Chapter 6: Papers

I filed for divorce on Friday.

My lawyer was a friend of Hettie's, a brisk woman who charged me nothing and told me not to be a hero.

The papers needed to be served on Corbin personally.

I told the process server I would do it myself.

He looked at me.

At nine that night, I stood in the lobby of Hallworth & Co. on Fifth Avenue in a black coat, holding a manila envelope.

The security guard knew my face from seven years of Christmas parties.

"Mr. Hallworth's on the forty-first floor, Miss Ludlow."

"Is he alone?"

"Everyone else went home hours ago."

The elevator took a long, quiet minute.

Forty-one was dark except for the glass office at the end of the hall.

Corbin sat behind his desk with his jacket off and his sleeves rolled, a glass of whiskey untouched at his elbow.

He looked up.

He did not look surprised. He looked like a man who had been waiting for a knock all week.

"Roxie."

I crossed the carpet and dropped the envelope on his blotter.

"Divorce papers. Sign them and send them to my lawyer."

He didn't touch them.

"That's it?"

"That's all of it."

"You came up here at nine at night to hand me an envelope."

"I wanted to see your face."

"And?"

"I can't see anything in it."

He stood, slowly. "What do you want to see?"

"Whether you're sorry. Or just lonely."

"I'm both," he said. "I don't know which is bigger."

My pulse jumped in my throat.

I hadn't planned this.

That is what I told myself, standing in his office with the city lit up behind him.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Big Wife's Revenge: From Model to Queen from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.