Page 4 of Dangerously Yours

I had every reason to believe his words hadn’t been a bluff, because it was the sort of thing he would do. Currently, Amanda was heavily involved in cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics, all of which teams reached the state finals last year. Zachary lovedfootball, and with his tall height, he not only played tight end at Rushton Academy, but he was a point guard for their basketball team, too. Leslie wasn’t into sports, but instead wanted to be a model. She had already appeared in numerous commercials and ad campaigns for kids, and she was the face of Mitchells’ upcoming youth spring collection. It had been weird to see her in Easter attire back around Halloween, but she had loved every minute of it.

“You’ll never win, Lulu. By the time I’m done with you, there won’t be two cents of mine left for you to rub together. There was an iron-clad prenup, and no matter how many cases of infidelity you try to slander me with, you’re going to walk away from this marriage with the same thing you walked into it with – nothing!”

Cade had a point. The only thing I managed to bring into our relationship was a stack load of student loans. I had wanted to go play international ball, and had even gotten an offer from Barcelona, but I had given it all up for him. I did sign a prenup because I never imagined something like this would happen. Yes, I did question it at the time, but there was little I could say.

“Do you not trust me?”I’d asked.

I could still remember Cade drawing me into his arms.“Of course, I do. My father insists that we have one of these done, but it will never matter because we’re going to be together forever. I love you, Lulu.”

“Fucking liar,” I seethed.

Maybe he did love me at the time, but I could no longer see it anymore. Every word from his mouth now seemed calculated when I had once considered them to be sincere. Cade not onlybroke our wedding vows and shattered my heart in the process, but he also had now resorted to threatening me. The worst thing was that he had the money, means, and opportunity to do exactly what he claimed he would do, and there was little I could do to stop him.

My father had passed away about seven years ago, and my mother’s health had taken a turn for the worse about three years prior. She was currently in Asheville but living at my sister’s house, where she could get around-the-clock care. Chicago was too far away, and honestly, her deteriorated condition only made me sad. I cut out our bi-annual visits with the kids to see them, and I now realized it had been almost two years since the last time we had gone. I couldn’t upset her any more than her weakened health had already done.

I had nothing. My sister had even less money than me, and combined with my mother’s care, she didn’t have anything left over, not that I would ever ask. I couldn’t ask anyone I knew for anything. There was obvious pride, but also the knowledge that Cade kept me so isolated from everyone that I was completely dependent on him. I had no idea where the girl ready to jet off to Spain had gone because when I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I couldn’t find a single glimpse of her.

I should’ve fucking known better.

I had let good dick and some fantastical idea of a fairy tale cloud my judgment. Now I was in no place to fight my soon-to-be ex for our children, and their lives hung in the balance. Cade wasn’t a terrible father, per se, but I knew he would push them off on whomever he could because the fast life and women were all that mattered to him. Well, those and money. That one went without saying.

Tears sprang to my eyes as the helplessness set back in. Since I received these divorce papers a few days ago, all I could do was cry. In some of my weakest moments, I truly debated whether or not I should just ask him to stay. Maybe if I knew what he was up to, I wouldn’t be so disappointed. And maybe, just maybe, but we could even have an open relationship.

Each time I thought of either of those things, I would hate myself more for even considering it. He had betrayed me, yet I was willing to let him play the victim. His bemoaning over not seeing his children each day was a small price to pay for his actions. If the shoes were reversed, and I had been the one to cheat on him, I would have been banished from this penthouse... this city... this state... and sent packing to North Carolina with little chance of ever seeing my children again.

“No,” I said out loud to myself. I refused to cower, or to let my weakness overrule me.

I needed to show my children what strength was even in the face of adversity. While my life hadn’t changed yet, the anticipation was likely even worse than it would be once it actually happened. There had to be something I could do, even if it meant abandoning my one-time dreams and replacing them with something practical that could hopefully help me out of this situation.

