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Chapter 2 - Please Sign

Clarabelle's POV:

As I make my way to my office on the top floor I can hear some of the girls talking about my husband's latest sexcapades that have been broadcasted to every tabloid and gossip column you could think of. None of it matters anymore. Soon enough I'll be washing my hands clean of that man and his transgressions won't tie back to me. I hear it all and for once it's not all bad.

"Poor Mrs. Sylvester. She's definitely prettier than this one." Says one girl who's only been here a few months.

"Ugh, could you imagine if it were your husband? I think I'd kill him." Whispers another woman who's worked here 3 years now. 

"You know, it's no wonder she's resigning. I'd be embarrassed too if part of my job was to sue the people who were writing all those articles, it's really no surprise she's been so grim lately." Through it all I just listen. The most surprising bit is that they knew I was resigning. Never thought they'd care. 

Pushing the door open to my office I see my secretary, Ashley, walking away from my desk. 

"Good morning Mrs. Sylvester. Your resignation approval is on your desk and the last case information as well. Also, everyone in the office got you a parting gift and signed a note." She lists off not missing a breath. I always admired how hard she worked. Even after I found out she slept with my husband. She never once disrespected me either. Maybe today I'll ask her why.

"Thank you Ashley. I'll be sure to hand back the case files before 6." I say as I make my way to my desk. "Of course, Mrs. Sylvester. Let me know if you need anything pertaining to the case."

"Sure thing. Ashley?" I ask before she can walk out.

"Yes, Mrs. Sylvester?" She turns from the door and looks at me. She really is pretty. A natural blonde with a petite frame and a perky bust. It's not too surprising Darren slept with her.

"Are you free for dinner this evening? Think of it as a goodbye dinner. We can go wine and dine." I ask her in a cheerful tone, completely serious. 

"Um, I am free, but are you sure Mrs. Sylvester? I thought you had a meeting with Mr. Sylvester tonight?" She asked me with a confused look on her face.

"I'm meeting him for lunch, don't worry about it. I've never had a meal with you the last 2 years you've worked for me, and I'll pay so don't think about it too hard. We'll leave together." I answered her with a smile.

"Alright then. Dinner it is." She smiled back and continued out of the office. Since I'll be gone soon, it'd be best to let her know I don't resent her for what happened. I don't want her blaming herself for my leaving.

I worked non-stop on my last case, which was just a proposal review for the new project going on in the entertainment sector of the enterprise. 168 million dollars feels like nothing now that I've written contracts worth billions of dollars. I look at my clock to see I finished just in time for lunch and my phone rings.

I see the name of Darren's secretary, Carter, and answer quickly.

"Hello." I say as I place my phone on my ear getting up to leave.

"Hi, Mrs. Sylvester. I'm calling to let you know Mr. Sylvester and I are heading to the restaurant now if you need a ride?" he states warmly through the phone. Carter has always been very compassionate towards me, which always seemed out of place next to Darren's cold and play-offish disposition. 

"I'll head to the parking garage then. See you in a few, thank you." I reply with the same warmth in my tone. I hope I don't cause Carter too much trouble by leaving. Darren has always been a spiteful man. I hope he doesn't make Carter track me down and ruin me just to spite me.

I pass by Ashley's desk and let her know I'm meeting Darren for lunch and that I sent my finished draft of the proposal contract to her, and to have it notarized and filed before sending it to the other departments. With that I leave, not worried that I'm making Darren wait in the parking garage.

As I step out from the elevator into the garage I see Carter waiting in front of the Porsche Cayenne checking his watch. I smile and call out to him. 

"Sorry I'm late, Carter. I had to finish a few last touches on my draft before leaving. Did you wait long?" I ask him as he holds open my door and I step in.

"Not at all, Mrs. Sylvester. I understand, no need to apologize." He returns with a smile and closes the door then hurries to the driver's seat. 

"Took your sweet time getting here." I hear the man next to me say snidely. 

"Sorry, I was busy. Anyways, how's your day been?" I reply back cheekily though still keeping up my same sweet façade. Can't let him realize something's wrong.

