by Denise Daye
Most of the time he was already eagerly waiting for her. The Radcliff real estate empire never slept, and yet he was the one who came home first. Was he moving his appointments around to be there when she got home? She wanted to think so. And in fact, she was right.
Usually they had dinner together and after that went for lengthy, aimless walks in the gardens, laughing like they did when they were children one moment, then talking about politics and God and the world the next.
On several occasions, Ben’s eyes flashed with dark passion when he looked at her, and if the environment allowed for it, her would pull her close to kiss her. Sometimes gently, other times as if there was no tomorrow. But shockingly it was Ava who lost control of herself on a few occasions.
One time, when Ben had pulled her into a hidden corner in the hallway to kiss her passionately, she had dragged him into the closet close by and locked the door behind them. Her body was on fire and she needed to feel him, all of him. He had claimed her right there and then, both drunk of love and lust.
"For the first time since my father died," he said to her one day, holding her close, "I feel truly and deeply happy."
She'd said nothing—finding what to say seemed almost too difficult. She could have told him how happy she was; how things felt different now... but something told her that he already knew.
By the time the six months were finally over, something that had started out as a nightmare had turned into the center of their lives. They both craved each other’s love, wishing for it to last forever. And even if they never really spoke about it, both knew that at the upcoming six months meeting with Elijah Radcliff’s lawyer, neither of them would sign those divorce papers…
L
ucy couldn’t understand the sudden change in her son. She saw the way he was with that girl now and it made her uncomfortable. More than uncomfortable: furious!
She sat down in the library, waiting for everybody else, deep in thought about the nightmare she had to live though over the past few weeks.
The other day she was walking up to her car when that gardener, James, ran into her. He nodded toward the rose garden and when Lucy followed his gaze, she found Ava and Benjamin strolling under the sun, holding hands, grinning and laughing as if they were truly newlyweds.
“Isn’t it the most beautiful thing?” James had asked her. “To see your child so happy?”
Lucy looked over at the couple, but the only word fitting to describe what she felt was “rage.” All she could see was a gold digger and her idiot son lost in a world of romance and love. She frowned and walked away without another word.
“No worries, at least the six months are up and this rubbish can end,” she consoled herself. Walter would be here in a matter of minutes and the two—Ava and Benjamin—were yet to show.
She wanted to confront Ben about his sudden love story with the girl. You know she’s not really your wife, right? She is just doing this for money. But she was scared of what he’d say; what if he did something foolish? Such as insist he loved her or some other childish notion on his end. No, they were too close to be done with her. Benjamin had managed to stick to the agreement and the inheritance would be his again soon.
Walter arrived a few minutes later than planned and so did the other two lovebirds. Her jaw clenched tightly when they came into the office holding hands.
Once again, just like they’d done six months ago, they held the meeting at the Elijah’s library.
Lucy tapped the desk impatiently. Get on with it, old man! The nightmare was almost over. Benjamin would sign the divorce papers and that would be it: the wealth would be theirs again, and most importantly, that gold digger would be gone—forever for all she cared.
Ava glanced over to Benjamin. He was sitting right next to her and caught her gaze with a warm smile. Just before the meeting, he had pulled her aside, his hands trembling. He told her that he wouldn’t mind staying married to her and they could just see where it would go—”not like we would have to get married again,” he joked. Ava threw herself into his arms, tears of joy running down her face. “Only if I get a real wedding this time,” she had insisted, which he granted her with a kiss.
Lucy was also throwing Ava a look, but it wasn’t full of love, that was for sure. Ava didn’t know if she would rejoice or fear the moment when they would declare that they wanted to stay married, but it didn’t matter in the end. Benjamin was here with her, loved her, wanted to be with her. That was all she ever wanted.
Walter took out a note and said, "Please listen carefully: what I'm about to read is just as important as everything else we've been through six months ago."
"Well then, get on with it," Lucy snapped and waved her hand impatiently.
The lawyer cleared his throat and began reading a note from Elijah:
"My Dear Family, I hope everyone is here. This part of the will should be read after the proposed six months are over and the couple has gathered her for their divorce."
Benjamin squeezed Ava’s hand once more to give her courage. It worked.
Walter raised his gaze and eyed the people around him, and then focused back on the document. But instead of reading the rest of it, he just sat there, in silence, sweat forming on his forehead, his eyes glued to the paper in front of him.
“Well, what is it now? Why don’t you read the rest?” Lucy nagged.
Walter exchanged looks with Ben and Ava. “I-I was wondering, d-did you two decide on the divorce?” He glanced at Ava and Ben holding hands.
Ben narrowed his eyes. “Why would that matter? We did what my grandfather asked us to do six months ago, so let’s just sign the will or whatever else we need to do and be done with it.”
Walter lowered his gaze and stared into the page.
“Just finish reading the note, will you!” Lucy barked.
Walter nodded; his lips pressed together into a grimace. "As mentioned six months ago, the entire estate shall be awarded to my grandson, Benjamin Radcliff. Mrs. Ava Burns shall receive all monetary amounts as agreed upon at completion of this agreement.”