Having not worked an actual job since high school, I was at a loss for what I could do. While working retail or as a waitress in a neighborhood restaurant was a start, neither of those things would help me pay my own way. It would only be a matter of time before I was evicted from the only home my children had ever known, and I had to have some other way to support myself, and them, or else Cade would win. Most of the time, a Titan always did. Not this one, though. I was once considered theslayer of a Titan, and again I would destroy him the same way he had destroyed me.

I had given this man the best years of my life. All the late nights spent alone, usually consisting of me praying about whatever elements were keeping him out all night, would not be forgotten. I demanded restitution for it all, and I would get it because there was no way I would ever let him take our children from me. Essentially all alone, they were all that I had left, and I loved them more than anything in this world, including everything I now stood to lose.

I looked down at the manilla envelope in front of me, then brushed at the damp mark on the top of it. I had been crying and while my tears still rolled down my cheeks, I forced myself to open the envelope once more. I had thought to bring tissues with me, so I took a few seconds to dab at my eyes and remove the wet residue of my pain from my flesh. Afterward, I picked up the papers and decided to read through them carefully.

“You have to watch guys like Cade Davis, Lucy. They are sneaky as fuck, and crooked to boot,”my own lawyer had told me just the other day when I had told him that I’d received the official papers.

“I know how Cade is,”I assured him, and it was the reason I was now also reaching over for my glasses.

I usually only wore them when reading. Since this document was large, there was no telling what he was having me sign and initial. For all I knew, he could be making our next fight an even easier victory by burying something inside of these pages which would have me relinquishing my rights to our children. I would never put that past him, and as I started to read the first fewparagraphs, that paranoia inside of me grew. Finally, I picked up my cell phone and dialed my lawyer.

“Hey, Joel. It’s Lucy Davis. I was hoping I could stop by your office this afternoon.”

“Absolutely. Why don’t you come by right after my lunch? I should be back around one-thirtyish.”

“Perfect,” I responded. “I’ll see you then.”

No, there was no way I could sign these in good faith without having another set of eyes on them. The kids were all in school, and with their sports practices after, the only one I needed to worry about picking up was Leslie. She didn’t have any modeling classes or shoots to attend, and I knew she would be waiting for me. Just in case things ran long at the lawyer’s office, I decided to pick her up now. Olga would keep an eye on her while I was gone, so I got up and reapplied some make-up to my face. I could never leave the house looking as terrible as I felt. If a Titan’s wife never learned anything else, we all knew that image was everything. We were a direct reflection of the men in our life, even if I wanted to stab mine in the chest with a dull, rusty knife.

I would have to leave all homicidal thoughts to the women onSnapped.I had far too many things to worry about than focusing on Cade. I still needed to figure out how I intended to support myself. I would be awarded some type of alimony, but nothing that would allow me to maintain even a semblance of the lifestyle I was used to. All of my worries were less for myself and more for my children. They had never known anything outside of this place, and if I was unable to keep them in their private schools and allow them to do all their extra-curricular activities, they would resent me. Eventually, they would choose their father and current way of life which would leave me all alone.

As I left the penthouse and traveled down Michigan Avenue in my Porsche, I saw a billboard that reminded me of an upcoming charity event I had been working on for months. I loved the philanthropic work I did in the community, from the silent auctions to the parties, to the...

It was then that I realized there might be a career path for me after all. I was great at planning and organizing parties. I could become a party planner, and with the high-profile clientele I knew, there would never be a shortage of events to plan. This was actually something I could do, and bottling that excitement up inside of me for a few minutes, I arrived at my youngest daughter’s school and about fifteen minutes later, I was on my way back home with her.

NOAH

Free agency had finally passed, as had the draft, and I managed to stick with my current team despite the rumors that had swirled steadily around me. Gabriel had mentioned that quite a few teams had reached out about me, including the team that had put mine out of the playoffs the season before. The current quarterback was retiring, and with a championship roster, it made sense to look at someone like me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to even think about them, or anyone else. Both Romeo and I cleared the first hurdles, but the final ones would come after training camp.

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