Page 34 of The Sexy Billionaire

“I’ll be in the room with her. She’s going to be okay,” Callie reassures him.

“I’m a phone call away, and I can be down at the lawyer’s office in twenty minutes if you need me, okay?”

“I’ll be fine, I promise, and I’ll call you as soon as it’s over.”

He gives me a nod and reluctantly lets me leave the apartment with Callie in tow.

“He’s worried, you know,” Callie tells me.

“I know he is, but he needs to understand I’m an adult and that I also know Michael. He has always been nothing but hot air.”

Callie doesn’t look convinced, but she doesn’t say anything more when we step out of the apartment and into the waiting taxi. We ride in silence all the way to Abigail’s office. Then we get out and head upstairs to the conference room, getting there before Michael and his team. As we walk into the room, I nervously start to play with my hands.

“It’s going to be okay,” Callie reassures me as we take our seats. “Be calm and rational, you know Michael is going to lose his shit because of his temper. That will be a win for you with the mediator. Put all emotion aside, deal with nothing but facts, and think about things logically,” Callie reminds me.

Easier said than done. I can do this.I have to do this.

Abigail walks in with her staff and gives me a wide smile. “You ready for this?” she asks.

“Yes, no, kind of,” I answer.

“It’s going to be all good, especially if his lawyer has told him to play nice.”

He has no power over me anymore. We aren’t even married. There are only two things we need to agree upon, and then I can move on with my life.

Movement outside catches my attention, and I can see the receptionist ushering Michael and his lawyers into the conference room.

This is it.

When Michael’s eyes land on me, a sneer pulls on his upper lip, and I can see the venom behind those blue eyes.This man hates me.

Oh no, this isn’t good. But also, how dare he hate me. I hate him. He’s the one who’s been cheating on me. I’ve done nothing wrong. I shouldn’t be surprised, he’s always been self-absorbed. I was too stupid to realize he wasn’t some cooking genius, just a Frenchman with an ego.

Michael steps further into the conference room, his blond hair slicked back, and he’s clean-shaven. I can smell his cologne from across the room, the same one I got him for our wedding, the one that used to give me butterflies every time I smelled it, and now it does nothing but repulse me. Nice try, but that won’t work on me anymore as I pretend to sneeze.

“Something’s irritated my nose,” I whisper to Callie, who nods and pretends that she doesn’t know exactly what I’m doing.

Michael glares at me when I look back over at him. Two can play that game, I made sure that I looked good today, too. Not because I want him back, but because I want him to see the consequence of his actions, that he’s never going to get all this ever again. He probably doesn’t care because he never has, but it’s made me feel more confident and that’s the whole point. I’ve gone for a gorgeous white shift dress that hugs my curves and black heels. My chocolate-brown hair is pulled up into a high ponytail with natural makeup except for a pop of red on my lips, a color he said he hated me wearing; he said that I looked like a hooker.

He takes his seat across from me, those blue eyes trained on mine; he’s trying to intimidate me, but I no longer care. Callie squeezes my hand underneath the table, giving me strength.

“Shall we start?” the mediator asks.

Michael’s lawyer nods and starts talking. “We all know why we are here today, to dissolve the marriage of Ms. Paige Johnson and Mr. Michael Nelson,” his lawyer starts his opening monologue.

“Sorry, can I interrupt for one moment, please,” Abigail asks as she looks over at the mediator, who nods while wearing a serious frown. “We aren’t here to dissolve a marriage, as there isn’t a legal marriage between Ms. Johnson and Mr. Nelson.”

A collective gasp falls from Michael’s camp as the junior lawyers share confused looks between them.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” the mediator asks as Michael and his lawyer frantically whisper between each other.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I assumed due diligence had been done before today, because we found that there were no papers filed on behalf of Ms. Johnson or Mr. Nelson. If you search for their marriage certificate, there is not one registered with the city or anywhere, for that matter.”

“What the hell are they talking about?” Michael turns and asks his lawyer loudly. His lawyer tries to reassure him that everything is okay as he turns and asks the junior lawyers for their input. One of the lawyers pulls out some paperwork and places it on the desk in front of the mediator.

“See here,” one of the younger lawyers states, pushing the paper toward him. The mediator grabs the piece of paper and starts to read it.

“It looks like their marriage license,” the meditator states with another frown.

---