Chapter 9 - Total LiquidationThe divorce proceedings moved with frightening speed, largely because Jason had absolutely no leverage, no money, and no legal leg to stand on. Marcus was a shark, and with the evidence of infidelity, corporate fraud, and the documented abuse at the lake house, Jason’s cheap, strip-mall attorney advised him to take whatever settlement we offered.
Which was nothing.
We were sitting in a sterile, glass-walled conference room at the mediation center. The Chicago rain battered the windows, a fitting backdrop for the gloom radiating from my soon-to-be ex-husband.
Jason looked pathetic. He had lost weight, his suit was slightly baggy, and the arrogant swagger that had defined him for a decade was entirely gone. Linda sat next to him, glaring daggers at me, but she kept her mouth firmly shut. Marcus had threatened her with civil charges for the eighty thousand dollars in stolen funds, agreeing to drop them only if she stayed silent during the mediation.
“To summarize,” the mediator said, adjusting his glasses. “Mrs. Parker retains 100% ownership of Parker Landscaping Holdings, which will be rebranded to Apex Development. She retains the downtown penthouse and all corporate assets.”
“And the suburban house?” Jason’s lawyer asked weakly. “My client’s name is on the deed.”
Marcus smiled, a terrifying flash of white teeth. “Ah, yes. The house. As it turns out, Jason leveraged that house to take out a second mortgage to cover his gambling debts. A mortgage he hasn't paid in four months. The bank is foreclosing on it on Tuesday. He is welcome to keep the equity, which currently sits at negative forty thousand dollars.”
Jason buried his face in his hands. A quiet, pathetic sob escaped his throat.
“Jason,” Linda hissed, nudging him. “Be a man.”
I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table. “Linda, the only reason he ever looked like a man to you is because I spent nine years standing behind him, holding him up. Now that I’ve stepped out of the way, you finally get to see exactly what you raised.”
Linda’s jaw snapped shut. For the first time in my life, I saw genuine fear in her eyes.
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“Sign the papers, Jason,” I commanded. The tone of my voice brooked absolutely no argument. It was the voice of a CEO. The voice of a woman who had survived the freezing water and learned how to become ice.
With trembling hands, Jason picked up the pen and signed his name, officially ending our marriage and signing away the last remaining shreds of his dignity.
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