I slid the pictures that had been given to her, by my ex-friend. There was a moment of silence, and then I broke out in some serious tears. I started really sobbing like a baby. All the anger that had been keeping me going lately seemed to run out all at once. No matter what, I really did miss my wife, and the thought of how my life was going to be now, was TRULY unbearable. I once had direction in my life, but now I was on a new path.
After a minute, I wiped my eyes and looked up at the lawyer. She looked at me with sympathy in her eyes, and then we went over my options. Basically, I could file for divorce now, but that might end up taking a long time. It all depended on my wife. If she went along with it, it could be over quickly. If she contested, or demanded counseling, or we just got a judge that decided that we should slow down, it could take months.
At the end of it, I requested that she draft up a divorce petition, and I would get back to her on whether I wanted to go through with filing it. She also told me for corporate situations like mine, I should talk to a shark named Tony McGillian. He was a snake, or so she said, but in a good way if on your side. She gave me his office’s number, and I thanked her and left her office.
I sat in my car for a minute, then pulled out my phone to call Mr. McGillian. His assistant answered, and said I could come by their office at four. It was a short drive from Sandra’s office, and I only waited in their lobby for a few minutes before being escorted into a short hallway. It looked like there were two other offices in this group, but I was taken to the door at the back of the hallway.
“Mr. Holmes, come in, sit down,” said a tall, striking gentleman. This man was clean groomed, and dressed in Armani. He would look comfortable on the cover of GQ magazine, not in a courtroom. He hardly looked like the shark that Sandra had described. Oh, how wrong I was.
“Thank you, Mr. McGillian. I’ve come to see about my options for selling off my share of my business partnership.”
“Partnerships tend to be tough to get out of, unless the partner agrees to either completely dissolve it, or to buy out the other partner. Have you discussed this with your partner, yet?”
“No, and I never will. As far as I am concerned, he is now dead to me. He crossed a line that he shouldn’t have.” I was getting some of my previously released anger back, and it felt good.
He had a very disarming smile at this point. “Ok, tell me about the business.”
“It’s basically a charter airline, with two planes. We charter relief supplies for FEMA, on smaller scale emergencies. We do other odds and end type flights, in between emergency efforts. I could get into the details now, but that’s basically it.”
“Well Mr. Holmes, to do what you are trying to do normally takes a bit of time and effort. Also, unless specifically defined in your partnership agreement, you will likely have to get his agreement to sell your interests in the business. Basically you have to agree on what assets and customers you would be selling to someone else, and any debt that you both have in the company will also need to be addressed. Not many buyers are going to want to buy into a lot of debt.”
Shit, well this might not go as smoothly as I had thought. I wanted nothing more to do with Cyrus, ever again. I knew I would try to kill him, if I saw him again. There had to be another way…
“Thanks, I think I understand. So first of all, we only have the debt on the two airplanes, as we lease the hangar and offices. As for the partner agreement, if he were to get into trouble with the law, what happens to his interests in the business? Would he still retain his 50% share? I have a P. I. looking into his background for me.”
“It really depends on whether he is charged with a crime or not. We will need to review your partnership agreement, but if you have an expulsion clause in it, we should be able to get a judge to rule that he is no longer legally entitled to be a partner in the business. Basically that clause would be a way to protect the business in the event that, any of the partners get into sufficient trouble that they cause the business to lose money, customers, stuff like that. In this case, we should even be able to get it done without you having to pay him for his half. What is the name of your investigator?”
“His name is Curt Simpson. As for the agreement, can I send you a copy to review?”
“Certainly. Send it over, and I will call you when I get done reviewing it. You know, if he isn’t charged with anything, things could get… interesting. If he does get charged, you should be in the clear. If we have to go to blows with him in court, while it won’t be pretty, I can still get you what you need. It will just take more time.”
“Don’t worry about that, I am pretty sure he will be in some hot water, soon.”
He got a more serious look on his face, “You’re not going to do anything stupid are you?” asked the lawyer. “If I think you are, it’s my duty to turn you in, you know.”
“OH, hell no. I’m not going to do anything. That asshole is definitely NOT worth going to jail over. I am just sure that Cyrus will fuck himself over, all by himself.” I smiled smugly, just thinking of how much fun this was going to be.
He smiled as well, apparently thinking there was fresh blood in the water. With that, I stood up, and we shook hands. His assistant held the door for me, and I walked out into the sunlight, with a bit more enthusiasm than I had going in. I finally felt like I was taking some of my life back into my own hands. Now if I could just get a grasp of what the hell to do with my wife.
With that thought, the day went back to shit. The sun was out, but it didn’t matter much now. What was I going to do about Caitlin? I really did love her, and aside from the last few days, our lives had been almost like a fairytale. But, the last few days had obviously highlighted some serious trust issues in our relationship. I had always thought she trusted me completely, and I her. Now, trust was an abstract concept to me.