“Let me be clear Ms. Yang, if I don’t hear from my wife – herself that she is okay I will be reporting her as a missing person.” Ifelt myself start to shake, “You are just some random lawyer that wrote a prenup for us five years ago and now, the same week she loses her grandmother and begins acting abnormal you’re suddenly back in the picture and I’m not allowed to know where she is?”
“What exactly are you implying, Benjamin?” Her tone was sharp, and I could tell I had ruffled her.
“I’m concerned that Melanie is not in the right state of mind to be making these decisions and that you, seeing an opportunity for a hefty payday, are taking advantage.” I laid down the foundation of how I planned to remove Ms. Yang from the picture with brutal precision and felt my lips twist into a vicious smile.
After the initial shock of discovering how quickly my wife had executed her getaway plans, I had called Frank and Ms. Richards to work out the next steps. The private investigator had already informed Frank that my wife had boarded a private plane with Griffin and was taking the next commercial flight to Bismarck, where he would follow her until I could arrive. He also took shots of them leaving the house together and boarding the plane.
Fucking Griffin.
Frank had quickly adjusted the battle plan to account for my wife’s tantrum, and Ms. Richards had given me some tips on how to make it sound like my wife was struggling with the loss of her grandmother and spiraling. Frank said we were going to go from multiple angles if this had to go to court: my sexaddiction, years of providing for my wife, her mental health struggles, and if necessary, we’d make it look like her family was manipulating her with an old friend and the lawyer. I didn’t love the idea of making the Walshs look bad, but I was happy to let Griffin and Ms. Yang take the fall.
“I see.” She cleared her throat, “You can let Mr. Gatti know that this is not one of his cleverer strategies. I assure both of you that Melanie will gladly prove her sanity and safety to any law enforcement that you contact but that will not provide YOU access to her.”
“She’s my wife!”
“A wife you have been cheating on for years, including while she was struggling with the loss of her grandmother. Even if you somehow did manage to make my client look unstable, which she isn’t, you’d never be able to convince a judge that YOUR actions hadn’t contributed to any struggles. Leaving you isn’t a sign of insanity, Mr. Landon… staying with you would be.”
I was left speechless for a moment. She had brought out the claws and sliced me to shreds before I even recognized the trap I’d walked into.
“I’m in therapy for sex addiction,” I mumbled weakly and winced at the dry laugh she didn’t bother hiding.
“I’m sure you are. Look, I’m a very busy woman, Mr. Landon; have your lawyer look at those papers and contact me when he’s ready to chat.” She hung up without waiting for myresponse, and I set the phone down on my desk with a quiet sigh.
How the hell did Melanie find out so much, so quickly?
Did she know before she caught me?
I shook my head at that and dismissed the possibility. Melanie may have surprised me with how she played this, but I knew that she wouldn’t have been able to pretend she was oblivious to my reckless behavior if she had known before her grandmother passed. I couldn't imagine my sweet wife making love to me if she knew that I had fucked Angela just hours before. I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of my front door slamming shut and heavy footsteps coming towards my office.
“Let me see the paperwork.” Frank grumbled as he sat down in a chair. I motioned to the stack of papers before me with a frown.
“Her lawyer is competent… and not a fan of you.” I grumbled.
Frank froze with the stack of papers in his hands and stared at me. His face contorted with frustration.
“What?” My voice took on a defensive edge, and I leaned back in my seat.
“I told you to wait to make contact until I got here… did you call Ms. Yang?”
“Yes…” I winced at the explosive curse that burst from him.
“Why do you even bother paying me?” he roared and tossed the stack of papers back on my desk, “You make it IMPOSSIBLEto properly defend you when you refuse to fucking listen to the most basic legal advice.”
“Jesus Frank.” I started to raise my voice, but then let it trail off when I realized I didn’t have a defense.
"Tell me what was said." He snapped.
Frank paced around the room as I recapitulated the conversation. By the time I finished, he looked exhausted.
“I need you to listen to me from here out or I’m done… do you understand?” Frank demanded.
“Yes.” I sulked.
“Do not follow your wife to North Dakota.” I opened my mouth to argue, and he raised a hand. “Yet.”
He paused and watched my face. I gritted my teeth and waited for him to continue. His satisfied nod did nothing to improve my temper.
“They will be expecting you to follow, especially after that phone call. Let our guy follow and you and I will be focusing on cleaning up as much of the paper trail as possible. I hired a forensic accountant that I’ve worked with many times, to come and dig through your finances and tell us what needs to be dealt with. That should give them enough time to get relaxed again and then you can chase after her.”
