Sealed With a Kiss

Thirty One Pt. II

"You didn't have to get lawyers involved, Mother," Cole responded.

"Evidently I do, since you can't seem to do anything right. You've left me no choice."

"I said I'd deal with it, alright?"

"And how do you propose to do that? You made a mess of things. I had to call Gates."

There was a third voice, this one deeper and father away. "Mr. Richmond, I've drawn up the paperwork. Get her to sign, and everything that's rightfully yours will be returned."

There was a pause. A second in time that seemed to stretch out into an eternity.

"Fine."

It was strange how one work had the power to break you. Blood rushed to my ears, tears down my face. But not one sound escaped me. I was didn't so much as breathe, I didn't dare cry out.

"Do it tonight," Olivia said. "The sooner the better. We'll handle the rest."

"What are you going to do?" Cole asked, his voice strained.

"Don't worry, Mr. Richmond." It was then that I remembered him. That voice....it was the same one as the attorney that cross-examined me so many months ago. "We'll make sure that girl is taken care of."

I hung up then. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I threw phone and watched the screen shatter into a million pieces.

Just like my heart.

I WAS NEVER REALLY INTO WINE BEFORE THIS. Never much of a drinker. But I must admit this white was really delicious. It was after all, a nine hundred dollar bottle.

Because that's what people did, didn't they? When change was on the horizon, they toasted to expensive old grape juice in expensive old glass in their even more expensive homes. I wasn't sure, I've only being rich for a few months but it seemed like appropriate.

I heard the door open but I didn't move. I sat on the couch, my legs lazily crossed and sipped every last drop of my wine.

"Hey," I heard him say. "I'm home."

I turned my head a little to the side and watched him. Watched my beautiful husband.

He took in the sight of the glass with raised eyebrows. "What are we celebrating?"

I angled my chin in the direction of the coffee table. On it lay a sealed manila envelope. "Open it and see."

Cole walked forward to pick it up. I watched him open it, I watched his eyes the color of icebergs read the lines on the paper.

"What is this?" He asked in a quiet voice.

I stood and walked forward with his glass. "Your freedom."

"Poppy..." His eyes looked pained, his voice strained.

"You know, you called me today. You should really be careful, someone might hear something you don't want them to know."

"I-I can explain. If you just let me--"

"I signed it already. Hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of writing my own. It's all there. You get everything back."

I extended my hand, offering him the glass. "Take it."

His jaw shook, almost as if he wanted to cry. But he took it anyway.

I slipped my rings off and tossed them inside the glass. "Congratulations, Cole. You got what you wanted."

I walked around him then, biting my lip to keep the tears at bay. I heard the glass shatter a moment before his hand wrapped around my arm. "Wait, please wait. God, please don't go like this."

I pushed him away, flinching as if his touch burned my skin. That had been my undoing. Now I felt my eyes flood with tears, my chest tightening. "Don't touch me!"

I bit down my lip and blinked back tears, "Don't you dare touch me!"

He was stunned, frozen with a look of absolute terror on his face and a pained expression in his eyes.

"I don't ever want to see you again." I heard my voice break at the end. I needed to leave, leave before I really broke down in tears.

I heard him yell my name, but I didn't stop. I ran out the door and out into the dark night.

I jumped into the back of the waiting taxi, and the moment my door was shut we took off. I told myself not to look back, but I did anyway.

Standing there in the street was Cole, looking off in the direction of the cab. I watched him grow smaller and smaller, until I could barely make him out.

We took a turn and sped out of Manhattan. Soon enough I was back in Brooklyn, in my safe haven. Once the door of my apartment was shut behind me, I slid down to the floor and clutched my legs tight.

Only then did I let the sobs escape past my lips. I cried and cried, cried until my throat was scratchy and my body tired.

I cried until my eyes were red and my blotchy.

I cried through sunrise and sunset until the days melted together.

It was an inescapable cycle, this pain. It plunged me into an eternal darkness.

An endless darkness that surrounded me like pools of water.

An all-engulfing darkness that filled my lungs.

Until I could no longer breathe.