It's over. All over bar signing the papers. Krystal brushed past the lawyers huddled outside the door of the conference room. Jake of course had his whole team there to protect his interests. Her own lawyer rushed off to court the moment they all shook hands across the table. The lift opened, decanting more suited figures and she hurried in, pressing the button for the basement car-park. She needed to get out of here so she could lie down and die. Or at least cry. Already the tears pricked her eyes, the ball of grief in her throat almost choking her. At least it seemed to be blocking the nausea. Where had it all gone wrong?
Jake breathed a sigh of relief as he escaped from his team. They'd done a great job protecting the company. Not that she was ever after his money. Her green, witches eyes glazed over at talk about profits and cash flow. He'd found it refreshing, a woman uninterested in his billionaire status. Her 'alternative lifestyle' upbringing of course. Even after being married to him for three years she still preferred her flowing tie dye weirdo gear to the designer clothes he provided. He could see the brightly coloured skirt flapping behind her as she vanished into the lift, her flyaway black hair hanging past her waist. Running away again. He wasn't going to let her get away with that.
Leaning against the mirrored back wall of the lush, timber panelled elevator, Krystal closed her eyes so she didn't have to see Jake's gimlet blue stare through the closing doors. She just had to hold it together till she left the building. These were his kind of people, uptight lawyers. A flurry of movement made her open her eyes. A long fingered hand attached to a grey suit held the door from closing. Why was he still wearing his wedding ring? The door slid open and her soon to be ex-husband strolled into the space like he owned it. It had been the first thing she noticed about him, apart from the surfer boy blonde good looks. That sense of entitlement, when he'd come into her mother's shop at Byron Bay looking for a gift for his sister.
He pressed the button for the ground floor and stood at an angle, watching her. She had nothing to say to him. The lights blinked on and off and the floor lurched under her feet. Damn, damn, damn. The fates really knew how to pile it on. 'It's stopped. The lift I mean.'
He raised his left eyebrow in that quirky way she liked. Used to like.
'You think?'
Opening the panel, he reached for the emergency phone. Typical take charge attitude. Another thing she used to like. After the drifting, unreliability of her mother, it had been nice. Until she realised that control freak came with the territory. She'd had enough of that before her Dad died.
'That went well.' His voice did that funny thing to the pit of her stomach as he hung up the emergency phone. No. She had to be over him. Their divorce was non-negotiable. If only she hadn't got involved with fighting his sister's battles.
Who was she trying to kid? The marriage had been over long before Jake came to the resort to find a naked man in her bedroom. 'Of course it went well, Jake. Your lawyers know that anything less is unacceptable.'
'You make me sound like a tyrant.'
'No. Just a little OCD about things. How's Austen, speaking of tyrants.'
'The great goof has eaten my Gucci loafers. He misses you.' He look down at his polished Italian leather lace ups. 'It was good of you to let me keep him.'
'He's yours, we got him for your birthday.'
'But we picked him out together. He thinks you belong to him too.'
Like master like dog. Until he realised she wasn't going to change. 'Well I don't have room for a dog that size in my apartment.'
'You could have a house. There will be enough in the settlement.'
Jake watched her shake her head, rubbing her stomach absently as if it was uncomfortable. Conflict always went straight to her stomach. She never explained, but something her mum said suggested her father had been physically violent.
'Why did you do it, Krystal? I know we had problems, but another man?'
'Now you ask? It's too late Jake, it was too late then.'
'You never talked to me. How was I supposed to know what I was doing wrong? Woman are supposed to be about the talking, the feelings. Why couldn't you tell me if you felt trapped?'
'It wasn't that. You weren't happy either. You made a mistake marrying me and you couldn't admit it.'
'I never said that. When did I ever say that?'
'You didn't have to say it. Everything you did proved it. That image consultant you employed. You could prissy me up in all that stuff but I'm never going to be Ms Corporate Wife. It's just not me, Jake. You should have realised that before we got married. You saw my lifestyle, my mother. I worked in a Crystal shop selling wacko books. Your words.'
'I was trying to make it easier for you. I knew you'd never had much money. She was supposed to help you.'
'Well she didn't. I'm telling you now.'
She compressed her lips, the pallor of her face almost green. He stared at that hand as it dropped lower, resting protectively on her lower stomach. It couldn't be. The flowing clothes concealed it but the pressure of her hand shaped the fabric to the curve of her abdomen. Krystal, whose stomach was always washboard flat.
'Is it his?'
'What are you talking about?' Her eyes widened. She knew damn well.
'The baby.'
'If you must know, it's yours.'
The lift lurched into movement.
Triumph blotted out the anger. Finally the weapon he needed. 'That changes everything.'
