Aisleland Paradise

Chapter 24

The new CEO of Titanic Groceries still needed a moment to catch her breath. An hour ago she was applying to be a cashier, now she owned an entire company.

"I don't understand how this is even possible. And how did you do any of this without my knowledge or consent? I mean, I appreciate it, but what the hell?"

"Oh, wait, lemme make sure I understand your question here," replied James. "You want to know where I got the idea to advocate for someone I care about, work behind the scenes in their best interests, doing things they weren't in a position to do themselves, you're curious as to where I learned how to do that?"

Ok, fair point.

Candy Schaeffer snapped. She was gorgeous, older, and with bright white hair, but not, like, old. She was small but in shape and radiating confidence. She was better than you, and she knew it. Some people detested her for it, others found it her sexiest quality. Either way, she liked being in control of the situation, ideally behind the scenes, but that wasn't an option right now. She could take it no longer.

"No. Absolutely not. This is insane. I won't go along with any of this. Your honor, I'm formally submitting a petition to divorce my husband and a subsequent motion to gain control of 100% of his assets."

Now it was Todd's turn for outrage and Craig's turn to soothe him.

"You have no grounds to do that!"

"Oh, but I do. Our marriage is going to be annulled, thus voiding our prenuptial agreement, and throwing the whole thing to the discretion of the court. A real court. I want an actual court to go through all of this. I can prove enough bad faith actions on your part to show that you deserve to keep nothing that we've acquired."

"Bad faith? Are you insane?"

Mrs. Schaeffer opened up a manila folder and passed out color 8x10's to the entire table. It was a set of pictures of Todd. James looked at the one given to him and instantly tossed it.

"This bitch did not just send me dick pics."

"Your honor, friends of the court, these are pictures of my husband, Todd Schaeffer. He's well-lit and clearly identifiable, yes? You'll note, like James already has, that he is fully nude." Todd refused to look. Craig studied the shot carefully.

"A few other things to note here. First, in all of the different shots here you can tell from the background that they're taken outdoors, at night, at our residence. You'll also notice that his body is covered in red splotches. Look closely at those marks..."

Craig did. James did not.

"It's lipstick, your honor. Lip prints, to be precise. You see, I came home one night a couple weeks ago to find my husband locked outside, bare ass naked, his body covered in lip prints from another woman. Lip prints are as legally identifiable as fingerprints, we could have these run to establish a positive identity, but I can prove that they're not mine, and that's all that matters."

She glared at Anna, most everyone followed her gaze but didn't say anything. Anna felt a tiny bit singled out.

"This is proof, beyond a shadow of a doubt, of his infidelity. And let's not pretend that this was a moment of weakness and lust? If there were any doubt whatsoever as to his true dedication to the sanctity of our marriage, I present my second piece of evidence, right here, across the table: two love birds in love, tenderly cuddling together. I challenge anyone to show any proof of him ever treating me like that. Our marriage was never anything even somewhat romantic, it was a partnership, platonic at best, and nothing more, and now it's not even that."