11
The shouting was at least half muffled once they’d gone to the other office. Sarah could still hear them shouting at each other, Garrett was sure, but at least she couldn’t likely hear the venomous details. Elizabeth was raging at him that she had planned a party just two days hence, and her access to his fortune had been limited to a tidy five-thousand a week for spending. The party required at least triple that, though better it have a higher budget.
Garrett had been floored. He’d always had a frugal streak, and found the spending limit he’d already put into effect rather generous for a woman he no longer cared for and despised being around. As she detailed what she needed from him, he listened with ever-growing fury. He wondered to himself what had made him marry her in the first place.
Garrett had worked for every dollar he’d had, and then as the company grew he’d made all the more. Before he knew it, he had made more money than he’d known what to do with. He’d had his fancies: the helicopters, nice cars, and more. Fortunately he’d just rented them, as he’d known that his excitement would be short-lived. None of them had made him happier to own, but had been fun at the moment, and the excitement was worth it.
Elizabeth, however, seemed to need to own everything. As he listened to her snarl and scream, watching her turn red in the face, he hated her. He hated what she’d become, what she’d turned him into. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and shook his head, his anger spent. He was so very tired of being angry at her.
“Elizabeth, I’m not granting you another penny. I felt I was being generous at the moment I signed to give you your stipend. I’m now feeling like I was far too generous. You need to leave. I want you out of the house by morning, and you are to take only what is in your rooms. You can go to any one of the houses, or pick out your own suite at a hotel. I don’t care, but I’m done with you.”
“You can’t be serious! How dare you, you slimy bastard. I’ll get it all. I’ll make you suffer. I’ll be sure you’re ruined, and this company knows what a slimeball you are, and who’s the one at fault in this shit! You’re a pile of garbage, and I hope you enjoy the publicity you’re getting, because I promise you’ll be getting a lot more!”
Elizabeth shrieked, picking up one of the decorative flower vases and hurling it at him. Garrett ducked, the clay vase shattering on the corner of his chair, around where his groin had been just a moment before. It splintered into pieces, strewn across the floor in a matter of seconds.
Garrett grabbed his phone, ready to dial security, but Elizabeth was already heading for the door. She knocked over the decorative plants, and slammed his door hard enough against the wall that its handle was pushed into the plaster, trapping the handle there. Garrett wiped his forehead, his face pale. He hadn’t realized just how angry the woman would get, but he may need a protection order after this little stunt. Garrett looked at the paperwork that she’d brought – it was ready to be filed, and this was only a copy. Charges and allegations of his years of abuse, of emotional trauma against Elizabeth. It was all nonsense, but it certainly would make headlines as the tabloids frantically scrambled for something to write about concerning his marriage.
Pinching the bridge of his nose against the thundering headache, he dialed his lawyer. Things were coming to a head.
*****
How dare Garrett Skjaervo turn her down?
Elizabeth stared at the buttons of the elevator as she waited for it to reach the ground floor. She was furious, her fists clenched at her side as she waited, watching the numbers tick down. She grabbed the keys to her BMW in a sudden flash of anger and began stabbing at the buttons, which broke off or cracked. When the elevator reached the ground floor she tried to get her VIP card out, but it wouldn’t eject the card.
Elizabeth cursed under her breath and headed to the parking garage. She’d gotten what she needed – Garrett’s phone. She headed to his parking spot, aware that there were no cameras where his car was parked. He’d liked it that way as it gave him somewhere to have a truly private moment, but today it would serve him as nothing but troublesome. Elizabeth was quick to download the appropriate app to his phone, allowing her to track all of his phone calls, texts, emails, and messages. The second thing she did was to drop the tiny, innocuous square in the center console. It seemed like nothing at all, but it would give her all the information about the car’s speeds, whereabouts, and an audio recording of who was in the car.
She shut the door when she was done, using the keypad to open and shut the door. It had been his birthday for as long as she’d known him, and it hadn’t changed now. Garrett was an entirely predictable man after all. Elizabeth walked away, a satisfied smile on her lips.