Elena's Pov:
I drove for a long time with only one destination in mind. I'd walked away briskly from the multi dollar home I'd helped build.
He didn't follow me, of course he'd always never rated me, I thought with a smile as I turned a corner.
I got to my destination, killed the engine and walked into the building. The receptionist welcomed me with a warm smile.
“Is Brad in ?” I asked with a small nod to her greetings.
“Yes…
“I want to see him immediately”.
She looked at my face and understood this wasn't a good time for protocols and questions. She nodded and I opened the door walking into the office.
Bradley was sitting, his legs on his desk and laughing loudly at whatever the other person on the end of the line was saying.
He saw me and quickly composed himself.
“I'd call you later. Mrs Kingston…a pleasant surprise”.
“Hi Brad”.
“Have a seat”.
“No. Brad, I need divorce papers immediately”.
He raised a brow and I could see his brain immediately running on clockwork.
“Mrs Kingston…
“No questions. I'm divorcing Adrian, he's aware. I need the papers”.
He swallowed hard and immediately got to work.
In a couple of minutes, I'd penned my signature.
“You're my attorney, send this to him”.
And I walked out of the law firm and into my car.
The city moved past as I drove, both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, because if I stopped moving I would have to think about what had just happened and I was not ready for that.
The only sound I could hear was the engine and the occasional rush of another car passing and somewhere underneath all of it, the sound of my own breathing.
I willed myself to think
I had nothing with me. No bag, no documents, nothing I would need. I had walked out of that house with only my car keys and the clothes on my back. I could not go to a hotel without my cards. I could not start anything without my papers. And I had nowhere to go except…
My parents.
I gripped the wheel and turned the car north.
My mother answered the door in her robe, her reading glasses pushed up on her head. She looked at my face and I watched a confused expression form on her face.
“Elena.”
“I left him.” My voice was steady. I was proud of that. “I need somewhere to stay tonight. Just tonight.”
She looked at me for a long moment.
“Left who?”
“Adrian”
Then she stepped back slightly, not to let me in but to turn her head toward the living room.
“David.” She called.
My father appeared in the hallway. He took one look at me and crossed his arms.
“What happened?” He asked.
“I found him with someone else.” I kept my eyes on his face. “I left. I just need one night.”
Neither of them moved from the doorway.
Something cold started to settle in my stomach.
“Are you going to let me in?”
My father exhaled through his nose. “Elena. You know how these things work. Marriages have difficulties. That does not mean you walk out in the middle of the night.”
I stared at him. “He was in bed with my best friend.”
“And I’m sorry for that,” my mother said, her voice was careful and measured, the voice she used when she was trying to manage a situation rather than feel it. “But you have a son. You have a family. These things can be worked through if both people are willing…”
“Cut the crap mom.”
“You chose that marriage, Elena.” My mother’s voice was firm.. “You fought for it. You cannot abandon it every time something goes wrong. This is not how we raised you.”
Every time something goes wrong. I heard the words and I felt something go very quiet inside me.
“I need one night,” I said again, softer this time. “Please. Just let me in this once.”
My mother’s eyes dropped briefly. That was the only answer I needed.
“You were the one that arranged this marriage for me. You convinced me that Adrian would be good to me. Was all that a lie just to secure that contract? You sold me? And I foolishly agreed to it because I loved Adrian too.”
“You brought this on yourself,” my father said. “Go back to your husband. Talk to him in the morning when things are calmer.”
He closed the door.
I stood on the step stunned, I did not move for a long time.
I thought about knocking again. I thought about what I would say. And then I thought about all the times I had stood in different doorways waiting for people to choose me, and I turned around and walked back to my car.
I had one option left.
Adrian’s office building was forty minutes away. I drove there on autopilot, parked in the underground lot, and took the elevator to the floor where most of my investment documents were kept. Contracts in my name and certificates. The paper trail of everything I had poured into a marriage that was already a lie before it started.
The lobby guard stepped in front of me before I reached the elevator.
“Mrs Kingston.” He did not move aside. “I’m sorry, you’re not on the access list tonight.”
I kept my voice even. “Those are my documents upstairs. I just need ten minutes.”
“I have instructions.” He said it flatly with no apology in it.
Adrian. Of course. He had moved fast.
“I’m asking you to step aside,” I said.
He did not. Instead he reached for my arm and I pulled back sharply.
“Do not touch me.”
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the premises.” His grip tightened. He was bigger than me by a significant amount and he had already decided how this was going to go.
I should not have been surprised. I had spent eight years watching Adrian erase me in small ways. This was just the first time he had done it out loud.
“Let go of her.”