"Mm. That's fine. My day's been the same as always." He says back squarely. Ah, yes. The same as always. Meaning he's been off dragging my face in the mud somewhere, with the occasional work meeting. I smile at him and sit back comfortably beside him.

"That's nice. Did you want to start discussing the proposal draft now so we don't waste all of lunch on it?" I ask while taking out the copies I printed earlier. 

"Sure. What's it looking like?" He says as he turns slightly towards me to pay attention to the forms while grabbing a pen and turning on his tablet. 

"Most of the money seems to be going to the actors, so I made sure to focus on the penalties for misconduct and drawbacks caused by scandal and disputes. I looked into all of the backgrounds and made note of a few sightings you may want to follow up on with casting and HR. Other than that it's just up to performance and cancellation. Anything you want to add?" I finished drilling off an overview of my draft.

"Hm. Thanks for the notes, I'll take a closer look at it later. Did you add a clause in case there's any need for emergency funding?" He answers as he takes the draft and reads over the agreement form. 

"Clause 3i on the second page covers it. Let me know if the number needs to be reworked. I'll make a note and call Lucas." Lucas Bailey is the CFO of the enterprise and also Darren's closest friend. They've known each other since they were 3 since they had been neighbors and grew up together. Lucas' older brother, Kaeden, took over their family's conglomerate. I'm not too sure why, but Lucas decided to leave his family's company and work with Darren instead. I never really wondered so I had never asked. Maybe I'll ask him before I leave. 

"Always one step ahead. I'll mark it and you can work it out with him later. I'll give him a call too so he has a heads up. I'll make markups on anything else and you can just look it over when we're at the restaurant." He remarks. Sigh, why can't he just speak now so I don't waste my time later? 

"Ok." I say then turn on my phone to occupy myself. Darren isn't really one for small talk unless he wants to get in your skirt. 

As we ride in silence I receive a message from my oldest brother, Noah. 

 Noah❤: Hi Clare. Call me when you can.

That's random. Confused by his straight tone I replied back.

 Me: Hey, bro. Is something wrong? 

I anxiously wait for his reply.

 Noah❤: Lilibeth called Dana yesterday. Take a guess what's wrong, little sister.

"Shit." I say out loud without noticing.

"What's the matter, Mrs. Sylvester?" Carter says while looking back in the rearview mirror.

I jolt out of my thoughts and look up, catching his worried look in the mirror. 

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it Carter. Just read something that surprised me." I say with an awkward smile.

"What was it that surprised you into cursing out loud? Can I see?" I hear from beside me in a tone that makes me confused and annoyed all at once.

"No, it's really nothing. Just an old message I forgot was on my phone. I just remembered I hadn't answered my brother." I am texting my brother, and I haven't replied to his last message, so technically I'm not totally lying.

"Well it's nothing to get so worked up about. It's your brother, just reply." He remarks with a snarky grumble. Him and his attitude. Just let it go. I'll be gone soon enough, there's no point in getting petty with him.

I stay silent and text Noah that I'd call him tonight. We arrive outside of the restaurant, finally and Darren turns to me.

"Here, I finished looking through it." He says handing me the papers neatly and turning to get out. I take off my seat belt and Carter opens my door for me to get out. I step out taking his hand.

"Thank you, Carter. You should let the valet park the car and come join us." I say as I fix my briefcase.

"I don't think Mr. Sylvester would take so kindly to me leaving the car to valet. I'll be in shortly though, thank you." He remarks with a slight chuckle and hands me my purse.

"All right, if you say so. What would you like to drink? I'll order it for you while you park."

"How about a cranberry mocktail, since I'll be driving."

"Sure. I'll have it waiting for you inside." I finish saying as he rushes over to the driver's side and goes off. 

Sitting across from Darren with our drinks, I read over all his mark ups. Once I finish I take a picture of each page and send it to Ashley, I also send them to Lucas and Darren. I text Ashley to work on the revision of the final draft I sent her and call the entertainment director. Finally, done with that I put away the papers and looked at the menu in front of me.

