by Rosemary Rey
“Here was this rich, handsome, well-educated, renowned surgeon who was single. And he was lonely. He may have had a lot of women come and go, which he never brought home to us, but he was not fulfilled . . . until you. When he divorced Sonia, it wasn’t a shock. It was a relief. She used him, cheated on him, tried to contest the prenup towards the end. We learned all of it during their separation. He was generous when they parted. The odd thing we realized, Matt didn’t seem sad about it. What we saw was ‘relief’. Craig and I were finally pregnant and he was even more resolute in divorcing because he didn’t want to have a family with her. Once he decided, he never looked back.”
“When I had Leona, he seemed to have relinquished the idea of being a husband and father. We tried to get him to not give up on his hopes of having a family. I would try to set him up on dates. Our cousins would set him up with women, both here in the U.S. and in Spain, and nothing. We stopped pushing. Well, everyone else stopped pushing. I couldn’t help but want to see him as a husband and father. I see him with Leona, so much like Craig in his love for her. When I saw him with you, for the first time I saw him with a woman he loved; the only woman he’s loved. The way he looked at you, watched you as you spoke, touched your hand. You probably never reflected on how you two look at each other. I watched you while you were in the garden. It was dark, of course, but you both seemed to glow. I couldn’t ignore how he wouldn't leave you alone for any lengthy period of time. And I know he was touching you under the table too.” She smiled. My lip curled upwards at the memory of his caresses.
“It was the experience our parents and I wanted to see throughout his maturation. When he called me on Thursday, It was the first time I’d ever heard him in a panic. Matt doesn’t do panic or anxiety . . . or fear. As a surgeon, it’s the most important quality to have, and Matt has it a thousand fold. He was afraid, Perla. He was afraid he’d lost you forever. He told me he wants to marry you, and he sees you as the mother of his children.” I squirmed in my seat.
“Stella, I’m not comfortable with this. I appreciate your efforts and taking the time to support your brother, but . . .”
“I need you to give him another chance. You have to see this is all new to him. Having a woman like you is all he ever wanted and needed, but didn’t know it until he met you. His method of getting you to love him was unconscionable and unconventional, but I’m convinced he did so because he just didn’t know how to get you to stay. Having loveless sex with random women didn’t teach him how to love and keep a woman. When you really look deep within and realize that about Matt, you must forgive him. You must accept the love from him because you deserve to be loved too. You’re destined to be with one another. Once you do take him back, I guarantee you, you’ll never regret it.” A tear streamed from my eye. I wiped it roughly and quickly away hoping she hadn’t seen. The last thing I needed was to cry at work.
“Stella, I know you love your brother very much. I know to you he’s a good man. I learned so much more about him from you just now than I have in the short time he and I were together, but I can’t just go back. I need time. If he doesn’t have enough experience with women to know a heartbroken woman needs time, then I just have to be the one to teach him . . . If you’ll excuse me, I’m at work. As it is, I’ve taken too much time away from work because of Matt.” I concluded. Stella nodded. She stood up, reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. She grabbed a pen from the cup and wrote numbers on the back.
“If you ever want to talk or check in, please call me anytime. I’m here for you.” She handed over the card. I retrieved it, pulling it into the palm of my hand. “Can I give you a hug?” She asked. I stood, walked over to her, and leaned in for a hug. She hugged me tightly and said, “I’m sorry.” I wondered what she was truly sorry for when she answered. “I would’ve really liked to have you as my sister. We have a lot in common. We both like bossing Matt around.” She winked and we gently laughed. I had no kind words to offer in return, but gave her a small smile and a single curt nod. Stella released me and walked toward the door. “Anything, remember.” She pointed at the card in my hand.
