Chapter Six
The following week she went out for a walk to try to catch some fresh air. Tony hadn’t been in touch, but from what she’d heard a new takeover bid was happening; and he needed to be there.
She thought about the way he had acted at the charity ball, about his possessive nature, which then led her to think about what they’d done up against the wall. Her insides clenched when she thought about his hands on her body.
Smiling, she passed a newspaper stand. Glancing over each paper and magazine her eyes were held by one in particular. Without much thought she paid the man and took the magazine. Across the road was a park. She took a seat on one of the secluded benches. On the front cover it had a huge spread of the charity ball with Tony being the main man of the event. As she turned the pages, her tummy dipped. She felt dizzy and sick. The centre fold was a comparison of her and Rita Brooke. One of the photographs was of Tony and Rita dancing. They looked like the true celebrity couple. The successful businessman and the model. On the opposite page was a picture of her dancing with Tony. She didn’t look mature or worldly like Miss Brooke.
The caption read, “Which one would you choose?”
Biting her lip she read the article which contained most of their past. The humiliation at the church and the subsequent scandal that followed, even down to certain rumours she’d gotten pregnant to trap Tony.
In the morning sunlight, her engagement ring and wedding band glinted in the light. He said he wouldn’t let her go. Did he have much of a choice? From the looks of the pictures in the magazine she hindered his career more than she helped it.
A couple of women passed, jogging. The tears fell as the enormity of her decision plagued her.
Getting up from her park, she dumped the magazine and her heart in the nearest trash bin. With nothing to do with her day than to twiddle her thumbs, she walked to Richard’s office building.
The walk took over an hour, but she didn’t mind. With Tony’s latest demands she couldn’t get a job, and she knew he’d find a way of stopping her.
Scarlet no longer worked for him, and so another woman made her sit out and wait. She heard him shouting down the phone seconds before he appeared in his doorway.
“I don’t want that man on my phone again. Get me some coffee,” he said and turned to go back in when he stopped and saw her. “Opal, what are you doing here?”
“I was told to wait.”
He turned to glare at his secretary. “From now on you send her straight into my office, do you understand me?”
The woman nodded and left with her tail between her legs. Opal followed him into his office.
“What brings the pleasure of your visit?” he asked.
“I take it the new secretary isn’t looking up?” she said instead.
“No. Practically useless. Scarlet would never keep you outside. She knows family come first.”
“Maybe you could get her to work for you again?” she said.
“In her condition she needs to rest. Enough about me and my life. What about yours?”
She took the seat in front of his desk. “I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Well, it’s not a question really. I was wondering if you knew a lawyer who would be willing to handle a divorce case.”
“On what grounds?”
“Mutual misunderstanding. A separation of sorts.”
“Opal, who’s this divorce for?” Richard asked.
“For me....and Tony,” she said.
“Does he know about your feelings? Haven’t you tried to work something out?”
Opal glanced around the room. This is why she didn’t want her brother handling the marriage. He asked too many questions, and she’d already caused a rift in their friendship.
“I don’t need to talk about it. I think it’s time I let Tony go his own way. We’re not compatible or anything, and I don’t want to bring him any further shame.” The tears were so close to the surface.
“What I saw last Friday would question the way you think,” he said.
“Last Friday we were playing happy couples for an event.”
“I don’t think that’s what it is.”
“Look, this is hard for me already, Richard. Could you please file the paperwork or whatever? I don’t want to do this anymore. He’ll be free to go and marry Rita Brooke or whomever he wanted. I’m not here to trap him.”
Silence met her outburst. She looked up to find Richard staring at her. “Do you love him?”
“What?”
“In all the years I’ve known Tony or you’ve known him, I never saw anything between you. I thought at one time you had a crush, and then you got married to him. Do you love him, Opal?”
Two years ago she had been a happy-go-lucky twenty-year-old who’d been talked into doing what her parents wanted. All of her life she’d wanted to be able to make her own choices. In her world, she hadn’t been allowed to. Every time she had to get permission from her parents.
“I don’t want to answer that,” she said. She knew in her heart she loved Tony. Always had and always would. Childish or stupid school-girl adoration wouldn’t force a man to suddenly change his mind. Tony would never see her as anything other than Richard’s little sister. She couldn’t live constantly loving a man who would never love her back. Or staring at magazine articles wondering if he saw the same flaws as other people.
