Episode 2
1368 Words
Selene's POV
The glass door made a creaking noise as I made my way out of the lawyer's office building, unable to feel anything.
I was completely numb.
My eyes darted around the sidewalk.
Yet staring at nothing as my heart was constricting in my chest.
The same way it had been since yesterday's event.
I had come here a few hours before with hope.
Yet I was leaving with almost nothing.
Although the lawyer, Mr. Adkins had listened to everything I said without interruption.
He had studied me quietly till I was done speaking.
Afterwards, he had leaned back in his chair.
"Mrs Selene, the papers you signed show that you had essentially transferred full ownership of your company," he said as he folded his hands.
My heart rate had skyrocketed.
"That is going to make this difficult."
I swallowed.
"But it was my company before the marriage—my inheritance. Surely that should count for something?"
He shook his head slowly.
"I cannot promise you that."
My heart was suddenly in the pit of my stomach.
"Please, you have to help me."
He sighed.
"This is not an impossible feat to achieve despite being difficult. My team and I will try our utmost best to make it happen."
A spark of hope kitted up in my chest.
"It isn't?" I asked, eyes wide.
He nodded.
"It can be handled with a strong legal team, evidence of coercion or manipulation, financial records and a lot of time."
My gaze rounded.
A legal team?
That would cost millions.
Running into exorbitant amounts I didn't have at the moment.
I swallowed spittle while I braced myself to ask the important question.
"How much are we looking at?"
He scrawled across a paper which he slid to me across the desk.
I reached for it, picked it and looked at the number scribbled at the bottom.
A gasp left my lips as my stomach nearly literally dropped to the floor.
I lifted my head slowly to look at him.
"I can't pay that right now," I said quietly. "I don't have that much in possession."
The little stash I had hidden away would only cover my basic needs for a while.
The entire thing with my emergency funds couldn't even hold a torch to quarter of the estimate he had written me too.
He nodded with a small smile as if he had been expecting such an answer.
"I can allow you a down payment because of your reputation. Something that would be enough to get things started."
I leaned forward.
"You can settle the rest once the case is over and your assets are recovered."
It sounded reasonable.
It also sounded completely out of reach.
"Thank you Mr Adkins," I murmured as I stood.
He offered his hand.
I shook it.
"I hope to see you again," he said as I left.
Why wouldn't he?
This case would fetch him money.
And it might destroy me.
Right now, I felt completely helpless as I stood by the curb.
I didn't need a soothsayer to know that despair was soon to be my best friend.
I flagged down the first cab I saw.
When it pulled up I got in the back.
Then I prattled off an address without thinking.
The driver nodded and zoomed off, straight into the incoming traffic.
The entire ride was spent staring out the window.
My brain was busy running numbers.
Something I knew would never add up.
By the time the cab stopped, I had already given up on the lawsuit and everything.
I already convinced myself that I just needed to find a safe space to exist for a while.
"You alright?" The cab guy asked when I didn't say anything after the stop.
My brain fully jerked back to reality.
I looked up.
Then I realized I was in front of a hotel.
One I had never been to in my entire life.
This wasn't my home.
Where was I?
I turned to him.
"Where the f**k did you take me?" I asked him with raised eyebrows.
A frown claimed his facial features.
"T'was you who asked me to take you here Ma'am?" He said with a little shrug.
My brows furrowed.
Rage was quietly beginning to bubble up deep inside of me because I was getting frustrated by everything.
“How would I? when I haven't been here before?”
"Ma'am, you specifically asked I take you here," he argued, rolling his eyes.
My mouth opened, about to speak.
But, the moment suddenly flashed before my eyes and I realised something.
I had given him the address written on the pamphlet I had received prior to stepping into the Law firm.
"Sorry," I whispered as I gently slapped my forehead with my right palm.
Everything was just so wrong today.
"I gave you the wrong address. Can you take me to Linwood Avenue instead?"
The driver turned around.
"I can Miss," he started. "But you will have to pay for this ride first."
I nodded and reached into my purse where I pulled out my card.
He shook his head.
"Cash only."
At his words, I began to laugh, slightly hysterical as tears gathered in my eyes.
That was because I was sure I had only a bit of cash sitting on me right there.
Still I dug around in my bag with fath and found the last folded bills.
The crumpled notes were lying at the bottom, waiting to be given away.
I handed them over.
He counted it.
A sigh of relief encompassed me when he said it was complete.
"This won't cover the ride to Linwood avenue though," he explained.
My heart jammed in my chest as I realised I didn't have another cash to take me back home.
"I'll alight," I said, choosing to step out, and he drove off without a word.
I stood there on the pavement staring into nothing as a year slid down my cheek.
I swiped it away with my fingers as I turned to the hotel bar which was right there.
The doors to the establishment the pamphlets had praised were open.
Since I couldn't go back now, I could at least go in and have a drink or maybe two.
I walked in and sat down on a stool and told the bartender I wanted a whiskey.
He set it in front of me with a smile.
I drank it faster than I should have and his bushy eyebrows instantly raised.
"Another one," I said.
He said nothing though his expression said all he couldn't as he got me another.
I drank that one too.
Then I just sat there staring at the empty glass, feeling the warmth spread.
The tension sitting in my shoulders eased and I felt lighter than before.
Alcohol was good at that.
When I was given the check, I simply pulled out my card and handed it over.
The bartender swiped it once.
The machine beeped.
It did the same when he did it again.
He looked at me.
I stared back, as confused as he was.
"The transaction was declined."
My brows quirked.
"That's impossible," I voiced as I took the card back and reached for my phone.
I called my bank right there, going through the automated options.
Finally I got through to customer care who told me in a flat, professional voice that my account had been frozen hours ago.
My eyes bulged in shock.
I didn't need to think.
I already knew who had done this.
So, I just sat there holding my phone and staring at the bar counter.
I was completely stuck.
No cash.
No working card.
Nowhere to go.
Stranded.
How was I going to pay for this damn whiskey? I wondered.
"Here."
A hand reached past me and slid a card across the bar toward the bartender.
"Swipe it for the lady."
The masculine voice was soft.
It sounded like the person it belonged to had all the time in the world.
I turned around, sceptical.
My eyes met forget me not blue eyes, sitting on the most handsome face I have ever encountered in my life.
- Writer
