Deceived 4 - The Wedding (9 page)

Minutes later we
were chauffeured back to The Bellagio in the shiny black limo, video tape in hand, to enjoy our last evening in Las Vegas. Patrick had reserved a table for the three of us at one of the finest steak houses on the Las Vegas Strip.

That evening we enjoyed one of the best steaks I had ever
tasted as I mused about my life. If someone would have asked me, back in my college days, what I would be doing three years down the road, I never would have imagined expensive hotels and fine foods. I never would have imagined all of this.

Gazing at Patrick across the table,
I was blissfully happy and felt fully alive. It had been such a fun trip. Even Patrick seemed more relaxed now that Ryan had a plan to get to the bottom of the mystery signature on the wedding register.

Patrick
raised his glass and said, “To Vegas.”

Ryan and I joined in
. “To Vegas.” The clanging of our glasses touching rang out as we made our salute.

Patrick set his drink on the linen covered table and
leaned on his elbows. “So, Ryan, are you going to let us in on your big plan, or do we have to guess?”

A sly smile crossed his face as
the sharp blade of his knife sliced through his filet mignon, pooling blood around the prime cut on his plate. “All in good time, buddy. I will say this though: you two love birds had better start looking for a place to get married.”

Patrick
gave me a sidelong glance of surprise. “You really think that whatever you’re planning will work?”

Ryan
narrowed his eyes and poked at the air with his fork before stabbing another piece of meat. “Mark my words. That bitch is going down. She’ll finally get what she deserves.” He chewed fiercely on his steak and swallowed. “Just wait and watch, buddy, wait and watch.”

A
hopeful but nervous voice whispered in my head.
Could Ryan really be right? Will all this be resolved soon?
I truly hoped so.

O
ne week after we came back from Las Vegas, Patrick and I returned to the law office of Falcon and Morrow. Anxiety gnawed a pit in my stomach. This was it. We were about to sit down with Stephanie and her lawyer to discuss the terms of the annulment, or worst case scenario, we would discuss the terms of a divorce.

“We’re here to meet with Mr. Falcon,” Patrick said to the receptionist. I envied his cool, calm demeanor.

Without so much as a glance in our direction,
she answered curtly, “Please take a seat. Mr. Falcon will be right with you.”

My legs had scarcely felt the seat of the chair when
our lawyer popped his head into the lobby. Spying us he chirped, “There you are. We’ve been waiting. Come.”

We followed Mr. Falcon, this time not to his office
, but to the conference room. Ryan was already there. He rose from his chair and greeted us. “About time you two showed up. I was worried Stephanie would arrive before you.”

“Traffic was crazy,” Patrick muttered.
“So, where have you been all week? I was hoping to hear more about your plan.”

Ryan smiled and clapped Patrick
on the back. “I’m sorry, buddy. Liam and I were working on a special ‘pet’ project all week. You’ll see, Patrick. I think you’ll like it.” Ryan winked and turned to me. “Hey, Chloe.”

I gave Ryan a hello hug a
nd took the chair Patrick pulled out for me.

The three of us
positioned ourselves on the long side of a rectangular conference table, as if this were some kind of sporting event and we were the home team. Mr. Falcon sat at the end and the other chairs waited, empty, for Stephanie and her lawyer.

Falcon
licked his thumb and shuffled through the papers in front of him. His strange flop of hair that usually fell out of place was held at bay, momentarily secured with some hair gel no doubt, until the moment his hyperactive movements gave it freedom. “Oh-kay, let’s see if we can get this thing sorted out before Miss Patterson arrives. Mr. Barrick tells me he has some information that might make it easier to negotiate with her. I’ll be honest with you…I really hope so, because I’ve got nothing.” He extended his arms, palms up in exacerbation. “I even had a guy, or let’s say a guy who knows of a guy, look into Miss Patterson’s background and he found nothing. She’s squeaky clean. So, I really hope—”

He was interrupted by
a knock on the door. When I looked up, the receptionist was standing in the doorway. “Sir, Miss Patterson is here.”

“Excellent. Show her in.”

She held the door open and Stephanie and her lawyer walked in.

Mr. Falcon r
ose from his chair and motioned with his hand to the empty seats across from us. “Come in. Please, take a seat.”

I couldn’t
bring myself to look Stephanie in the eye. I almost wished I hadn’t come. I wanted to support Patrick more than anything, but the tension was tortuous. Once again, a woman was coming between us and she wanted to destroy everything that Patrick and I had together. An inner torment began to gnaw at me and I cringed; it was all too familiar.