"It's been a while since we've come here together, hasn't it, Clara?" Darren says looking up at me from his menu. 

"I saw in a tabloid last week that you came here with that actress. What was her name... Diamond, Rebecca-" I try to recall as I continue reading through the menu.

"You mean Ruby?" 

"Ah! Yes, that was her name. Ruby. She's a pretty one. What did you two talk about?" I react half heartedly. 

"She wanted to get into the new production, but I told her she would have to go through the cast screening like everyone else. She's not too bad, I think you'd like her." He answers with a furrow in his brow I noticed as I glanced at him when he said that last part. He makes it so hard to want to stay. Taking a deep breath I look up and hail over our waitress. 

"Are you ready to order?" The young waitress asks as she steals a few glances at Darren. I smile knowing exactly what's going through her head. 

"Darren? Would you like to order first?" I say setting down the menu and I see Carter walking towards our table.

"Ah, Carter. Perfect timing. Here, have a look at what you'd like." I say handing him my menu and smiling. He sits and grabs it from me with a nod as thanks.

"I'll have a caprese salad as a starter. For entrée I'll have the osso buco with risotto." He says as he hands his menu to the waitress with a charming smile, and I nearly roll my eyes.

"Yes, sir. And for you ma'am?" She says smiling back at Darren with hearts in her eyes. 

"I'll start with the fritto misto on arugula, then the langoustines alla busara. Can you bring a basket of crust bread as well, love?" I ordered, making eye contact with her.

"Of course, and would you like a wine to compliment ma'am?" She asks as she scribbles everything down on her order pad.

"No, thank you. I'll just have a refill on my cranberry juice." I reply keeping my composure.

"Mrs. Sylvester, you don't have to worry. You can drink if you'd like. I'll be the one driving." Carter kindly reminds me while putting down the menu in his hands.

"No, it's alright, thank you. I'm not in the mood to drink." I wish I could have a drink. It would make all this easier. "Alright then. I'll order as well." Carter redirects. I notice Darren give me a strange look from across the table. He's really holding in whatever question he has that's burning at him. I just grin at him and sip on my juice.

We all sit in silence on our phones until the food arrives. After we eat I see that look of satisfaction on Darren's face I've been waiting for. "You guys okay for dessert?" I ask looking through the dessert menu. "I could really go for some tiramisu." I say cheerily. 

"I'll get some too then." Darren replies and hails over the waitress. 

"Yes, sir?" She immediately asks.

"Carter, would you like something as well?" I turn to Carter and he smiles.

"A strawberry panna cotta, please." He answers smoothly.

"Two slices of tiramisu and a strawberry panna cotta, please." Darren relays to her and she scribbles again with a nod and walks away.

I take out the papers I brought here just for this exact moment. I take out a fountain pen and slide it in front of Darren.

"What's this? I thought we finished-" He pauses when he picks up the three page form and frowns.

"Divorce papers." I say simply with my hands folded on the table and I see Carter nearly have a spit take beside me and Darren.

"Divorce papers? Whose?" Darren questions as he flips through the pages and sees my signature on the last page.

"Ours. Sign it, please." I clarify shortly. Darren sneers up at me.

"You're crazy if you think I'm signing this." Sigh, he just had to make this difficult. I grab a folder from my briefcase and take out a cluster of photographs. I toss the cluster to Carter and keep the folder in front of me.

"Darren. Please, just sign it. Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. I love you. But, my love for you just isn't strong enough to keep me going anymore. I'm not so young anymore. I'm 27 this year and you're the only man I've ever known. This just isn't fair. All the details are laid out in the papers. You have 24 hours before I take this to court and have you tried for adultery."

"Clarabelle, what the hell is the meaning of this?" He asks clenching his teeth. I can tell he's trying to keep from exploding in public. I knew he wouldn't want to make a scene with me here in public. I look him dead in the face and take a steadying breath.

"Please, sign it, Mr. Sylvester."