The Platinum Triangle

by T V Hartwell

  “So that’s how you feel? Like I kicked you to the curb?”

  “Hell yeah, man. You kicked me to the curb and you kicked hard.” The emotion in Kirby’s voice was unbridled as he grabbed his gym bag and got up to keep himself from losing it and breaking down in front of Jake in a crowded gym. “I gotta go, man. Enjoy your workout,” Kirby said as he departed, leaving Jake speechless.

  Chapter 24 Let’s Stay Together

  Jake spent the next hour doing his workout alone. It gave him an opportunity to think about his conundrum; the two people he cared about the most, outside of his immediate family, both at odds with him and seemingly slipping away, but for different reasons—or was he pushing them away, he pondered. He had managed his relationships with Amanda and Kirby so masterfully for so long, giving them each what they wanted while also fulfilling his own needs and desires with little to no drama. However, for the first time he felt the pressure of being in a love triangle, and he had to ask himself whether he was really giving the other two parties what they truly wanted or had he been selfish, mostly taking care of himself and his own needs.

  Kirby’s biting words pierced Jake to the core. His best friend essentially calling him a hypocrite for judging Amanda and even Adam for that matter for doing something most would consider virtually harmless in comparison to his own deeds. His girl meets a guy she used to date for a drink. Meanwhile, he’s been sucking his best friend’s dick for more than a decade.

  As far as he knew, Amanda had always been completely loyal and faithful to him, and despite her reconnecting with Adam, he had no good reason to doubt her words about only desiring to be Adam’s friend with no benefits included.

  Jake knew that Kirby was right. His unfettered appetite for love and lust from both Amanda and Kirby went unabated without scrutiny for so long. He was now beginning to feel weighed down with guilt; guilt for questioning Amanda’s loyalty while overlooking his own infidelity and guilt for marginalizing his relationship with Kirby though still believing that it needed to change.

  Jake felt that he needed to tackle both issues and fast before things got worse and escalated out of his control. He could tell that Kirby was hurt, but Amanda was hurting too and he still had every intention of making her his wife. So he called her on his cell phone as he headed out of the gym. She had called him several times throughout the day and left him text and voice messages, but he ignored them. Now he was ready to talk.

  Relieved when Jake finally returned her call, Amanda again expressed remorse and apologized for her encounter with Adam. As Jake drove over to her place, they stayed on the phone and talked. Although willing to accept Amanda’s apology for meeting with Adam, Jake still couldn’t understand why she still wanted to be his friend.

  “Look, even though I’m disappointed you went on a date with Adam, let’s just get past this.”

  “It wasn’t a date, Jake. I don’t want you to think that. When he asked me to meet him for a drink, I didn’t agree to meet him with the intention of hooking up and rekindling our relationship.”

  “But, Amanda, he’s a guy, and you dated him. How many guys do you know who go from a romantic to a completely platonic, asexual relationship with their ex-girlfriend? Usually after you break up, it’s game over.”

  “Well, you and I weren’t completely over when we broke up.”

  “Exactly, that’s my point. I still had feelings for you and we continued to see each other.”

  “But there are some people who maintain friendships with exes, Jake. It is possible.”

  “What person do you know is friends with his or her ex? I mean like hanging out together and meeting up for drinks and stuff.”

  “Well, you dated Kerry and you’ve been hanging out with her since you and I first met.”

  “That’s a bad example. I hate Kerry. I’m only around her because of Will. If it wasn’t for Will, I’d have nothing to do with her. Come on, you know that.”

  “You haven’t always hated Kerry. We’ve all had great times together for several years now. You two have laughed it up together many times. You even hug each other.”

  Jake balked. “I hug her? Oh my God, what are you saying?”

  “Yes, you do. When you greet each other you do hug, Jake. It’s not a big deal or anything but you do. I hug Will too.”

  “But that’s all fake. That’s just for show. It’s not real.”

  “I think you’re being dishonest right now.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, but I really don’t consider Kerry my friend. It’s more of a relationship of convenience. But I get your point. Although there may be a few exceptions, I still think it’s rare for people to be friends with their exes.”

  Amanda sighed on the other end of the line. Her view of Jake’s relationship with Kerry differed from his, but it wasn’t worth beating a dead horse.

  “Well, anyway, having a friendship with Adam is not important to me so this really isn’t worth stressing ourselves out over. I love you. I would never do anything to harm you or our relationship.”

  “I know, babe. I love you too. I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier today. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s Adam that I don’t trust. I don’t want him anywhere near you or thinking that there’s any chance of getting back with you. The guy’s a douchebag.”

  “I already spoke to him and I told him to get lost.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “Nothing. I won’t see him again. I promise.”

  Chapter 25 Leaving Money On The Table

  Mike Wallace had left Rick Climent’s office three days before without committing to being the emissary responsible for convincing Jake to walk away from his upcoming marriage to Amanda. He wanted to think over it for a couple of days before deciding whether to take the task on. Given Rick’s adamancy about maintaining absolute confidentiality and privacy and limiting the number of people who could know of his offer to Jake to just three people, himself, Mike, and Jake, Mike knew he had some leverage regarding the conditions under which he would do what Rick wanted.