I reflected on all Stella had revealed. She laid out Matt’s entire life and relationships and I set out to decipher the pieces of the story. A light bulb went off, illuminating the concerns I’d had from the beginning of our relationship. Matt pursued me so aggressively. He asked me to move in a few days after sleeping together. He was extremely protective and possessive. I found it odd that a rich, handsome doctor had fallen so hard so fast for me. When I found out about his role with Pentagon, I thought he was aggressive because he was on a mission to gain information from me for Pentagon. When I’d argued with him about the truth, I learned he retrieved from me what Pentagon needed on the second night. The timing of the theft, the length of courtship afterwards, and now the knowledge of Matt’s lack of a committed relationship, added together meant he didn’t know how to pursue and retain a woman he had fallen in love with. Essentially, Matt had fallen in love with me; maybe, I was the only one he’d ever loved. What I was going to do with my conclusion, I didn’t know. I was so miserably angry. I was angry with myself for loving a man who betrayed me so badly. My criterion for breaking up with a man was short, but it hadn’t included corporate espionage.
My evening was uneventful and similar to the rest of my weekend. I ate dinner, went to bed, and read until I fell asleep. I didn’t get to exercise after Stella left my office. I was too numb by her revelation. Part of me was still incredibly disgusted with Matt’s behavior, and the other part wanted to rush to him and hold him. I couldn’t believe I would want to take him in my arms, tell him I loved him, and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. The mere thought of Matt, whether happy or maddening, created tingles of arousal throughout my body. He had such a hold over my body and heart. I didn’t know how I would survive the separation. Worse, I couldn’t fathom falling in love again. It was too soon to think about loving another man. However, I was plagued by my sister’s term for all three of us, “Hermanas Malditas”; the cursed sisters. We were unlucky in love, and I felt the most unluckiest.
*****
I commuted to work on Tuesday, reading the library book on the bus and train. On the T, a handsome man was reading the same book. When we made eye contact we smiled and made a mock ‘cheers’ of our book by lifting each in the air. I returned to my book, restraining myself from giggling during the funny sections. Jonah, the library intern, made a homerun with this selection. I’d hoped I would run into him in the future; for book selections, of course.
At midday, I received a call from the front desk. A messenger was there to drop off a delivery. I took in a deep inhalation, and prayed it wasn’t Matt resending the tablet I’d dropped off yesterday morning. I signed for the package and walked back to my office. It was a manila folder, but it wasn’t heavy enough to be the tablet.
I opened up the envelope and retrieved papers with blue backing, signaling I held legal papers. I scanned the cover letter and determined the documents came from Kevin Zipperer’s law firm. I read the letter once and like the trustee letter sent by Ben’s attorney, I reread the letter to ensure I fully understood what I read. I read through the blue backed forms, which confirmed the cover letter’s summary. I shook my head and called Carson.
“Hey, Carson. Can you have Turner call me on my cell phone or at work? I need his legal expertise because things just got weirder with Matt and Pentagon. Love you.” I left the message and hoped Turner could explain what my brain couldn’t register.
Turner called me within an hour. I explained the papers I had in hand, and he asked me to fax the paperwork to his office. He offered to call me once he was done reviewing the documents. I was nervous and anxious to hear what Turner analyzed from Zipper’s letter and documents.
When the phone rang, a gut wrenching hour later, I answered it on the first ring. Turner greeted me with his smooth southern drawl.
“Hi Turner, please tell me I misre
ad the papers.”
“No darlin’, you didn’t. It was clear and I spoke to Kevin myself. The letter and documents are plain as day, Matt has signed over his entire shares of Pentagon to you. You own the houses, the cars, his personal bank accounts, as well as his personal investment portfolio, which is pretty vast. The only asset he’s keeping is his medical practice and business, which is to protect his other partners outside of Pentagon. The only way you can give it back to him is if you marry him within thirty days of your signing a prenup, which must be signed by Friday of this week. You must remain married for at least five years and hold yourselves out as a married couple with all the things crazy heterosexuals do in a marriage or the assets and liabilities revert back to you. You’ll be responsible for all the tax costs and penalties. There are added penalties if you don’t comply with the bylaws of the Pentagon board of directors. Congratulations, darlin’. You’re a billionairess.” My heart plummeted, and my stomach roiled within, making me nauseas. I took a sip from my water bottle. A deep breath calmed my boiling blood.
