The Media Baron's Heiress

CHAPTER 23

No Brad ---please don't leave me. 

But she did not know how to give voice to her plea.  She needed him.  She loved him so much, but hell she needed to deal with her internal demons. They were controlling her, destroying her chance of happiness.  They kept her heart captive, refusing to let her reach out to Brad. 

It was so difficult.  Because every time she looked at Brad, all she saw was a man who slept with her repeatedly for one clinical reason only, whereas she ...

Tessa watched as Brad strode out.  She locked her door, slid to the floor and sobbed her heart out.  Her hands covered her face as she gave free reign to the torrent of tears until her eye ducts ran out of supply.  Tessa heard her mobile ringing and dived for it in anticipation.  It was her father, so she ignored the call.
 
Has Brad informed Joseph already?  What will happen to The International? 

Her father was in the process of handing over to Brad.

Divorce!  Brad's going to divorce me!  
He had demanded that they marry in community of property.   Now that would translate to her being entitled to half of Brad's wealth.  Not that she wanted a cent from him.  Hell fifteen minutes ago, he was prepared to throw everything away for Tessa.  Didn't he challenge her to make him do just that?  Now Brad was returning to London and never coming back.  What about the offices he'd set up here?  He signed contracts to lease them for a six month period.

It was two weeks since Brad had walked out of Tessa's life.  He'd removed every personal effect from their bedroom.  His fancy designer suits that had once hung in her closet, then moved to the matching cupboards he'd installed were all gone.  Tessa used to love opening her closet and getting a whiff of his musky cologne, now there was just a very feint trace of it when she opened her wardrobe.   The cupboard he'd later used was stripped bare.  She had hoped there was at least one memento for her to hold onto, but he'd cleaned out the place.

It was two weeks since Brad had been in her bed, albeit they had been separated by those nasty cold silk sheets, but nevertheless he had been sleeping in the same bed as her, now he was gone.  Her life felt gloomy.  She lost her will to live.  Every evening Tessa was tempted to have a drink in the hope it would help her get some sleep, but she refrained from doing it.  Her baby's health was more important that a sleep stimulant.  Her gynaecologist was concerned about her weight loss, but Tessa had mumbled something about her work schedule clashing with meal times.  Dr Lowe had sternly instructed Tessa to follow a strict eating pattern so that her unborn baby could receive proper nutrition.  Tessa had squirmed in her seat, being properly chastised by Dr. Lowe

She  was trying to keep events in her private life under wraps.   She did not want her work colleagues or God forbid the media to get wind of her disastrous failed three month marriage.  It was somewhat of a blessing then, that since she'd married Brad, she knew that there were discreet handlers hovering somewhere in the vicinity wherever she went.  She never saw them, but after they married Brad had assured her that she had his protection, and that the media would not enjoy carte blanche where she was concerned.

Thank heavens she was involved in a case that kept her in court every day.  At least her colleagues would not observe the dreadful state she was in.  She was pale, with constant dark shadows under her eyes, and anybody who knew Tessa would immediately come to the conclusion, that her internal electrical circuit had been switched off.  She had always been a cheerful, confident live wire, now she was just lifeless.

When a courier hand delivered an envelope to Tessa, the helplessness one knows when one is sinking, gripped her so strongly she began shaking.  She did not need to open the envelope to know it marked the finality of her short marriage to Brad, yet automatically her fingers went through that process. 
The front page was an embossed letter from his attorneys stating that they were representing Bradley Blakely in his divorce petition.  Attached documents were clauses to the divorce.  Brad's angry scrawl was at the end of each page.  Tessa ran her index finger over his signature.  She swallowed and proceeded to skim through the clauses, she was astounded at Brad's settlement offer to her.  He had transferred the Scarsdale home to her name, and had signed over a substantially staggering financial settlement to her.  She did not need to verify it.  Tessa knew it was fifty percent of his net worth.  She felt ashamed to know that he was parting with half of his hard earned wealth when he had only been married to her for a meagre and very unhappy three months.  Here it was, clear as crystal that she had meant more to him than his career or his wealth, but she was too afraid to trust that knowledge.