Lucy was nodding at Benjamin’s part but bit her lip in hatred when Ava was mentioned. She was almost ready to get up and leave when Walter raised his voice once more, loud and clear this time.
“That is…” he announced but stopped to take a deep breath, “…that is…”
“This is a waste of time,” Lucy shouted as Walter finally gathered all the courage he could find to read the rest:
“…That is, only if the couple chooses to separate and signs a legally binding no-contact order.”
“Huh?” Benjamin leaned forward in utter confusion. Walter hastily finished:
“In case the couple chooses to continue their relationship or keep in contact in any shape or form, my grandson, Benjamin Radcliff, shall no longer be the heir to my fortune and that right shall be passed on to his mother, Lucy Radcliff. Ava Burns shall no longer receive the agreed upon amount of $10,000,000. Her payment shall be reduced to the amount of her mother’s medical bills and her personal student loans."
"Wait…WHAT?"
“WHAT?!”
“ARE YOU JOKING!” Benjamin, Ava, and Lucy yelled at the same time. Ben even jumped up from his seat, glaring at the lawyer in shock.
“But that c-can’t be, we did everything right,” Ava stuttered as her lungs seemed to struggle for air. She felt cold and hot at the same time, as if she was about to faint. Even Lucy was shocked. She crossed her arms and wildly shook her head.
Benjamin slammed his hand onto the desk Walter was sitting at. "Ridiculous! Grandpa had truly lost his brain before his passing!"
Lucy gasped. "Benjamin! Don’t speak of your grandfather like this!"
Benjamin ignored her, looked over to Ava who was fighting down tears.
“Walter, please. You can’t tell me that this is legally possible. Binding!”
But Walter avoided his gaze, nervously fumbled with the pen i
n his hand. “I am so, so sorry, Benjamin, I really am…but it is…”
It took Ava a few tries to speak, no words would come out, but she finally somehow found her voice again. “So, if we stay married, Benjamin will lose his entire inheritance? All of it? This is truly the end of the will? No more meetings in a few months, no more ‘hello everybody I have changed my mind’ letters from here on in?”
With closed eyes, Walter shook his head. “This is it. All of it.”
Ava’s next reaction shocked everyone but herself the most. She pushed back her chair and stormed out, tears flowing down her face like an untamed river. “That is fine with me, I want a divorce,” were the last words she cried out before she disappeared into the hallway, slamming the door behind herself.
Benjamin wanted to run after her, but he still wasn't entirely certain what was happening here. He spent the next couple of minutes arguing with his mother and the lawyer, trying desperately to find a legal loophole to all of this.
"This must be a mistake!"
"I'm sorry, Benjamin, but –"
"What are you being sorry for?" Lucy cut in sharply. Her fiery gaze shifted to her son.
"This is what we had hoped for all along! How can you question this? Divorce her and get what's rightfully yours. Wasn't that the plan?"
Ben sighed deeply; his fist shaking, clenched.
"I love her..." He grunted and exhaled deeply, his words out of reach.
“Love? Ava? Don’t be absurd!” Lucy’s high-pitched voice sounded like a cat being strangled. Benjamin looked at his mother, long and deep, before he walked by her. But Lucy grabbed him by the wrist.
“Ben! You can’t be serious! Did you not hear her? She wants the divorce, make sure she gets the money.”
He pulled free, his eyes filled with anger and frustration, with all the pain this world could hold. “I can’t be serious? I can’t be serious? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You have nothing but hatred in your heart. I never see you smile unless you’ve just bought yourself another diamond, and—”
“Maybe you shouldn’t inherit your grandfather’s estate,” she cut in with a tongue that hissed like a snake. “He was ten times the man you will ever be. I’m glad your father is dead so he doesn’t have to look at you every day like I do!”
After those words of burning acid, there was only silence. Benjamin stared at his mother, his mouth and eyes wide open in shock. Walter scratched his head, clearly wishing for a hole to open up in the ground to disappear in. Lucy on the other hand crossed her arms, a look of guilt on her face, and yet her mouth did not move to apologize.
“…As a billionaire or in the gutters of New York… May the heavens strike me dead if I ever talk to you again,” Benjamin declared out loud, his voice steady and clear. Then he left, his steps wide and steady, with not the slightest interest in what his mother had to say next.
Lucy jumped up, her chair falling backwards. “BENJAMIN! Benjamin come back here! I said come back!” Lucy screamed after him once more, louder than the first time.
“If you stay with her, I shall cut you off! FOREVER! YOU HEAR ME! FOREVER!”
Benjamin rushed out the door and tried to find Ava. She was all he could think of, all he cared about. It was shocking, but for a man who was just losing a billion dollars, he was incredibly clear about what he wanted, and the price associated with it.
"I want only you," he said to himself, "...where are you, Ava?"
He searched frantically around the house, asked every employee they had, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. Heading up to the bedroom once more, her scent still hanging in the air, he spotted a note on the bed. He snatched it in his hands, his heart racing so loud he thought it would deafen him. Did she leave him? Gone forever?
