Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(50)

“Who’s this?” I asked when the man took a seat beside Gabriel.

“I’m his manager, Darryl Cusack.”

“And you’re here because?”

“You’re about to find out,” he said, smiling smugly. He looked like a f*cking caricature, his head not proportioned with his body.

Soon after, Marvin Harrison walked in. I could have leaped from happiness. From the smile on his face, I could tell Lewis was having the same reaction. Out of all the mediators, Marvin was the easiest one to work with. He was clear, to the point, and most importantly, fair. I rubbed my hands together as he took a seat. When I glanced over at Nicole she was giving me a funny look. What? I asked with a frown and a shrug. She shook her head, looking away from me.

Marvin started talking, and I shut all personal thoughts about Nicole out. He asked if they were both sure they wanted the divorce. They both said yes, though with the way he was looking at her, Gabriel didn’t look like a man who was done. I looked away. We went down a checklist of things, the King Charles named Bonnie that Gabriel had kept (for now), the Hollywood Hills home, the Escalade, the Prius, the Porsche, the Bentley, the farm in Idaho, the stocks in a production company, and the New York condo. Darryl perked up at the mention of the condo. I kept the expression on my face impassive. Nicole made it clear that she no longer wanted the house in The Hills, but she did want to be compensated for the money she put into remodeling the kitchen and the guest house.

“The dog?” Marvin asked, looking at Nicole first.

“He can keep it.”

“So there will no longer be a need to share it?” he asked.

From the corner of my eye I caught the way her hands gripped her thighs. I looked at her. “You sure about this?”

She nodded, her eyes watering. “I just want it to be over. I don’t want to share anything that ties me to him,” she whispered.

Across from us, Gabriel cleared his throat. “You can take her.”

Nicole’s gaze tore from mine and flew to his. She didn’t speak, though.

“You can take her. It’s fine. I’m barely home anyway,” he said.

She blinked rapidly and cleared her throat before smiling. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

I kept my face impassive, but couldn’t bear to look at the moment they were sharing any longer, so I looked back at Marvin.

“Cars,” he said.

“I want the Prius,” Nicole told me.

I looked at Gabriel, who nodded. Lewis spoke up. “Done.”

“And the Cayenne,” she added. Gabriel’s brows hitched, but he nodded.

“Done.”

“The house in Idaho?” Marvin prompted, looking at Nicole again.

“It’s his.”

“Done.”

“The condo in New York,” he said.

“My client and Gabriel came to an agreement on this,” I said, sliding over the contract they’d signed. Marvin picked it up and read it quickly.

“Objection. She didn’t uphold her end of the bargain,” Darryl said. I could tell he was having way too much fun with this.

“She went to two events with Mr. Lane, er, Rogers,” I said, unsure of which last name to use for somebody who evidentially acted like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “The contract doesn’t state how many events she was to attend, so to the best of our knowledge she upheld her end of the bargain.”

“The best of your knowledge isn’t enough,” Darryl said, slamming a hand on the table. I shot Lewis a look. His face was so red, I thought he was going to explode right there.

“Please let me handle my client, Mr. Cusack,” Lewis said.

“Then do something about this, because she still needs to go to at least one more red carpet event with him after the scene she caused during their ice cream outing the other day.”

I grit my teeth together. I took a deep breath. I clasped my hands together on the table in front of me.

“My client needs to process and think about it before she makes a decision. Is that all?” I asked. My patience was running thin, so for Darryl’s sake it was best he kept his mouth shut.

“No, that’s not all.” But of course he didn’t know when to shut the f*ck up. “She needs to attend this event with him and we need to schedule another candid appearance.”

I drummed my fingers on the table, and looked at Lewis again. He heaved out a heavy breath. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Mr. Cusack. We both want what’s best for our client, and what’s best for him right now is for you to wait outside.”

He huffed and puffed, but did as instructed.

“As far as the appearances go, I’ll speak to my client in private as well,” Lewis said.

Marvin nodded and stacked up the papers in front of him. “Well, I guess we just need to come to an agreement on this and we should be able to put it behind us.”

We stood with the condition that we’d figure it out by the end of the week. I shook Lewis’s hand, then Gabriel’s, and then stood off to the side with Marvin and Lewis as Gabriel and Nicole spoke. They were being very quiet, and I kept finding myself looking over to them frequently as Marv tried to set up a game of golf. Golf was a sport I didn’t even like, but had learned to play because many successful business meetings tended to happen over a game.