Page 54 of Cold Foot Cash

“Enough! We have played so nice, Bronson. We have rolled over on everything and given your client everything he’s asked, so that we could speed things up and he could move on with that—” She gestured to Alissa. “—meanwhile, he has been aiming at my client for a year, and I’m done. Ms. Monroe asked me to go easy on you all, just to make this go by faster, in the hopes that if she played nice, you would be respectful and push this divorce on through, but it’s clear that won’t happen. Judge Harris will be informed shortly. I’m filing for sanctions for you wasting the court’s time and resources.”

“He’ll side with us and you know it. The husband is trying all avenues to save his marriage—”

“To drain her dry. Say it right, Bronson. To drain her dry. He’s doing all he can to ruin her.” Abigail stood and shouldered her bag. “Let’s go,” she said to Harley.

Harley hated Lance. Hated him. Hated everything about him. “See you Tuesday.”

“Does that mean you are heading to the car dealership—”

“Eat. Shit,” she gritted out.

And then she straightened her spine, and lifted her chin higher into the air, and left out the door that Abigail held open.

“Keep your eyes on your email,” Abigail advised Bronson.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Don’t let him see you fall apart,” Abigail said low as she let the door swing closed behind them. She smiled and nodded at the receptionist as she guided Harley toward the elevator at a brisk walk.

Harley blinked hard to keep the tears in and strode onto the open elevator.

She turned around in it to find Lance and Alissa standing by the receptionist desk. They were holding hands, and both staring directly at her.

She wanted to flip them the bird. Oh, she wanted that so badly, but instead, she squared her shoulders and glared right back at them until the doors closed.

“What am I going to do?” she whispered to Abigail. “If I sell my car, I only have a few thousand dollars in equity in it. If I give him half, that’s maybe fifteen hundred left over for me to put a down payment on a new car, and interest rates are crazy right now,” she rambled, her mind racing. “My payment will be double what it is right now and I’m having to give him all my money, and try to pay the debt I’m taking on.”

“Shhhh, let me think on it,” Abigail said. “I’m going to let the judge know what’s happening, and do some research on whether or not the car can even be added this late in the game.”

“I don’t even want it now,” she said honestly. “I don’t want his stupid name on any of my stuff.”

“I know. Just, don’t do anything rash, let me have a day to figure this out and see if I can push this court date through anyway. I’ll file for sanctions to try and curb their behavior.” Abigail turned to her and gripped her shoulders. “Breathe.”

Harley couldn’t draw in a deep breath to her lungs. Her entire chest was so tight, and the walls of the elevator were closing in on her.

“What he did was horrible. What you’re feeling is okay. You just got sideswiped by someone who hurt you, and he threw his mistress in your face on top of it. It’s okay to need a minute.” The elevator dinged, signifying that they’d reached the lobby of the big law office building. “Deep breath. Here we go.”

“Here we go,” Harley repeated softly.

She tried to focus on the clacking of her and Abigail’s high heels on the polished tile floor. Every clack got her one step closer to the exit.Just breathe.There were too many people down here, walking around, nodding their greetings, paying attention to her. The walk to the exit felt eternal.

It wasn’t until she was out of the building, through the parking garage, and back inside her car that she felt safe enough to allow a sob to escape. The parking garage had been full on the bottom two levels, but this upper level only had a few cars on it. she turned her car on and plugged her phone in with shaking fingers. Harley connected a call to Carolina immediately.

There was no answer.

“Come on,” she cried, connecting another call to her sister.

“What?” Carolina answered.

“I need…I need…” Harley’s breath hitched. “I’m alone.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t throw the people you care about to the wolves, Harley.”

“What?”

“I’m dealing with a lot right now.”

“But I just got out of a mediation with Lance—”

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