Chapter 13 - The Deposition Of Humiliation
The final divorce hearing took place on a bright Tuesday morning in early autumn.
Blake arrived in a borrowed sedan, wearing an off-the-rack department store suit that hung loosely on his diminished frame. He had lost twenty pounds, his once-arrogant posture replaced by a defeated slump.
He sat across from Marcus and me in the high-ceilinged conference room of the King County Superior Courthouse.
Judge Eleanor Morales presided over the final decree.
"We have reviewed the final marital asset reconciliation," Judge Morales stated, flipping through the binder. "Mr. Sterling, you have zero equity claims remaining against Mrs. North’s intellectual property, corporate trusts, or real estate holdings. You are also liable for $48,000 in retroactive child support arrears."
Blake looked up with hollow, bloodshot eyes. "I’m currently working as a mid-level shift manager at an electronics retail store, Your Honor. My monthly income is three thousand dollars. I can't pay forty-eight thousand dollars."
Marcus stood up calmly. "Mrs. North has agreed to waive the lump-sum cash arrears on one condition."
Blake looked at me, a flicker of desperate hope in his eyes. "What condition, Adrienne? Anything."
"You will sign an irrevocable surrender of all commercial naming rights, agree to a permanent mutual non-disparagement order, and consent to Marcus Vance acting as the legal co-guardian for Mason’s educational and medical trusts," Marcus stated cleanly.
Blake swallowed hard. He looked at the legal documents that stripped away the last remaining shreds of his fabricated prestige.
"Where do I sign?" Blake whispered.
With a shaking hand, Blake signed his name on the final line of the dissolution decree.
Judge Morales stamped the paperwork with a loud, echoing thud.
"The marriage between Blake Sterling and Adrienne Vance-North is hereby dissolved permanently. Mrs. North, your maiden name and private copyrights are fully restored. Case closed."
Blake sat in his chair for a long time after the judge left the room.
As I gathered my leather folio and prepared to leave with Marcus, Blake looked up one last time.
"Adrienne..." he croaked out. "Did you ever truly love me?"
May you like
I paused near the heavy wooden door, turning to look at him with a calm, serene smile.
"I loved the man I thought you were, Blake," I said gently. "It turns out, that man was just a character in a story I stopped writing."