  Mike called Rick back a couple of days later and agreed to do the assignment under two conditions. First, Rick had to tell Mike what Amanda’s condition was. As his lawyer, he had an ethical obligation to know all of the facts to the extent reasonably possible, and that he could not in good conscious tell Jake that Amanda had a life-threatening illness without knowing what the illness was. Second, Mike demanded that the payment Jake received in consideration for calling off the wedding and ending his relationship with Amanda be no less than $5 million with the understanding that Jake might try to negotiate up. Since Jake and Amanda had not discussed nor planned to enter into a prenuptial agreement, Jake stood to gain enormous financial benefit by marrying into a family worth more than $15 billion. Therefore, by pulling out, he would lose the opportunity for significant financial gain and security well beyond his own modest wealth. Moreover, Mike wanted to ensure that Jake would be well compensated in light of the mental and emotional toll the breakup would have on him and for the anticipated scorn and derision he would face for inexplicably dumping Amanda at the last minute.

  Rick readily agreed to Mike’s terms. However, although willing to inform Mike of Amanda’s supposed ailment, Rick remained adamant that knowledge of Amanda’s condition needed to stay in the family and that Jake could not know. Jake had to be convinced based on his trust in Mike’s word, credibility, and friendship. That is why Rick needed Mike for the task.

  Time being of the essence, things needed to be set in motion quickly. Mike knew that Jake would not be in the office the next day, Friday, because he would be heading to Vegas for the weekend to attend his bachelor party. So Mike sent Jake an e-mail early that morning requesting to meet with him, saying that the matter was “urgent” and “sensitive.”

  Jake had read Mike’s message on his smartphone before he arrived to the office and also saw the meeting request on his calendar for 10:00 a.m., which he promptly accepted. Jake became a little
concerned by the unexpected and urgent nature of the meeting request from his boss. He worried that it might be a client issue, requiring him to delay his scheduled departure for Vegas the next day. It had been a busy and hectic week at the office already, and although he and Amanda had amicably resolved the bouquet fiasco, it had added to his stress as the thought of Amanda with Adam still plagued his psyche. Jake had been with Amanda every night since and all was well and pretty much back to normal in their world on the surface, but he was nevertheless looking forward to getting away and eager to party and chill with his buddies for a couple of days.

  At precisely ten o’clock Jake walked into Mike’s corner office, his pen and notepad ready. He’d prepared himself for the worst-case scenario and had already begun to think about how he could rearrange his travel plans.

  “Hey, Jake, come on in and close the door if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, Mike,” Jake said as he gently pulled the door to the latch, careful not to let it slam shut.

  Anticipating the topic of discussion, Jake started to ramble off about a difficult client they were working with in an attempt to acquire a competitor. “The folks at Harley are demanding way more information than is reasonable. What they’re asking for now is not even in the non-disclosure agreement. I don’t understand why they want to buy the company at this point if they think the audit is fraudulent.”

  “I know the CEO there very well. He can be pretty difficult to deal with. His behavior is par for the course, but he’s one of our biggest clients and it’s the price we pay to keep his business. He always comes in with the highest bid on nearly every deal, so if he’s going to give them what they want they’re going have to dance to his song first. But that’s actually not what I wanted to talk with you about. I want to talk with you about something more of a personal nature.”

  “Oh, okay,” Jake said, settling into his seat a bit.

  “It’s about Amanda.”

  “Amanda? My Amanda?” Jake asked, surprised, not expecting her to be the subject of discussion, especially a discussion initiated by his boss on the premise that the subject was “urgent” and “sensitive.”

  “Yes. More specifically I need to talk with you about your marriage to her,” Mike said. He paused for Jake’s reaction, recognizing he was blindsiding him.

  “Is there some sort of problem?” Jake asked, looking confused.

  “This is very difficult for me. And there really isn’t a right time or wrong time to talk with you about this. Given the circumstances, the present time seems to be the most appropriate and necessary. I must first inform you that I have been retained by Rick Climent as his legal representative and I have been asked by him to speak with you about a highly sensitive and personal matter concerning their family and, more specifically, Amanda.”

  “What is it?” Jake said alarmed, his face turning grim and troubled. He sat his pen and pad in front of him on the edge of Mike’s desk.

  “Do you know much about Amanda’s medical history?”

  “No, not really. I don’t think she’s ever had anything major. She had her tonsils removed when she was a kid, due to severe strep throat, I guess, but beyond that I don’t know of anything else.”

  “Has she told you anything more recently, since you’ve been dating or since you’ve been engaged? For example, anything that would be considered very serious and requiring her to receive routine or ongoing medical treatment?”

  “No, not at all,” Jake said with a furrowed brow, clearly taken aback by the questions. “Why?”