He tore the note open, almost apart: I'll sign the divorce papers so you can have your inheritance and I will have my share...
“That’s it?” he mumbled with shaking hands. He read it over and over again, each time frowning more. I can't believe she's just going to leave like that. He squeezed the paper and dropped down on the bed. Did she really just choose the money over him? Her debts would be paid for one way or the other and the gardener’s home would be her father’s as well as that was agreed upon outside of the will and even signed off by his mother… So why? Why divorce him?
The only answer he found to this question was as terrible as it was logical.
“$10,000,000,” he muttered, his voice sad and low. His heart felt like a million pieces of glass, slowly cutting him open from the inside. How could this be? Why did all of this have to happen to him?
For the past few weeks he was starting to believe that his grandfather had set him up in his will on purpose, with a deeper reason in mind. To help him love again, be loved in return, and find true happiness. But now he truly wondered if his grandfather had hated him in his last days. Plotted on his deathbed to destroy his only grandchild. Either that, or he had simply picked the wrong woman, was blinded by Ava Burns like the rest of the world.
Out of nowhere, his mother’s toxic voice appeared, grinding her way into his skull like a drill.
“I told you she only cared for your money.”
The voice grew louder and louder, until it was there to remain.
A
va sat at home with her father, crying her heart out and shaking in his arms.
“I don't want to be the reason he's unhappy," she whimpered, her voice low and weak. "What if he comes to think he made a huge mistake. He was rich his whole life. What am I compared to a billion dollars?”
James nodded in that fatherly, loving way only a parent could.
"What if the big mistake would be not talking to him about this? What if he truly loves you? Love is sometimes not as complicated as we think."
He held her close. His dear little girl who had become a woman, gotten married, and now suffered from a broken heart.
Ava burst out into another crying spell. She curled her shoulders over her chest as if she was trying to build an invisible wall around herself. Her father put his arm around her once more.
"It's going to be fine," he assured her. “I promise you; it will be just fine.”
It had been two weeks since the incident at library. Ben was sitting behind his enormous desk at the Radcliff company when James walked in with a quiet knock at his open door.
Benjamin frowned. This was the absolute last thing he needed right now. A talk from former father-in-law to son. His own mother had already departed his life forever. Pretty much disappeared overnight after their fight about Ava—never to be heard of again.
Barney was bouncing back and forth between the two of them, trying to be the peacemaker, always without success. Not that she had tried to ask for his forgiveness, not Lucy Radcliff, but even if she did, Benjamin was sick and tired of money-hungry, cold women, and that included his mother as well.
For a brief moment, the old man froze in awe at the wealth his room reflected. An enormous glass front offered the best possible views of Manhattan’s glittering skyline. The modern designer furniture was themed in white, complementing the endless light that was shone in through the windows.
Benjamin quickly glanced at him but then focused back on the investment proposals on his desk.
“They think we are still family, so they let me walk straight in,” he excused himself for showing up like this. Ben responded with an uninterested nod without looking up.
“If you are here about Ava’s share of the inheritance, she will get it soon. I just didn’t have the time to sign the divorce papers yet. Her debts and those of your wife have already been paid for. The gardener’s house’s deed has also been assigned to you two.”
It was a lie. One of the few Ben had ever told. Not the part about the debts and the house, but that Ben had been too busy to sign the papers. He had all the time in the world. He could literally leave right now and go sign them. But he just couldn’t get himself
to do it. He was terrified to even look at the darn divorce paper. To him, they were the definite end of his love story, his happiness.
James frowned and walked over to one of the golden Egyptian statues that lined up at the wall. He touched one of them, the one of Anubis.
“Are they real?”
Ben now leaned back in his chair, looked up at him. Brows tightly drawn together, he elegantly folded his hands in his lap.
“What do you really want, James?”
“Ah, a straight shooter, just like your grandfather.” He stepped back from the statue. “I am here for my daughter. She really cared about you… Still does.”
“Ah yeah? She was pretty fast to get out of the house and sign the divorce papers, don’t you think? If I am not mistaken, she signed them the next day?”
James threw Ben this certain look that made him uncomfortable for some reason.
“If that is truly what you think of her, then why have you not signed the papers yourself?”
“I was busy…”
“I am sure you were. But just in case you were also afraid of losing the woman you love, I would recommend doing a little more soul searching to ask yourself if you truly believe my Ava was after your money or if she might be that selfless person who you fell in love with after all…”
James strode toward the door when he turned once more. “Elijah was the most genius man I have ever met. Unfortunately, he realized too late what life is really about.”
Those were James’s last words before he closed the door behind himself, leaving behind Benjamin and his treacherous thoughts. As he had done so many times before, he pulled his phone out of his pants and opened the picture of Ava and him at the beach. Her hair shimmered like gold under the cloudless sky and her eyes glittered like the reflection of the sun on the ocean. This was the kindest person he had ever known. A woman who dedicated her life to the homeless.