by Lexy Timms
She glanced behind her, looking out the windows of the conference room to see Ben and Meredith talking. They were conspiring to separate Tim from his lawyers. She couldn’t present her evidence if there were attorneys in the room. That would ruin the upper hand she wanted to hold onto for as long as possible. Her plan hinged on only her knowing about Tim’s illegal activities.
Katherine closed her eyes, inhaled and tried to relax. When she moved her hands away from the smooth table, she noticed palm prints left behind. She wiped her hands on the pantsuit she was wearing and prayed Tim showed up soon before she lost her nerve.
She heard voices and turned to look behind her. Ben gave her the signal. She jumped up from her chair and moved to the side of the room, essentially hiding. If Tim saw her in the room, he would know something was up. It was a surprise attack. He should be familiar with the concept, since he was a master at it himself.
When Tim strolled into the room, that familiar terror threatened to steal away her resolve.
“Hello, Tim,” she said, stepping away from the wall, the thick file under her arm.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snapped, turning to look out the window, clearly in search of his attorneys, but Meredith had led them away. Ben was standing on the other side of the window, a smug look on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I was hoping we could have a private chat,” Katherine said, doing her best to sound casual.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
Katherine smiled. “You will.”
Tim guffawed, looking at her with disgust. “You think you’re a badass because your boyfriend is out there. You’re a coward. I know you know better than this. Don’t fuck with me, Kat. You know you’ll pay later.”
She slowly shook her head. “No, I won’t. You’ll never contact me or lay a hand on me again.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “You’re even dumber than I originally thought.”
“Have a seat, Tim. We do have a little something to talk about.”
“I’m not giving you a penny and I’m not signing those divorce papers. You don’t deserve shit. You’ve been nothing but an embarrassment since the day I met you. I can’t believe I ever thought you were good enough to be my wife,” he said, staring her down.
“Thank God for that. I would have never survived another day as your wife,” she mumbled.
“Don’t be a smartass, Kat. You know how much I hate that,” he said, a smug look on his face.
She walked towards the table and sat down, patting her hand on top of the file. “Trust me, you’ll want to see this and it’s probably better if you’re sitting down,” she said, ignoring his thinly veiled threat of violence.
He hesitated before taking the seat across from her. “Did you draw me some pictures?” he sneered.
She smiled. “Not exactly,” she said, and slid the file across the table.
He opened it up and began to scan through the documents. “What the fuck is this?” he growled.
“That is evidence of you bribing judges and jurors, paying off cops, buying testimonies, things like that,” she said, waving a hand through the air.
“Where in the hell did you find this?” he growled, his face reddening.
She shrugged a shoulder. “I can’t remember.”
“You were in my house?” he snarled.
“Our house?”
“It isn’t your house. You don’t live there anymore, I have—”
Katherine smiled. “You have?”
She waited to see if he would reveal Alex’s name. She couldn’t reveal how she’d gotten the documents. She was hoping Alex had followed through with her intention to leave him. If Alex was still in the house when Tim returned to LA, Katherine knew without a doubt, he would beat her.
“Bitch,” he whispered under his breath.
“I’ve been called worse,” she replied with a sweet smile.
“You’re not the bitch I was referring to.”
Katherine giggled. “Oh, you must mean Alex.”
His mouth dropped open. “What did you just say?”
“I was asking if you the bitch you were referring to was your ex-girlfriend Alexandra.”
“You think you’re so smart. So what, you talked to a woman I dumped who has an ax to grind. Big fucking deal. She was nothing more than a piece of ass, and not even a very good one at that,” he said, feigning nonchalance when Katherine knew he was fuming inside.
“Okay, we’ll go with that.”
He looked up at her and slowly began tearing the papers in half. “Oops, I guess your little papers are all gone.”
She threw her head back and laughed, letting the laughter release the nerves she had over the meeting. She wasn’t nervous anymore. “Tim, despite what you think, I’m not an idiot. Do you honestly think those are the only copies? Trust me, there are plenty of copies all ready to be mailed out and released to the press if you don’t agree to my terms. If anything happens to me or Ben, those papers will be released.”
“What do you want?” he snapped.
“Drop the lawsuit against Ben,” she said firmly.
He smirked, the evil in his eyes would normally scare her, but not anymore. She had the power, she kept reminding herself. She was the one that was in control. He could use fear and intimidation, but it wouldn’t work.
“Katherine, you’re not going to do shit. You know I won’t let you get away with this. You’re going to be looking over your shoulder wondering where I am.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t think so. You’ll be the one looking over your shoulder now.”
“Remember that charity ball we went to? The one where you accidentally spilled wine on your dress?” he asked in a low voice.
Katherine flinched, but refused to back down. He was bringing up one of the worst beatings he had ever doled out because she had embarrassed him. She refused to go back to that dark time when she was convinced she would be killed.
“I remember that ball very well. Maybe you shouldn’t bring up the past. It tends to make me mad. An angry woman is more likely to strike back,” she said coolly.
