Chapter 14: The Divorce Papers
It felt surreal to Brooke, seeing the soft copy of the divorce papers Thane's lawyers had drafted up. Her heart pounded as she checked the name on the agreement for the fortieth time, making sure it was hers.
Would she really sign this and everything with Ethan would be done with?
All this wasn't some cruel joke was it?
"Look through the contents and let me know if there's anything you'd want me to change, I'll have my lawyers fix it." He told her, whilst he arranged the pieces on his chessboard.
"There is one thing I wanted to bring up. The alimony," her voice quieted down, she knew it was an uncomfortable topic of discussion, especially with someone who had just proposed to her last night.
Thane paused what he was doing, "What about it?"
Looking down, she said, "If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like the lawyers to include that I want nothing from him, not even a single dime."
To her, Thane might've wanted her to sap all the money she could out of Ethan and turn the divorce into a public scandal.
While it could be a satisfying revenge, Brooke didn't want that to happen.
Because her eyes were pointed at the waxed flooring in Thane's study, she failed to see the large grin on the man's face.
"I see. Then you have nothing to fear, the documents don't include anything about alimony." He told her, raising her spirits.
Her eyes lit up, "T-Thank you." She couldn't hide the smile on her face. Happily, she read through the documents in silence, whilst Thane engaged himself in a game of chess.
Halton inc.
Ethan stared at Brooke's picture on her social media page, grinning from ear to ear.
"Stupid bitch, you're rightly getting what you deserve for trying to cheat me." He said, truly believing that Brooke ran off with her boyfriend.
While it was not his style to get physically involved in drama, he simply wanted to place more pressure on Brooke to come out of hiding.
He knew his wife and how weak willed she was. It'd only take two punches to the gut for her to start begging him. She wasn't the sort of person who could stand on her own two legs.
"It's just a matter of time..." In the middle of his speech, his assistant rung him on the company's landline. He pressed a button, "What is Jen?"
"Sir, a parcel just arrived for you." She announced, "But the sender didn't leave an address."
"Bring it in."
His assistant Jen hung up and immediately came into his office, hugging a large brown envelope to her chest. She placed it on his desk and waited for him to dismiss her.
Ethan picked up the parcel and tore it open, he pulled out the blue file, wondering who it could've come from.
He got his answer rather quickly, when his eyes landed on the word, "Divorce" written in bold fonts over the document!
Barely reading past their names, Ethan threw the file at his assistant, hitting her in the face.
"Sir?!" Her eyes popped out, the file had hit her in the eye, thankfully it wasn't heavy and didn't cause any damage.
But Ethan didn't care! He rose from his chair, fuming in rage. "How dare that wench!" He threw the mug on his table against the wall, smashing it into a hundred pieces.
"Ah!" Jen covered her ears in fright.
But her frightened squeal drew Ethan's attention to her. He looked at her frightened face and saw Brooke in her. In a fit of rage he yanked on her ponytail, pulling her to him.
"Stop sir! You're hurting-"
"Shut up!" He raised his hand and cracked a slap on her face, knocking her to the ground. Towering over her, he balled his fingers into tight fists, ready to teach her a lesson.
Thankfully, when he caught sight of her face, he soon realized that the woman he had taken his anger out on was not his wife, but just his assistant.
"Tch," he hissed, unclenching his fists, "Clean this mess up!" He roared at her, then took his seat behind his desk.
Jen was still in shock over her boss hitting her, that she didn't hear him the first time. But when Ethan banged his fist against the table, her body responded and quickly got to cleaning.
"Breathe a word of this and I'll make sure you never find any work ever again." He threatened her, over the sound of Jen's silent sobbing.
Cassie smiled at the piles and piles of gifts that took up more than half of her bedroom space. Ever since the video and then the interview, her fans had sent gifts to the agency to help her 'healing' process.
"Hey, don't add that! Throw it out!" Cassie instructed a maid, who came in holding a hand knitted brown scarf.
"But ma'am, a fan sent this-"
Cassie rolled her eyes, "Are you trying to tell me what is right and wrong? What fan?" She scoffed and folded her arms.
"If they were really my fan, they'd send something expensive, something I can wear. That person does not deserve to be a fan of mine." She announced, then sent the maid away.
As soon as that maid left, another one came in, holding a black envelope.
"What? Another fan letter? I told you to burn those worthless things!" Cassie angrily spat out, exasperated from repeating the same thing to the 'mindless servants.'
"No, ma'am, it looks like an invite."
Cassie raised a brow, "Bring it here." The maid carefully presented it to Cassie, and the first thing the woman noticed was that the word invitation was written in italic fonts, with what looked like real gold!
She quickly pulled the invite out of the letter and digested it's contents.
"Oh my gosh!" Her eyes and mouth widened, "Mr Grayson has just invited me to his mansion tomorrow night!" She cried out in excitement, in shock of the sudden surprise.
Little did she know how 'sudden' the surprise actually was...