“This is ludicrous, Turner. There’s no way I can keep this money and responsibility. As easily as he gave it to me, then I can give it back to him. I’ll pay you to work on a way to sign everything back over to him.” I decided.
“Well, it doesn’t quite work that way. His gift is in contemplation of marriage, which is the wording on the legal forms. It’s kind of like him giving you the ‘Hope’ diamond as an engagement ring. If you give it back to him without it being a ‘gift’ as a spouse per say, it can create a, pardon my French darling, whole shit load of taxation and legal problems for both of you; mostly for you. Then there’s the transfer of rights to the corporation, which has been limited to designees with power of attorney, spouses and children of the main board members, who cannot give those rights away to others not designated by the original board member. He designated you to have ownership, but retained final veto power in your decision on the Pentagon stocks. If you choose not to marry him and keep the fortune, he still has rights to decide how the fortune is managed. You’re required to meet with him at least once a week, at his discretion, to implement and discuss the state of his finances and decisions for Pentagon.” I thought I would throw up. The saliva collected in my mouth, and I turned to grab a tissue so I could spit into it because I couldn’t swallow.
“Rejecting his proposal could tie you to him and Pentagon even longer than the length of the marriage he expects you to give him, not to mention the legal expense to put this back in its original order. And Perla, when you’re dealing with billions of dollars, the taxes will be a son of a bitch to manage.” My heart skipped a beat. This was more than I could take. Matt couldn’t have possibly tied me to him through the very company I wanted to distance myself from.
“Turner you can’t be serious.” My breath was jagged from the anxiety attack brewing in my chest.
“Unfortunately, or fortunately for you, I am. The only thing you need to do is marry him and spend five years with him with all the trappings of marriage and you’re free of Pentagon, and him, if you wish.”
“What if I keep his ‘gift’ and rights to Pentagon?” I asked knowing the arrangement wouldn’t work either.
“You basically will become Dr. Mathias Keene and would vote on matters he would normally decide. You would have to meet with his friends who are also owners of the corporation to discuss issues put to vote. You’d have to be completely involved.” A string of expletives coursed through my head, none of which I uttered to the charming and refined Turner.
“What about proxy vote? Can’t I assign someone else to vote in my stead?”
“I asked. Matt and his friends have a pact to meet at least once a month for dinner to discuss business, and only the five friends own stock. They have a closed corporation, which means it’s only the parties holding stock who can meet and no one else can vote in their stead. You would be required to follow through on all the bylaws which I’ve also read. As the original shareholder, Matt is the only one who can designate a proxy or release you from the proxy. And darlin’, the proxy is you.” Those meetings are precisely what I had to avoid. I didn’t want to meet or make decisions with men I abhorred. Matt knew what he was doing when he signed over to me all of his money and power.
“And if I don’t go to those meetings?”
“There will be financial penalties in the thousands for not complying with the bylaws. Do you have that kind of money?” He asked.
“What happens if I don’t marry him within the thirty days?”
“You’re the new stock holder of Pentagon . . . congratulations.”
“Turner. This is blackmail. Isn’t this illegal?”
“Perla, women would kill for this kind of gift. I know you wouldn’t, but you’re in love with him. He’s trying to make amends.”
“He’s trying to control me, Turner, which is not making amends.” I yelled, misplacing my anger on a person trying to help me. “I have to think about all of this. What should I do next?” I asked with a calmer tone.
“If you agree to the marriage, they’d like to meet on Wednesday, tomorrow, which is the only day I have free time. All four of us would meet to hash out the pre-nuptial agreement and . . .”
“Prenuptial agreement?”
“Yes. It’s necessary and part of the offer of marriage. They’ve drafted a prenuptial agreement, outlining the way the marriage will be conducted, expectations, and limits. We’d have to hash out everything you agree to versus what Matt agrees to. Once you sign on the dotted line of the prenup, then you get to plan your wedding in thirty days.”