“Oh, like you have in the past? What are you going to do? Cry to your boyfriend? He can’t do shit. He doesn’t scare me. He can’t protect you,” he hissed, his hands pressing against the table as his face reddened with anger.
“He doesn’t have to protect me. I’m protecting myself. I’m bringing an end to this. You don’t get to control me any longer,” she said, finding the courage to speak out against him.
Tim leaned back in the chair, his hands streaking across the table, the knuckles white with the pressure he was pushing against the table with.
He started to shake his head. “Poor, poor stupid Katherine. You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m not going to argue with you. These are my terms. Drop the lawsuit or those documents go out en masse,” she said, not flinching as he slapped a hand on the table.
There was a long stare-off. Katherine didn’t back down. Usually, she would look away and beg him not to be angry. Not now. She was tired of his shit and wouldn’t bow down to him ever again.
“Fine, but don’t think this is the last you’ve heard of me,” he snapped.
She smiled. “Which reminds me, you’ll need to sign those divorce papers as well.”
He shook his head. “No way.”
“Fine. Hmm, I wonder who I’ll send them to first, the LA Times or the California Bar. I can’t decide.”
“You little bitch!” he snapped, slapping his hand against the table.
Behind Tim, she saw Ben step forward. She gave a subtle shake of her head. A little temper tantrum was expected. She wanted to watch him squirm. She wanted him to be pissed. It was a little satisfaction in a long game of torture and manipulation.
“Sign the papers, Tim. Save yourself a lot of trouble. I have pictures of the damage you caused to my body. I have th
e medical records to prove the abuse. I will destroy you,” she said, her voice deadly calm.
He smirked. “If I remember right, you fell down the stairs once. Another time you had a skiing accident. You’ll never prove a thing.”
She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You sure about that? Are you willing to bet your career, plus all your millions and your reputation as an attorney?”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“I would dare. In fact, I’m kind of hoping you refuse to sign. I don’t really want you to drop the lawsuit. Releasing the documents and ruining your sham of a life would be much more satisfying.”
He stared at her again and she could see him having an inner debate with himself. “No one would believe you.”
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”
“Fine, have the money. It isn’t like I don’t have a lot more stashed away, far out of your reach,” he sneered, grabbing the pen and ripping the divorce papers out of her hand.
She watched him sign. “Tim?”
“What now? What the fuck could you possibly want now?” he shouted.
“Only to warn you. Do not mistake my kindness for weakness. I’m giving you a chance to go away quietly. If you try to do anything, anything at all, I’ll make you sorry you ever looked my way,” she said, delivering the threat like a professional bully.
“You’ve changed,” he snapped, sliding the papers across to her.
“I have, and I’ll never be the woman you abused again.”
“Are we done here? I have a life to get back to. Don’t contact me again,” he said, as if he was the affronted party.
“You won’t have to worry about seeing me again.”
She stood when he did, not wanting to give him the additional height over her. She never wanted to feel small and helpless in his presence again.
He looked out the window to see Ben watching everything and turned back to Katherine. “You’ll never marry him. A man like him will never want you. You are nothing but a piece of ass to him.”
She walked towards him, showing him just how not afraid of him she was. She leaned in close. “You’ll never be more than the man who was too weak to treat a woman well. You’re the kind of man who needs to squish a woman under his boot to feel powerful. Fuck you, Tim. You were nothing, but a waste of time and you are a sorry excuse for a human being. You’ll never be more than what you are right this minute and that is nothing more than a pathetic loser who doesn’t have the guts to be a real man. A real man treats a woman with dignity and respect. You’re a sad, sad man and you will always be miserable,” she said, watching him actually lean away from her.
It gave her more satisfaction than she could have ever imagined. The power was heady. She had a tiny glimpse into what he must have felt all those times he had intimidated her.
She walked to the door of the board room, noticing Tim’s lawyers looking at Meredith and Ben, clearly angry to discover their client had been alone in a room with his soon-to-be ex-wife. She grinned, turned back and waved to Tim who was still glowering at her as she walked across the plush carpet in the hall.
Tim was not her problem anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ben
SHE LOOKED HAPPY. THAT was a good sign. He waited, not moving as she threw open the glass door and strolled towards him. She was looking at him, that sexy gleam in her eyes. It had gone well. She walked right up to him and kissed him.
“Hey sweetheart,” he whispered.
“Hi,” she said, turning to stand beside him, his arm snaked around her and held her close to him as he watched Tim stomp out of the conference room.
“Why don’t we all move back into the conference room,” Meredith suggested, looking at Tim and the other lawyers.
Ben made a move to head into the conference room. “Are you going back in?” he whispered into Katherine’s ear.
“Actually, I don’t think we need you,” Meredith said, looking at Katherine and smiling.
Katherine shook her head. “Nope, I don’t think you do.”
“I thought this was a settlement meeting. I’m in no mood for games. We did not fly up here for another wasted meeting. Your client will be paying for all of this,” Tim’s attorney started to say.
