On Any Given Day Ch. 02

That night after another satisfying meal of Budweiser followed by a lovely Miller Lite, I sat back in my easy chair and started to read Trina's old journals that I'd found in the safety deposit box. After perusing a few pages of inane ramblings, I came to the page that would define Trina and my relationship as a scam. It was all here in black and white, and I could hardly wait to hand this to my lawyer. I found what I suspected he would come across after going through the will.

Saturday was a sad day for me as I packed all of the things I'd accumulated over the last twelve years. I left everything that would remind me of Trina, that part of my life was over. It was nothing but a congregation of lies and deceit. I spent twelve years pouring everything I had into a marriage that was formed by a demon driven by greed and the unforgiving lust for money.

Trina had known all along about the trust fund her Grandmother spoke of the other day. The sum was unclear and depended on the accumulated amount at the time of Bill's death, but it was sure to run into the hundreds of millions. The nine million was nothing more than a stipend, spending money, until the trust was fulfilled. Trina would inherit the lot when the conditions were satisfied.

The will would spell out the conditions more clearly, but the crux was that Bill, although he loved Trina, he didn't trust her either. He made sure that she would "make something of her self" before she got the prize in the bottom of the Crackerjack box. A long and happy marriage, a career, and a child were the terms. Her journal revealed the dark side of my lovely wife, she intended to collect the money and I would be history. The plan started even before we met, and by the looks of things lately, she was planning to follow her devious scheme to the end.

As I expected, Sunday afternoon, the torrent of phone calls began. I turned off my cell phone, there was nothing I wanted to hear. I hadn't left a note, I would have the day to myself to get my crying over with. I did cry, it hurt, I had sensed the end coming for a while but I wasn't nearly as prepared as I thought I would be.

A lot of questions were answered, Trina's over whelming need to get pregnant explained the affairs. Obviously when she couldn't become pregnant by me, she had taken on a team of lovers. Why was I the lucky sod? I was just at the right place at the right time. I happened along and Trina needed a husband, she also had to remain wed for the will to be satisfied, now I could see why that she insisted she loved me and tried to remain together, money. All this for money.

I considered calling in sick the next day, but I'd had enough of the self-pity routine. I set up an appointment with my attorney and would be at his office after lunch. I wasted most of the morning half expecting to see Trina, but it wasn't her that showed up. Trina's father Frank was elected to make first contact.

Frank reminded me of a sheet of plywood; thin, stiff and made of god knows what. I was in no mood to put up with any shit today, so I put my feet up on my desk, and made sure he knew that he wasn't welcome to sit.

"What brings you by today, Frank? Are you looking to improve the security around your house, or is this a social call?"

"Dan, I think we both know why I'm here, Trina would like to meet with you before you do anything foolish."

"Too late Frank, I've already done something foolish, about twelve years ago."

"Dan, you are way out of your element here, it would be in your best interest to cooperate."

"Can I be frank, Frank? No, I guess you already beat me to it."

"Trina was right, you are a moron."

"That's the second time in a little over a week that some one has called me that, I think you better go while you can still walk. You tell Trina that I will tell her when I want to talk, we'll talk when I say so, this isn't her show any more."

Frank stomped off in a huff, I think he got the message but I'll bet that Trina doesn't.

I arrived at my lawyer's office at one o'clock with Trina's journal under my arm. As this was turning into quite a monster, there were three attorneys present. The probate guy started by explaining the terms of the trust. Trina was to be married by her twenty-fourth birthday, and it had to last at least one day past her thirty-sixth, some eighteen months from now. There was to be one child born during the marriage, no specifics were given as to the father. The last item was for an established career, with income to be sufficient to support the family.

My divorce attorney was busily reading Trina's journal while we discussed the will. The other thing of some importance was the amount of the trust, plus or minus, depending on daily interest rates, four hundred fifty million dollars. Bill, the old fart had done pretty well for an old farm boy, don't you think? A lot of ideas and options were discussed that day, it was well after seven that evening when I walked out the door shaking my head.

Trina was persistent over the next couple of months, she begged and pleaded for me to see the big picture. I saw a lot more than she realized, she had no idea what her greed was doing to her, but she soon would. Her day of reckoning was on the horizon, if the moron had his way.

I hadn't been sitting on my dead ass for the entire time, just most of it. My buddy Mike had sent me some very incriminating videos of Trina to use in the civil case against her. I was going to press the issue of the money Trina had offered up to assure me she would never lie or cheat again, the videos would clearly substantiate my claim.

I felt confident going into the meeting with Trina, I'm sure she felt the same. We were to meet on my turf, or rather my lawyers. They were with me but they all had been convinced over the last sixty days that I was a lunatic. I'm not too sure that I'm not, but I had something to prove, at least to myself.

It was my meeting, I set the terms and the time. I was sitting at the head of the table with my legal team around me, ready to slay the dragon. Trina's lawyers entered first, followed by her parents, and finally her. She was obviously pregnant, that fact wasn't wasted on me. It only served to strengthen my resolve, and reaffirm what a conniving bitch my soon to be ex wife was.

One of Trina's lawyers got the ball rolling, "We have here what we feel is a very generous offer if you will postpone the divorce proceedings that we are here to discuss."

I got up and headed for the door, it had been agreed that this was a meeting between Trina and I. There was no way that I would listen to any voice on the other end of that table, except hers. Instructions were very specific on this point. As I left the building, my attorneys gave them all the rules for the next meeting. The one difference then, the man that spoke and had broken the tenet was not invited back. The delay didn't really mean anything, we'd all expected it. Still, the arrogance pissed me off.

I had a good feeling that things would go smoother as we took our positions at the table. Trina's team entered as before with one exception. Good, they were paying attention now, maybe we could get this mess out on the table and done with.

Trina started this time, "Dan, I hope you'll reconsider leaving me. As you can see, we're going to have a baby..."

"Nice try Trina, what else you got?"

"Well, if you're still determined to go ahead with the divorce, I'm prepared to make you an offer if you will postpone it for a while."

"You mean about sixteen months?"

"I see you understand the seriousness of the situation, we, or rather I am willing to offer three million dollars for each year of our marriage. That would be fourteen years at the time of separation."

"Nah, I had something different in mind, more like fifty, fifty."

"You can't be serious..."

"Ok, have it your way, sixty, forty."

"There's no way..."

"Alright, final offer, eighty, twenty, take it or leave it."

"I might be willing to give you twenty..."

"No sweetheart, eighty for me and twenty for you," I said with a straight face.

Trina was about to start frothing at the mouth now, "You fucking moron, have it your way. Get your fucking divorce, my lawyers will tie you up in court so long that it won't make any difference. I tried to be nice about it, now you'll get nothing," she hissed at me.

"Nah, I don't want a divorce, this is even better," I said as I slid the annulment across the table. "That says we were never married..."

Her other lawyer stood, he was red in the face, "You can't pull this crap..."

"I already have, with the help of Trina and her journals. Does the word fraud mean anything to you? It meant a lot to the judge that granted the annulment,"

Everyone looked at Trina as she sunk down in her chair. I wonder how many of you have ever seen a person lose four hundred and fifty million, excuse me, four hundred and fifty NINE million dollars in the blink of an eye. Most of you would think it a very sad sight, but to a moron, it was sweet.

You want to know the best part? No, it wasn't the money, hell; I would end up with next to nothing after taxes and attorney fees anyway. What made it all worthwhile was, I didn't have to pine over what once was, it didn't ever exist. I was now free of my wedding vows, the marriage had never occurred in the eyes of the law.

By the way, does any one have Donna's phone number handy, I'd like to give her a buzz.