Chapter 72
Alexis looked up from the stack of papers on her desk and removed her glasses. “Come in!”
Lucky and Liz made their way into the office and sat down across from her, glancing around the room with curiosity.
“So, what brings you here?” she asked, folding her hands in front of her. The two looked at each other, as if silently willing the other to speak first.
“Um, well, like you know, we got married in Lax Vegas a few days ago...” Liz began, seeing that Lucky wasn’t going to be any help.
“Wait, let me guess,” Alexis interrupted with a small smile. “You want an annulment?”
Lucky cleared his throat nervously and sat forward. “Actually, we don’t think we can get it annulled, we’re probably going to have to get a divorce.”
Alexis raised an eyebrow in surprise, not expecting this turn of events. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I was pretty sure this marriage of yours wasn’t exactly....real.”
“How did you know that?” Liz gasped, looking over at Lucky.
She smiled and sat back in her chair. “Don’t worry, you were very convincing at the party, I doubt anyone else suspected a thing. Only those of us who have first-hand experience with the subject could tell.”
Lucky shook his head, lost. “What do you mean by that?”
She sighed and studied them for a minute, debating whether or not to tell them her own story. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something that cannot leave this office, no matter what. I know the attorney/client thing really only applies to the lawyer, but in this case, I’m going to trust that you will respect it as well.”
They both nodded, intrigued by her words. “Of course, nothing will leave this room,” Lucky stated sincerely.
“Good.” She took a deep breath, then started her story. “The reason I was able to tell you weren’t really married is because for a year, I was also in a phony marriage. Jax and I were married in name only, as were Ned and Chloe. It was a scam to save Chloe’s company from being turned over to her greedy aunt, that somehow got seriously out of hand. He uncle’s will stated that if she wasn’t happily married within so many years of his death, everything would revert back to his estate, which meant her Aunt Gertrude would get it. Ned agreed to marry her, and in return would merge her design company and L&B, but when we went to Vegas so they could get married, her aunt followed us.
“She explained that Chloe must have a real wedding with all the usual trimmings for it to count, so in order to keep her from getting caught, Jax stepped in and said it was he and I who were there to be married. It took me completely by surprise, but I went along with it anyway, and we somehow managed to make everyone believe we were happily married for that year, even though I was still in love with Ned, and Jax and Chloe were quickly falling for each other.”
Lucky and Liz stared at her in shock, rendered speechless by her admission. She chuckled and continued to explain. “So, you can see how after a year of acting married to people we didn’t love, we are all very good at seeing the signs. Don’t get me wrong, you were very good, we even had a hard time figuring it out at first. I’m curious, though, why did you do it, if you’re looking to get divorced so soon?”
Lucky cleared his throat nervously. “Um, actually, we don’t remember.”
“You don’t....oh, I see. You don’t remember why, or you don’t remember anything?” she asked, trying not to laugh at their predicament.
“Don’t remember anything,” Liz answered quietly, looking down at her hand as she idly twirled her wedding ring around her finger. “The last thing we can remember is stopping at a hotel in New Jersey because it was raining too hard to keep driving. The next thing we knew, we were waking up in Vegas wearing these rings, with a marriage certificate and wedding video on the table.”
“There’s a video?” she asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
“Yeah, but no one is ever going to see it,” Lucky asserted. “Anyway, we weren’t going to tell anyone, but it was somehow leaked to the media, and we came home to that party.... I guess we figured it was easiest to go along with it for now, until the divorce was final.”
“So, why come to me? I’m not a divorce lawyer.”
“We know, but we know you, and we know we can trust you. It wouldn’t be wise for us to go to a stranger, because they might talk to the press about it, and I can’t afford to have this get out. Plus, you’ve done this already, with your own marriage. I mean, you were married in Vegas, then divorced, so we figured you’d know what to do,” Lucky explained.
“Well, I can understand the need for discretion, but I never actually got a divorce from Jax, we had the marriage annulled.”
“But, you were married for a year!” Liz said in shock. “You mean you never....?”
Alexis blushed slightly, remembering the night they had almost given into their desires. “Um, no. We never consummated it. But you two have only been married a few days, you really don’t need to deal with divorce proceedings, why don’t you just do the annulment? Trust me, it’s much easier.”
They both looked away uncomfortably, and she finally realized why they were pushing for divorce.
“Oh, you mean you.....“
“We think so. We’re not really sure,” Lucky whispered.
“Okay, in that case.... Why don’t you give me a few days to get the paperwork in order? I’ll give you a call when I need you to come back and iron out the details. I should warn you, though, this could take a while, especially since Lucky is so wealthy. I think it’s safe to assume there was no pre-nup?”
They both shook their heads, feeling incredibly foolish for getting themselves into such a fiasco. Alexis chuckled softly and slid her glasses back on. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure no one gets wind of this, not even Luke.”
Lucky looked up at her, surprised to hear his dad’s name. “Why do you say that?’
She smiled knowingly at him. “Let’s just say I’m familiar with the way he works, and I got the impression yesterday that he knows what’s really going on.”
“Yeah, that’s what we think, too. But, no one else does, so we have to go along with it until this divorce is done, then we can just make up an excuse and go on with our lives.” They both stood up to leave, and Alexis got up to follow.
“Good luck with that. Take it from someone who’s been there, when you work that hard to make everyone believe you’re in love, everything can get pretty complicated. The longer you stay married, chances are you’ll start believing it yourselves.”
“You mean, you and Jax....?” Liz asked fearfully.
Alexis nodded. “Yeah, by the time we could get the marriages annulled, we were all so confused about our feelings, we didn’t know who to be with anymore. In case you haven’t noticed, none of us are seeing anyone these days. When your head’s telling you one thing, and your heart’s saying another, it can be very confusing. But in the end, the heart always wins.”
Liz and Lucky looked at each other, wondering why that had sounded so foreboding. “So, what is your heart telling you now?” Liz asked, trying to steer the subject away from them.
Alexis sighed, shaking her head. “These days, my heart is s speaking a whole other language, and I have yet to find a translation!”
~*~
“So, what do you make of all that?” Liz asked as they climbed into his car.
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged, fastening her seat belt. “All that stuff she was saying about how sooner or later you start believing the lie?”
Lucky scoffed as he started the car. “Look, if she could pull that off for a year and nothing happened between them, then we’re fine. This divorce can’t take that long! Anyway, we’re different, we don’t even like each other, right?”
“Right,” she mumbled, gazing out the window as they drove away from the building, not quite sure what she felt anymore. She sighed, fearing that the tug-of-war between her heart and head had already begun.
