And eventually, it would.
Sitting there in my office, I got to thinking. What was it that sparked this lawsuit in the first place? He cheated on her with her best friend, and that was eight or nine months ago. Why was he just now coming forward and asking for the lawsuit? Was it really possible for him to take half of everything she owned?
I picked up the phone and called Arthur just to clear my head.
“You need me to turn around?” he asked.
“No, just let me talk. When this first came about, you said something insinuating this lawsuit came about because we got engaged.”
“That’s the only motive I’ve got for now, yes,” Arthur said.
“So, if he drags out the lawsuit waiting for Abby and I to get married, then all we have to do is— not get married.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you,” he said.
“When we were talking over the phone last week, I mentioned that Abby didn’t have anything to sue for, and you said something like, ‘until she marries you.’ right?”
“Yes. If the two of you get married while this is all going on and there isn’t a prenuptial agreement in place, then he can technically sue for half of everything you have, because when the two of you marry, what is yours is hers.”
“I’m not making Abby sign a prenuptial agreement. I love her and I’m in this for the long haul. But if that’s his endgame—to wait us out until we’re married—there’s a chance that simply not getting married would fix this.”
“Are you talking about calling off the wedding?” he asked.
“Abby mentioned something to me about postponing the wedding until next year. Maybe I should take her up on that offer.”
“It would help the situation, but it wouldn’t make it go away. They could still serve her papers and sue her just to tank her public persona. You know how the media is. They’d have a field day with it. And, he has the option to sue for half of everything she owns.”
“So he’s going after this as if they were common law married,” I said. “How long did they have to live together for that?”
“In the state of California, it’s not about living together for a length of time. It’s about meeting certain criteria. I’ve been looking into it, and what I’ve found so far doesn’t look good.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, we know he was on her bank accounts. He also co-signed for her car, which eventually got repossessed when she lost her job. That meant paying for the car defaulted back onto him, which took $9,824.32 of the $40,000 he drained from her account. It doesn’t look like they filed any taxes together, but many of their finances were intertwined. Cell phone plans for example. They both used the same joint account. There’s all sorts of stuff of that nature which will hold up in court.”
“Fuck,” I said, groaning.
“It’s not hopeless, Mr. Murphy. Not by a longshot. Just give me some time to piece everything together. In the meantime, I do think you should tell Abby what’s going on, and I do think you should take her up on her offer to postpone the wedding.”
“I’m not telling Abby, but I’ll give the latter some thought,” I said.
“Be careful, Colin, okay? This is a sticky situation, and no one else needs to get hurt by it.”
“Just do your job, Arthur, and it won’t be an issue.”
I slammed the phone down and closed my eyes. Her ex was a sack of fucking shit, and if it wasn’t for him being a greedy bastard I’d be spoiling my fiancé instead of trying to shield her from more of his bullshit. He’d put her through enough and made her life a living nightmare last year, and I wasn’t going to allow him to impact her in any other way.
Protecting Abby like I knew I could was exactly what I was going to do.
Chapter 6
Abby
A loud knock at my front door woke me from my slumber. I rolled over in bed and tried to ignore it, but when it didn’t stop, I figured it was Colin. I grabbed my phone and saw it was close to nine in the morning. Not nearly as late as I had wanted to sleep. The knocking persisted and I was about to call Colin and tell him to go away, but I could smell coffee slowly piercing the air of my apartment.
Oh, that man knew how to get me out of bed.
Tossing my robe around my shoulders, I padded to the front door. My apartment was nowhere near the caliber of place that Colin had on the ocean, but it was cozy and it was growing on me. I ran my fingers through my hair and swallowed hard, trying to rid myself of my morning breath.
Then I quickly pulled the door open to receive my gift.
“This coffee better be divine beca—”
I looked down at the large coffee, but the hand holding it wasn’t the one I expected to see. My gaze followed up the lanky arm of a man that abandoned me almost nine months ago. My eyes trailed up to his face and I found him smiling at me. That sweet, innocent smile that drew me in on day one of my college career.
“Derek,” I said, breathlessly.
“Morning, Abby. I see you still can’t tolerate mornings.”
My eyes glanced over at the peephole in my door before I silently chastised myself.
“Still take your coffee with cream and sugar?” he asked.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked. “And how the hell do you know where I live?”
“I’m here to talk with you, Abby. Is that all right?”
“That only answered one of my questions,” I said.
“Please?”
My eyes fell to the coffee in his hands. My body was screaming for caffeine. Begging me to reach out and