“I think you need to think about it. When a divorce proceeding starts and goes through, pulling it back is the hardest thing.”
“I accept that.”
“Do you really?”
There he went, talking to her like a child. It was time she gave him the blunt truth.
“Two years ago your friend Tony helped keep me from marrying a man I would never love. Our parents bought about that wedding to strengthen the Shaw name. Out of every person I knew Tony found me and helped me.” She bit her lip and stared at her finger with the rings on. “I think it’s time I give him his freedom back.”
Opal stood and removed the rings. “When the papers get posted will you make sure he gets these? Tell him I said thank you.”
Before Richard had time to convince her otherwise, she left the building. She walked all the way back to her house. On the mantel piece, the one and only wedding photo she had of her day lay framed. She picked up the picture and placed it on the fire.
****
Tony stared down at the glossy magazine and then up at his secretary. “Why are you giving me this? I don’t read this shit,” he said.
“I think there is something interesting you might like to see,” she said, placing his coffee down on the desk beside him. When she disappeared, he took hold of the magazine. The main event was all about the charity ball last Friday with a large picture of him. Frowning, he opened the page and found what he was looking for. The centre fold disgusted him. Rita Brooke was becoming a thorn in his side. He just knew she had something to do with the horrid pictures. What he didn’t understand was why they viewed Opal with such a negative opinion. He thought she looked dazzling.
Throwing the article away, he hoped Opal wouldn’t see it. This type of trash would only serve to hinder his course. After the charity event, he’d hoped to continue with his promise. He no longer wanted a wife waiting in the wings. He wanted her to be his completely.
His secretary ran through. “Sir, Mr. Shaw is here to see you.”
“Send him in.”
The door opened, and all six feet of his best friend filled his door. Tony would be scared if he weren’t the same height as Richard.
“What brings you to my neck of the woods?”
“I got an interesting visit the other day.”
“Who from?”
“Opal.”
That got his attention. “Is she all right?” He stood ready to leave if something bad had happened to her.
“Yes. She wanted me to give you these.” Richard walked over and placed a file on his desk. Tony glanced down and knew immediately what it was.
“What the fuck is this?” Tony asked as he slammed it down on his desk.
“I’m sure you’re clever enough to work out and see that they’re divorce papers,” he said.
“I know what they are. I want to know why you’re giving them to me.”
“Before I forget,” Richard said. He went through his pockets and handed him two wedding rings. “She wanted me to say, thank you for helping her.”
Tony stared down at both rings. In the space of a few minutes his whole world had fallen out of whack. He knew that stupid article had something to do with this shit.
“I think you know.”
“Has Opal requested this?”
“I think it’s time you left my sister alone. You’ve been married two years, and nothing has happened. Leave her out of this. You’ve done enough damage,” Richard said.
“Does this have anything to do with Charles sniffing around?” Tony asked.
“How do you know about Charles?”
“Just because I’m not there doesn’t mean I don’t have means of taking care of what’s mine.”
“Opal is not yours. I’m taking care of my sister.”
“If you were taking care of your sister, you’d keep that sick fucker away from her. Didn’t you get on her wedding day that she didn’t want anything to do with him?”
“Like I said, it’s time for you to leave her alone.”
Tony stared down at the papers, the boiling rage coursing through him. He wasn’t going to sign those papers. Opal was his woman, and he wasn’t going to let her go.
“And I think it’s time you left Opal alone. She may be your sister, but she’s my fucking wife.” Tony stepped closer getting in his friend’s face. He’d accepted a punch from him two years ago, but he wasn’t going to let him get away with it again. “Now tell me where my woman is, or so help me God, I will cause you more trouble than you ever imagined.”
“If you want her so badly, why are you waiting?”
“Because two years ago I fucked up on our friendship, and right now, I’m prepared to overlook it. But Opal loves you. I don’t want that to come between us.” Tony refused to back down until he got Richard’s blessing.
“Go and get her.”
Tony left his office and ran toward his car. He knew in his gut she was in trouble. The security he’d placed around her had informed him she hadn’t returned to the house in several days. He knew her parents were trying to get her back with that bastard Charles. He wasn’t having it. Opal was his, and it was time he was going to show the world he meant business.