Mr. Falcon cleared his
throat. “Okay, let’s get right to it. Time is money, as they say. And lawyers charge by the hour…” He glanced around the table waiting for the punch line of his bad joke to land, but no one so much as cracked a smile. “Moving on… I’ve discussed the matter with my client and he would like to get the annulment processed as soon as possible. All you have to do, Miss Patterson, is sign a couple of documents. Easy peasy.” Falcon took a piece of paper from a brown manila folder. “This is a statement that declares that the marriage was not intended to be real. It was simply a fun, spur of the moment prank, ignited by too much alcohol. If you both sign this, I will almost guarantee that the judge will sign off on the annulment within a week.”

Stephanie’s lawyer interrupted. “Here
’s the thing, Mr. Falcon. My client has never seen this as a prank or a ‘fun’ thing. This is a real marriage. She has been married to your client for eight years. For eight years she’s kept herself from getting involved with other men in the hope that your client would come to his senses and acknowledge this marriage.”

Patrick rose from his chair and interrupted, “
That is a pile of bull. How could I
acknowledge
this…scam? I didn’t even know we were still married.” He shot a cold glare toward Stephanie and sat back down.

Mr. Falcon laid his hand on Patrick’s arm
. “I got this.”

Stephanie’s lawyer
had paused at Patrick’s outburst, but continued when he settled back in the chair. “Therefore, my client feels that she is entitled to the same treatment and security that the law provides for every married couple. That would be half of the value of Mr. Collins’ estate. As a show of good will, and against my advice, however, she will waive her rights to file for alimony, if Mr. Collins will agree to a fair, fifty-fifty, split of the estate. If both parties are in agreement, my client will sign the annulment papers today and both can move on with their lives.”

Stephanie
hadn’t said a word so far but her eyes spoke volumes, with a brutal and unfriendly glare. She stuck out her chin indignantly and every time Mr. Falcon made a comment or suggestion, she rolled her eyes in response to his remarks, if she were even listening at all. She kept a cool facade, no doubt generated by the ice inside her soul. She only pretended to listen, keeping her true nature, the bitch within, hidden for the sake of the lawyers in the room.

I shuddered
in despair as the meeting appeared to be nearing the end. The two of them had come to no resolution. Stephanie and her lawyer didn’t move an inch in the negotiations. Resting an elbow on the table, I rubbed my temple with my fingers. It truly looked like Patrick was heading into a year-long divorce process.

I glanced over at Ryan, wondering if he was ever going to cut in and
show us whatever card he was holding, whatever magic bullet or ace up his sleeve he had. If we ever needed a miracle, now was the time.

As if he had
read my mind, Ryan finally spoke. “Excuse me, but before we wrap things up here, I would like to say a few words, if I may.”

“
Absolutely, Mr. Barrick. Go ahead,” Mr. Falcon said.

“Hold on just one minute,
” Stephanie’s lawyer interrupted. “Who is this?”

“Oh
, pardon me. This is Ryan Barrick, my client’s business partner and part owner of Collins and Barrick Advertising Agency,” Mr. Falcon said. “Since the terms of the divorce could affect the liquidity of the company, he requested to be present at this meeting.”

Ryan rose from his chair.
“I don’t have much to add, but I do want to throw in a character testimony of Miss Patterson. You see, Miss Stephanie Patterson is known in certain circles to be a compulsive, lying, homophobic bitch, and whatever scam she’s trying to pull here will be revealed. I just wanted to be sure you have that statement in you file, Mr. Falcon.” He threw Stephanie a cold hard stare and sat back down. My eyes widened. I didn’t know the word “bitch” was allowed in legal meetings, but I had never seen such anger on Ryan’s face before. Everyone in the room was taken aback.

Stephanie
’s mouth fell open and she jumped up out of her chair, so furious she stuttered, “Who the f-fuck do you think you are?” Little droplets of spit flew from her mouth. “How dare you talk to me like that?” Her voice rose in pitch and she was nearly shouting as more words flew out of her mouth in a raging torrent. Her lawyer gripped her arm and tried to restrain her, urging her back into her chair. She finally conceded and sat down hard, muttering under her breath as she did.

“Oh, I’m sorry
, Steph. I thought you recognized me. It was a long time ago…over fourteen years by now. I’m Ryan…You know, the gay guy from your Super Bowl party. The guy who got a taste of your dripping wet panties before your football buddies pissed on me and my friend.”

The room fell silent.
For once, Stephanie was too shocked by this revelation to offer any tawdry comeback.