  “Jake, Amanda has a serious and potentially life-threatening disorder. It’s a condition she’s had since she was a child. According to Rick, her condition seemed to improve over the years as she matured, but the condition has returned and has gotten progressively worse over the last year.”

  Jake sat in his chair like a little boy in trouble in the principal’s office. His posture became upright and stiff, and he pulled his legs close together with his feet sitting flat on the floor. He clenched his hands tightly together on his lap and his eyes began to water as he listened in disbelief and utter shock at what he was hearing.

  “Rick says Amanda is in denial and unreceptive to the treatment that she needs to get better and to take care of herself. And if she continues to resist they believe the consequences could be harmful even to you.”

  “What condition does she have?”

  “I have been asked not to disclose that to you. Now, I am not a medical expert on the condition, but I can tell you that based on what I have read, it’s very serious and could be fatal.”

  “Why would he tell you and not me? Why doesn’t Rick want me to know? If we’re getting married, don’t you think I should know?”

  “Your questions are entirely logical and reasonable and I just want to point out that I am merely Rick’s messenger in this. I had no part in the decision-making, he simply asked me to be his conduit. And the fact is you are not married yet, therefore you don’t have a legal right to know and it would be a violation of her privacy for me to tell you. For now, Rick wants her condition to remain private and something that only her immediate family knows along with her doctors, of course.”

  “What do I need to do? I want to help! I could talk with her and convince her to get the treatment she needs.”

  “No. Talking to her and revealing that you know that she has a serious medical condition, even though you don’t know exactly what it is, could make things worse for her. You don’t want to say or do anything that indicates that you have any knowledge whatsoever of her disorder. I am obviously telling you this in strict confidence because I have been authorized to do so, and since you are her fiancé her family doesn’t want you completely in the dark. They suspected that Amanda hadn’t told you about her condition, which is why I asked how much you knew about her medical history. Nevertheless, they like and trust you enough to believe that you have Amanda’s best interests at heart and that you would do whatever is necessary to help and protect her.”

  “Of course, I would. Absolutely. Without question. Just tell me what it is I need to do.”

  “There is something you need to do, Jake.”

  “Okay. Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

  “To help and protect Amanda, you need to call off the wedding and not marry her.”

  Jake’s mouth flew open as he stared at Mike in shock. It was as if the oxygen had left the room and he was without air to breathe. His chest became tight and his heart started to pound so hard that the pulse felt like it would cause his temples to pop. Jake swallowed hard before he was able to speak.

  “I don’t understand. What are you talking about? They don’t want us to get married?” Jake said with an expression of complete bewilderment on his face.

  “They feel that getting married would make Amanda’s situation worse and there could be consequences for you as well.”

  “Me! I’m not worried about me. If Amanda’s condition is as serious as you say it is, I don’t understand how walking away from her and not getting married will make things better for her.”

  “Jake, you’re going to have to take me at my word on this one.”

  “But she loves me, and I love her. It would break her heart. What am I supposed to say to her?”

  “I know this is hard, Jake, but you would have to think of something without telling her it’s her fault or that it’s because of your knowledge that she has a serious ailment.”

  “This doesn’t make any fucking sense. Am I in a dream right now?” Jake stood up and began pacing the room, his head spinning with confusion and disbelief. “This just can’t be,” he said a couple of times as he tried to wrap his mind around the magnitude of the situation in which he suddenly found himself. Jake had known Amanda for six years and she appeared perfectly healthy and vibrant the whole time. Plus she took great pride in keeping herself in shape as a Pilates and yoga enthusiast, very much into the latest fads on holistic approaches to living. She was the perfect pictur
e of health as far as he was concerned, and he could not imagine her in any other state of being. Surely he would have known about it by now, he thought.

  “Jake, there is one other aspect to this that I need to share with you. Why don’t you have a seat.”

  Jake was hesitant to sit. He preferred to walk out of the room as he didn’t want to hear any more of this, but he acquiesced to his boss.

  “I know that you love Amanda and I know that what we are asking of you is a very difficult thing to do. That’s why Rick is prepared to offer you a very substantial sum to compensate you for the stress and strain this will cause.”

  “Wait. Stop right there. This is not about me and I don’t want any money. This is about Amanda. We’ve been together for six years. I know her better than anyone and I don’t think that calling off our wedding and walking away from our relationship is the right thing to do. Even if you told me that she was terminally ill and would die within a month, I would still marry her. Her happiness is what’s most important to me. Not placating her family’s wishes.”

  “Jake, you don’t understand.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I already feel like Amanda is my wife, and I will be with her in sickness and in health until death do us part. Although I haven’t said those vows to her yet publicly, I’ve already said them in here,” Jake said, beating his chest with his fist. “So you can tell Rick I’m sorry, but that I won’t go through with this.”

  Jake grabbed his pad and pen from atop Mike’s desk and stormed out of the room.

  ***

  “Hello.”

  “Rick, this is Mike Wallace. We have a problem.”

  Chapter 26 Turning the Tables