a buddy’s couch. I can't get a job in this city because everyone knows you pulled the contracts. I’m sorry. I was stupid, I was arrogant. Please, just help me.”
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“You are exactly where you belong, Grant,” I replied, standing up and buttoning my jacket. “You wanted a life without me in it. I simply granted your wish. Sign the papers, or we take this to trial and I bankrupt your entire extended family in legal fees.”
With a shaking, defeated hand, Grant picked up the pen and signed away his marriage, his pride, and his future.