“I’ll be in, give me a minute,” Ben said, nodding to Meredith.
There was no way he was going to miss the moment when Tim had to tell his lawyers he wasn’t going to pursue the lawsuit. That was a memory he wanted to look back on many times over the years. Ben moved Katherine down the hall while the others headed into the conference room.
“How’d it go?” he asked the second they had a little privacy.
“He’s dropping the suit and he signed the divorce papers,” she said a smile on her face.
“Really?”
She nodded. “He put up a little fight and tried to threaten me, but I didn’t back down. I cannot tell you how good it felt to watch him squirm. Turning the tables on him was something I have dreamed about for a long time. I never imagined how good it would feel. I mean, I knew it would be good, but I felt like I was flying. I’ve never felt so free in all my life.”
He leaned forward and kissed her again. “I’m so proud of you. You are an amazing woman.”
“Thank you. I feel invincible. I’m not going to believe he is truly gone and out of my life until I get that divorce decree in my hand though,” she said.
“I better get into that meeting. Do you want to go in with me?” he asked.
“No. This part is for you. I’ll wait for you in the waiting area,” she said, kissing him again.
They walked back towards the conference room, holding hands as they walked. She stopped and gave him another quick kiss before he headed inside the conference room.
“Nice of you to join us. Are you all done playing grab ass with my wife,” Tim snarled.
Ben grinned. “For now.”
He took his seat next to Meredith. Meredith looked at the attorneys and then Tim. Ben took a great deal of satisfaction watching him squirm under her scrutinizing stare.
“I understand the lawsuit against my client is being dropped,” Meredith started, earning a series of shocked looks from the attorney.
“I don’t know where you got that idea, but we are moving forward, and we will be adding an additional sum for the ridiculous games you and your client are playing,” lawyer number one replied.
“Tim, is that true?” Ben asked in a sweet voice.
“You will not address our client directly!”
Ben grinned. “Then I suggest you address him because I think he has something to say.”
The lawyer turned to look at him. “What is he talking about? What were you doing in here with that woman?”
“That woman is his estranged wife, Katherine,” Ben snapped, not appreciating the way they were talking about the woman he loved.
“I’ve decided not to pursue any legal action against Ben O’Leary,” Tim said, and it looked as if he would throw up at any second.
“Excuse me?” the lawyer snapped, looking at Tim and then back at Ben, then Meredith.
Ben shrugged, doing his best to appear innocent.
Meredith smiled. “I guess he’s had a change of heart.”
The lawyer was shaking his head, the other lawyer was whispering furiously into Tim’s ear. Ben watched as Tim tried to explain himself and his decision to drop the charges.
“Can we have a minute to discuss this new development with our client?” the older lawyer said, clearly pissed.
Meredith looked at Ben. “I guess we could give you a couple minutes. I have the paperwork drawn up. Confer with your client and we’ll be back to wrap up the loose ends,” Meredith said, standing up and gesturing for Ben to exit the conference room.
“What’s going on?” Katherine asked, rushing towards them.
Ben grinned. “Tim is in there explaining to his lawyers why he’s dropping the lawsuit. Let’s watch,” he said turning to look thr
ough the glass.
The three men were all talking at once. Their muffled voices could be heard through the glass. It was evident the lawyers were pissed at Tim, which was extra satisfying.
“We’ll give them a couple more minutes and then we’ll go back in. I don’t want them talking him out of it,” Meredith said.
“What happens once he agrees to drop it?” Katherine asked.
Meredith shrugged. “It goes away. We have a clause in the agreement that states he cannot change his mind and try to pick up the suit again. Once it’s done, it’s done.”
“Good. I don’t want him to change his mind,” Katherine muttered.
“Alright, we’ve given them long enough. Let’s go back in there. Would you like to join us?” Meredith offered.
Katherine shook her head. “Nope. I’m good out here. I’ve had about all I can take of him.”
“Okay, this won’t take long. Make sure you get a good seat,” Meredith said, winking as she held her head high, walking back into the conference room with Ben on her heels.
Ben smiled at Tim, twisting the knife a little deeper. “I hope everything is all worked out,” he said smoothly.
“Your client will refrain from talking to ours,” the older lawyer said, scowling at Ben.
“Did you three work it out?” Meredith asked.
Tim looked at each of his lawyers and nodded his head. “We have. I will be officially withdrawing my lawsuit.”
“Great, I need you to sign these,” Meredith said, sliding the blue folder across the table.
“I’ll need a minute to review this,” the lawyer snapped.
“Of course, please take all the time you need.”
Tim was glaring at Ben. Ben couldn’t stop smiling. He loved watching Tim getting taken down a few notches. He was proud Katherine had been the one to do it.
“We won’t agree to this,” the lawyer snapped, pushing the file back across the table.
“What?” Tim snapped.
The lawyer shook his head. “It says you can never sue Ben for anything. This is the man involved with your wife. You don’t think there are going to be more run-ins?”