“This is insane. Turner, I’ve never heard or read of anything so preposterous in my life.”
“Crazier things have happened, I’m sure. Listen, how about you come over for dinner. We can discuss your terms. Kevin sent me a copy of the prenup and its best we come in prepared with what you want and have them complete it by Friday’s deadline.” I sighed and groaned.
“They’re damn prepared, aren’t they?” Turner gave a hardy chuckle. “Yes. I’ll come over. Thank you. I’m so happy one of us is marrying a lawyer. I appreciate you, Turner. How about six?” He laughed again.
“Perfect. I’ll call Carson now and he’ll have everything ready.” We hung up.
I went online and started looking into this phenomenon, giving your “fortune away as an engagement gift” or “in contemplation of marriage”, as Turner put it. I kept drawing blanks in search terms. I needed to find something that would allow me to return the damn ‘gift’ without penalty. By the time I was done with my search, I was incensed. I was about ready to kill Matt. With thirty minutes to spare on my shift, I wrote down the terms and limits I required for this faux marriage. If Matt had properly proposed a week ago, I would’ve jumped at the chance. However, once I discovered the way he used me, I walked away without looking back.
When I finished my list, I tucked it in my purse. I rose from my desk and closed down the office. I handed the key back to the front desk. I walked to Chelsea’s office to see if I could get some advice.
“I caught you.” I said with a half-smile.
“Hi, sweetie. I was so busy today and I’m kicking myself for not checking in with you.”
“I was busy too. Do you have about ten minutes?”
“Yeah. Sit!”
“First. I have some bad news. I’m resigning from teaching the two classes. I know this is short notice, but I’m not mentally and physically capable of continuing on with teaching.”
“Perla, your classes are really important to the club. How about I take you off the schedule for a couple of weeks, but then reschedule you when I do the new schedule for July?” I nodded, but knew I’d never allow her to put me on the schedule again. I wanted to pull away from the club.
“Sounds like a plan.” I smiled. “Yesterday morning I dropped off the tablet Matt gave me. His sister later visited me, claiming Matt had nothing to do with her visit. She gave me some insight to h
is life and mental state in regards to our relationship. However, this afternoon, he one upped the gift of the tablet and all the gifts he’s given me throughout this farce of a relationship, and confirmed Stella’s assertions of just how inexperienced Matt is with relationships. Through his attorney and best friend, Matt sent legal papers giving me his entire Pentagon fortune, along with the houses, cars, and bank accounts.” Chelsea’s eyes widened with the revelation.
She sat quietly listening, “Yeah. I’m to meet with his attorney tomorrow to sign a prenup for a marriage to be executed in thirty days, which is the only way I’m allowed to return all the property. How romantic, right?” She gasped. “So I hope you can give me some sage advice, my dear married friend.” I reclined in the chair, hoping she could advise me.
“What the fuck?” Chelsea screeched. “You’re stuck.”
“Replace the ‘st’ with an ‘f’, and I am.” I shook my head, resisting the urge to burst into tears. “I’ve been trying to move on, and he won’t let me. He’s been claiming me since the beginning of this relationship, and this takes possession to a whole new level.”
“Well, is this really bad?”
“Chelsea Marie Dunn Garrity, how are you questioning whether this is bad?”
“I want some hot doctor who happens to be a billionaire to give me his fortune so I could marry him. I’d be set for life.”
“Do you want to trade? I’ll take Dougie. You take Matt, and we can live happily ever after, you with your millions, and me with a guy who doesn’t want to control me.”
“Who says Dougie doesn’t control me? Men want control and power over everything. They’ll take it whichever way they can, especially with a woman they love. Matt’s taking back the power from you. Frankly, I applaud him for it.” She said cavalierly. I couldn’t believe my best friend would agree with his behavior. My eyes widened.