Ciara Walters looked like she belonged on a runway that in a courtroom. She was absolutely stunning, her dark skin and luscious, jet-black hair making her look more like a wealthy heiress than a cutthroat lawyer.
She was wearing a navy blue suit, and her Louboutin heels dangled off her feet as she sat across from David and me. Her piercing green eyes settled on me, and I felt small and insignificant in front of her as she stared into my soul.
“So, let me get this straight,” she said in a crisp English accent. “You want me to take on what could turn out to be the biggest and messiest divorce case in the country, without even getting paid?”
“A settlement can be agreed afterwards,” David said. “You owe me, Walters. Don’t forget that.”
She glared at him as he said this, and something about the way she looked at him made me feel uneasy. But I knew David wasn’t that kind of man. He would never cheat on Brenda. No matter how hot Ciara Walters might be.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Ciara chuckled as she leaned back into her seat. “This is going to be a bloody nightmare. The press coverage alone will make me want to jump off the Manhattan bridge. Celebrity divorces are always juicy stories. They’ll be on us like moths on a flame.”
“It comes with the territory, Walters,” David said. “So will you do it?”
Her gaze shifted back to me, and she leaned into her seat before she sighed and rubbed her chin. “I’ll need to speak with her privately.”
David didn’t look too pleased with that statement, but he stood up and walked out of the room after placing his hand on my shoulder encouragingly. Once he was out, I stared back at Ciara and tried to look apologetic. She was doing me a favour after all, taking a case like this blindly without knowing how much she was going to get paid.
Her lips tightened as she remained silent, the only sound between us being the slow tapping of her nails on the desk. She looked like she was sizing up her prey, and I tried not to seem so intimidated by her steely eyes. I imagined what it would be like to stand across from her in a courtroom as she tore me to shreds, and I instantly knew I wouldn’t want that.
“So,” she said finally, “what’s your deal, Mrs Reynard?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your deal,” she said. “Your angle. What are you trying to get out of this.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
She leaned forward slowly, her eyes hardening as she said, “This isn’t going to be a picnic, love. This is war. If you think this is going to be easy, think again. You’re about to have your entire life torn apart, bit by bit, and leaving the naked, ugly truth for the entire world to see. All of your carefully crafted secrets, all those little intimate moments that were only between you and your husband, they’ll be ripped apart in a courtroom and you’ll have nothing left to hide. Are you really up for that?”
My palms were sweating as she said this, and I shifted nervously in my seat. My heart was beating wildly against my chest, and my throat had already gone dry. Ciara seemed to realise what was going on, and she slid a glass of water towards me. I gulped it down instantly, then poured another glass and downed it as well.
“You’re not ready for this, Olivia,” she said. “I can tell when someone is going to break down in the courtroom, and everything about you tells me you can’t withstand the pressure. You’ll be devoured alive.”
My ears started to ring as I imagined myself in the stand, looking down on Marcus and his lawyer as they tore me apart and made me look like an evil, pathetic and disgusting partner. The man I once loved would probably think of me as nothing but a stain on the bottom of his shoe, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that.
“Sweetheart,” Ciara said, “let’s just reach out and agree to a settlement. I’m sure your husband will be more than happy to settle in order to keep this out of the papers and not drag it out for too long. You want my opinion? Let’s try to get some sort of settlement.”
It would have been the wise thing to do. Take a sizeable payout and start over. I could do that. I should do that. But then the image of him and Emily flashed in my mind, and I balled my hands into fists.
“Are you married?” I asked, looking up at her.
