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much?” I asked.
    Patrick cleared his voice and paused before he spoke. “She wants half my net worth before she will sign an annulment.”
    The whole room exploded in gasping noises and mumbles. Ryan interrupted vehemently, “I fucking knew it. That bitch is a money hungry lunatic.” This time his disgust let him hold nothing back and he said what was on his and my mind alike. The minute I saw Stephanie walk in the room, I should have followed my first instincts and shoved her face into a plate of hors d’oeurves. Maybe, if it wasn’t too late, I could catch her in the hotel lobby and hold her head under the water of the large Venetian style fountain.
    “She ’s not going to get away with this. We’ll find a way to fix it...we’ll hire the best attorney in the country. I know just the guy,” Ryan said.
    Patrick grabbed him in a warm hug. “Thanks, buddy. Absolutely, we will. There‘s a way out of this. And don’t worry, Chloe, I will fix this.”
    My mind was in turmoil. I wanted to join th e hug but the disappointment of not having the wedding go forward tomorrow rattled me and my heart sank to the floor. Although it wasn’t my fault, I somehow felt guilty about ruining everyone’s plans.

Chapter 4
     
    A n elegantly dressed receptionist ushered us inside the oak lined walls of an office on the twenty third floor of a mid-Manhattan high rise. It was a typical law office, regal and stately with bookshelves filled to the brim with leather bound volumes. Pages and pages of rules and laws by which society organizes itself. You would have thought it would all be on the internet, mysteriously floating on a virtual cloud somewhere in cyberspace, in today’s world but there was something earthy and authentic about the hardbound books.
    As we stepped into the room we were met by the outstretched hand of none other than Mr. Brad ley Falcon, Attorney at Law. He gave us a short, fast hand shake and signaled for us to have a seat with a wave of his open palm.
    “C ome in, come in,” he greeted us. His speech pattern was fast and energetic. One stray lock of his dirt brown hair continuously fell out of place as he talked and he continuously pushed it back with his hand. It was distracting. Ten minutes into our conversation, all I could focus on was the flop of his hair.
    Ryan had accompanied Patrick and I to meet with the divorce lawyer to straighten out the little disaster in our lives called Stephanie Patterson.
    I didn’t see the need for me to be there, but Patrick had insisted. I suppose he felt the need to prove to me that he really was fixing the situation so we could get married sooner rather than later. Needless to say, the trust between us had taken a hit the day of the rehearsal dinner and he knew it.
    I crossed my legs and adjusted my skirt as I took a seat in a black leather chair. Ryan pulled up a matching chair, with brass studs holding the leather on the arms. Patrick looked tense as he took the chair directly opposite Mr. Falcon’s desk and the meeting got underway.
    “So, Mr. Collins, I was told by Mr. Barrick, that Miss…” Falcon cocked his head and turned the papers in the file folder to read the name, “…Patterson wants half of your net worth before she will agree to the annulment of your marriage. Do you have an estimate on how much your company is worth, Mr. Collins?”
    “ Yes. Last month my bank valued the company in respect to extending a new line of credit.”
    “Excellen t, so how much are we talking about?”
    “Forty two million,” Patrick said.
    Falcon looked up from his papers. “Did you say forty two million dollars?”
    “Yes, I am a fifty-fifty partner with Ryan, Mr. Barrick here, so my net worth from the company alone is twenty one million dollars.”
    Mr. Falcon punched numbers into an old fashioned calculator, a strange juxtaposition with the two sleek computer monitors sitting on his heavy mahogany desk. It was one of those adding machines with a roll of paper