Patrick
ran his hands through his hair as the realization of what Ryan had just said sank in. It took him a moment to find words, as he stared at him. He swallowed hard and in a soft low voice he said, “That was you? Oh my God…” Overwhelmed, he turned his head away for a moment. “Why haven’t you ever told me?”

Ryan shrugged his shoulders.
“It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to relive by talking about it.” His eyes grew soft and he gave Patrick an understanding glance. “It’s okay, buddy. I suppose I should have mentioned it the night Stephanie showed up at the rehearsal dinner.”

A wave of realization washed over me.
Now I understood Ryan’s motivation. He wanted his revenge for what Stephanie did to him years ago, when they all were in high school. My heart ached for Ryan and I wanted to run to him and hug him. I wished I could take away the pain he had felt years ago, when he was still young and unjaded by the bitterness of the world. But even more than that, I wanted to tear the eyes out of that bitch sitting, so smugly, across the table from us.

After recovering from the immediate shock, Stephanie
shook her head, her face twisted in anger. “I don’t see what any of that has to do with our marriage? This is just a ridiculous ploy to divert this into a brawl. So typical, coming from a fag. No backbone.” She practically spat at Ryan and everyone was on their feet in an instant. If it weren’t for Mr. Falcon’s intervention, I would have jumped on the table and knocked her out cold.

“Hey
, hey, hey! Everybody, just calm down.” Mr. Falcon stood up, holding both palms facing out

Stephanie’s lawyer rolled his eyes and wiped his brow with his hand and barked
at her. “Sit down, Stephanie.”

Mr. Falcon continued once everyone was back in their seats. “In light of this new information, we should get back to negotiating the terms for an annulment. It is quite clear that if what Mr. Barrick says is true, that could hurt the value of your statement to the judge, Miss Patterson.”

Stephanie shook her head. “No fucking way.
These accusations are false. I’m disgusted that you would even suggest I had anything to do with that incident. Even if part of it were true, that was fourteen years ago. I was a seventeen year old girl. Yes, we might have poked a little fun at a couple of …gays, but I say once again, what happened back then has absolutely nothing to do with this marriage.”

Ryan laughed
sarcastically. “Oh but you are so wrong, once again, Stephanie. It has everything to do with the marriage. Isn’t it true that Patrick dumped you after that incident? You must have been so hurt. Wanting to get back at him for dumping you. And when, years later, you ran into him in Las Vegas, you saw your chance. It was a good plan indeed. Marrying some stranger we don’t even know and pretending that it was Patrick. Actually, you’re right. That marriage has nothing to do with what happened fourteen years ago because it has nothing to do with Patrick.”

She was still shaking her head. “
I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She turned to her lawyer and snapped, “This meeting is over.”

Ryan snorted. “I’m talking about the fact that you never married Patrick.
Don’t try and deny it, anymore. In case you have forgotten, let me tell you what exactly happened that night. Yes, you ‘accidentally’ ran into Patrick in Las Vegas, eight years ago. You poured a bunch of drinks down his throat, drugged him with some kind of date rape drug and stashed him in your room after stealing his ID. Then you paid some lookalike a few hundred bucks to be the stand-in for Patrick at the wedding chapel and had him sign a fake signature, quite badly I would like to add, as Patrick in the wedding registry. After that you went back to your room, put back his ID and waited for him to wake up so you could tell him the big news. That’s what I am talking about.”

“
You’re completely out of your mind. That never happened. How would you ever be able to prove any of those accusations?”

“You know, Steph
, I actually feel sorry for you. No one will ever love a desperate sociopath like you. Maybe you didn’t do it for revenge. Maybe you did all this in the hope that Patrick still loved you and, by some miraculous twist of fate, would want to stay married to you. Sorry to have to break it to you, but life is not a fairy tale. There is no ‘happily ever after’ for you, Stephanie. Once you realized that Patrick didn’t want to stay married, you pretended that you had filed for the annulment, and then waited patiently for the day when you could go in for the kill and confront Patrick, just before his wedding day. Ruin his life, just as you felt he ruined yours.”

Furious, Stephanie bolted for the door and stopped short at the threshold holding the door open with on
e hand. “I’ve had enough of this mockery. You can’t prove any of this and there’s nothing more to discuss.” She turned to Patrick. “See you in court.”

Before she could exit, Ryan
announced, “Maybe if you saw the video, you’d remember more clearly.”

Slowly, she
turned around, tossing her hair across her shoulders in a gesture of defiance. “What video?” She lifted her chin, meeting his icy gaze head on.