The room couldn’t have gotten any quieter.
“Are you serious? “You should be divorcing her, not the other way around. What reason could that little… gold digger have to divorce you?” Mom tried to sound as bitchy as normal, but there was a nervous edge to her tone.
“Um… I think I have a clue,” Olive said, staring at her phone. “Someone turn on the news.”
The screen was already set up to show the first commercial once Madison arrived. Instead, the local news was played.“If anyone ever thought that the next generation of Caldwells would be more morally upstanding than the legacy Fletcher Caldwell left behind, they should think again,”the anchor said,shaking his head as if saddened.“Here’s society reporter Sandy Donaldson with more.”
The screen flashed to a middle-aged reporter.“Thatcher Caldwell, CEO of Caldwell Financial, is one apple who didn’t fall far from the proverbial tree. Just like his philandering father before him, Thatcher has been seen around Atlanta for the past several months with a woman who isn’t his wife. This is despite the fact that Thatcher has been married for the past five years. Several photos have come into the station from someone in the know, and they speak volumes.”She paused before the screen was overtaken with photos of Madison and me around town. We were seen leaving her apartment, walking out of restaurants, leaving the office together, and so on. There was no mistaking the intimate nature of the relationship after looking at the pictures. Anyone looking at them would think Madison and I were together romantically.
I felt my body crumple inward. The photo credits given at the bottom of the screen were to Madison Welles. She had set us up. This time it wasn’t just me, but Caldwell Financial as a whole.
After the video, the reporter spoke again.“Apparently, the beauty in the pictures is model Madison Welles who was formerly engaged to Thatcher Caldwell. I have it on good authority that the person who brought the two back together was none other than Karen Caldwell, who thought her soon to be former daughter-in-law wasn’t good enough for her family.”
She sent it back to the anchor, who said,“It seems to me, that the unnamed daughter-in-law is actually too good for the Caldwell family.”
“Turn it off,” my mother whispered.
Well, I guessed that mystery was solved. Except… how would Carrie have seen the pictures if they were just leaked today? That didn’t make sense. How would she have known to serve me with divorce papers on the same day the story came out?
Celia glared at me. “You’re a fucking idiot.” She stomped from the room, yelling over her shoulder that she needed to do damage control. Though human resources was her main department, she and Bryce often shared the duties of public relations director.
Bryce stepped forward, for once taking over the situation. “I’m so sorry, but the Caldwell Financial launch party is canceled for today. I’m sure I don’t have to clarify why that is. If you’d see Jesper on the way out, a boxed sample of appetizers is being prepared for each of you. Please accept our apologies.”
“No, please stay…” my mother began feebly, but everyone had already started to file out of the room. They seemed desperate to escape any hint of the scandal that was blowing up all around us.
I stood up, suddenly feeling clear-headed. “Bryce, we need to get to the office. I want to re-read that contract Madison signed. I think she’s in breach due to inappropriate public behavior and intentionally harming the campaign and Caldwell Financial.”
“I think you’re right,” Bryce said grimly. “We can go after her to re-pay the advance she received from us.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” Mom said. “The girl has no money. That’s why she was willing to come back to Atlanta to get involved with you again, Thatcher.”
I glared at her. “You knew she wasn’t interested in me. You knew she just wanted money. What iswrongwith you?”
Bryce looked equally disgusted. “She’ll be flush with cash right now. I bet someone paid her a fortune for those pictures.”
“We’ll take her to court if we have to,” I said. “We’ll just add this to the suit against her for misuse of the corporate card.”
“Oh, don’t be silly.” Mom waved a hand like it was nothing. “Any press is good press, right?”
Even Olive looked at her like she had lost it. “Did you not hear the news, Mom? They’re outing you as the mastermindbehind trying to get her son to divorce his wife. This makes you look horrible! And what about Thatcher? They’re comparing him to Dad and saying our whole family is… awful.”
“What do you care?” Celia blasted her. “You were Mom’s minion in the whole damn scheme. You’re almost as much to blame as she is.”
Olive actually looked embarrassed, which was an emotion I didn’t realize she ever felt.
I turned to Mom. “Did you realize that Madison cheated on me all through college?” I asked. “Or that she’s currently pregnant with another man’s baby and was trying to get me to sleep with her without a condom? She wanted to trick me into believing the baby was mine so she and her lover could squeeze a ton of money out of me.”
Mom looked a bit like a fish as her mouth opened and closed. Finally, she was able to get words out. “You’re kidding!”
“Not at all,” I said.
Both Mom and Olive looked disgusted. She’d not only conned me, but she’d also conned them, too.
“Just to let you know,” Bryce said, “I already signed a retired Atlanta Braves player to be the face of Caldwell Financial. He signed a three-year deal with us.”
“That’s more like what I had envisioned in the first place,” I pulled him in for a hug. “And now I need to do damage control and go try to fix my marriage.”
Mom tried to say something to me, but I cut her off. “And you? I don’t care if I ever see you again. What kind of mother tries to wreck her son’s marriage by manipulating him into thinking his ex-girlfriend never stopped loving him? You’re a monster.”
