Page 59 of The Fate of Us

“I finally sifted through the mail. Mostly junk except for one envelope.” He opens the folder and slides it to the end of his desk so I can grab it. “She contested the divorce, Noah. But this was after months of not showing up for court dates. The envelope is postmarked three days before the paperwork was filed. Meaning it showed up on my desk the day before the final hearing.”

I stare at the signed letter. Dumbfounded. Pissed. Terrified of what this could mean.

“Before you flip off the deep end, this doesn’t mean the divorce won’t stand. But if she made copies, which I am sure her lawyer did, the divorce can be turned over. And she could own half of what you own.”

“Fuck.”

“And she could potentially refile for divorce and take you for everything and alimony for negligence on my part because of this.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you let us work this out with her?”

Carson pinches his fingers between his brow. “She fucking destroyed you when she walked away from you. I never thought that would happen. Fuck, we had a family barbeque the week before and she was telling me how the two of you were talking about starting a family. I was pissed at her, man. Pissed that she tore you apart and made your life miserable. And to this day I still hate her because her walking away made you a shell of a man for five years. All of us feel like we didn’t have a brother for that time.

“And then Anna came around. And she changed you. You started to smile again. You shifted into the person you used to be. Hell, you finally put the effort into passing your detective exam. I know you failed it twice.”

I look up at him with a furrowed brow. No one knew that.

“Anna brought you back to life and I swear to God I will do anything to keep this document hidden, destroyed so you don’t fall back into the man you used to be. But in order for you to do that, you need Claire out of your life. You can’t let the ghost of her tie you down, wrap you up in bullshit to make you choose her.”

Carson is right. But I just don’t know how I am supposed to do this. “What are you going to do?”

“When this showed up in the mail,” he says laying his finger on the envelope. “I got a weird feeling in my gut. And you know my gut wins me cases.”

I nod. My brother is one of the best defense attorneys in the state.

“I think she is hiding something. I think she was hiding something back then too. I’m going to talk to my P.I., see what we can dig up.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Stay the fuck away from her. And don’t you dare use your resources to try and dig into her life. That could be used against you.” He pauses. “And fix shit with Anna.”

“I want nothing more than to fix this.”

“Good.” He pauses. “But you can’t tell her about this either. I need strict nondisclosure.”

“Then how am I supposed to explain this to her?”

“Find another way.”

19

Anna

I watchedNoah leave the house soon after Claire did.

I’m a wreck.

After everything I went through with Kyle I cannot find the energy to do it again.

I know this is different. I know Noah is just as confused as I am. But my heart can’t separate my past from the present right now.

I shouldn’t have run away. I should have stayed with him. Made that bitch say what she had to say in front of me.

But the fear of déjà vu was taking over my brain. Anxiety weighing down on my chest making it hard to breathe.

The worst part is I need Noah right now. I need him to breathe and he is the one person I cannot be around.

I take the last sip from the bottle of wine I was drinking. I need to get over to Noah’s and pack my things for Nashville.

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