Chapter 173
I couldn’t believe my ears I’d known that Logan had wanted to stop the divorce proceedings, but to
actually hear him say the words out loud to a judge made it all feel so real, in a way that just talking about it hadn’t
“This is very unorthodox, Mr. Hatfield,” the judge said You had many chances to end these proceedings before bringing it onto my docket and wasting everyone’s time.”
This was news to me, since Dylan had said there was nothing they could do. I shot Dylan a questioning look, but he was refusing to look at me, keeping his entire focus on the judge.
“My deepest apologies, your honor,” Logan said. “There were many misunderstandings at play here, between my lawyer, my wife, and I. But I assure you, my wife and I wish to remain married”
The judge sighed, then he looked over at me. Is this true, Miss Whitaker?”
“Yes, your honor,” I said. Heat filled my cheeks as I glanced at Logan, only to find him looking fondly at me want to stay married to this man.”
“Very well,” the judge said. He wrote something down on the paperwork he was holding and then passed it off to one of his assistants. “Your request for a voluntary dismissal is granted, however I want that
official paperwork in by the end of the day.” The judge looked at Dylan. 7s that understood?”
“Yes, your honor,” Dylan said, his voice strangely monotone.
With that, the judge lowered his gavel, and our case was done.
Logan and I followed Dylan out of the courtroom, as the judge had already moved on to hear the next case in the hallway, Logan caught Dylan by the arm and spun him to face us.
“What the hell, Dylan? Just what is going on with you?” Logan demanded.
“Nothing’s going on with me,” Dylan snapped, but that attitude proved otherwise.
Logan wasn’t going easy on him. “You knew Hazel and I were married to each other, but you never said
anything
” didn’t know for all that long.” Dylan said “What was I supposed to say? Hey, that girl you stole from me? Turns out you were actually married.”
“That would have been better than nothing.” Logan replied. Looking over Dylan, he crossed his arms. “Or were you hoping Hazel and I would be passive enough that the divorce would go through without our noticing?”
do![
I gasped. That would be a really sleazy thing to do! Dylan wouldn’t do something like that… Would he?
His silence spoke volumes and my heart broke a little I knew that I had hurt Dylan, but for him to hide this
Were we ever truly friends? Friends wouldn’t keep something like this from each other
I walked up to Dylan, stepping between him and Logan My closeness forced him to look at me
Guilt darkened his eyes. He couldn’t hold my gaze for long.
It was true then. He did know, and he didn’t tell either Logan or me. We figured it out for ourselves, but
what if he hadn’t?
“Dylan…” My sadness escaped into my voice.
It only hardened Dylan’s expression. He lifted his gaze from me to Logan. “I’m done with both of you. Personally and professionally. I will not be representing either of you any longer.”
“Fine,” Logan said coolly. “That saves me the trouble of having to fire you.” Logan placed a hand on my lower back and began to lead me away toward the exit, away from Dylan.
I glanced back, but Dylan was no longer looking at us. He hadn’t moved, still frozen in the center of the hallway with his head lowered, his eyes on the floor.
“When I faced forward once more, heart heavy, I spotted a woman near the doors to the courtroom. I kind
of recognized her as someone who had been sitting in the gallery during Logan and my hearing.
She now had her phone lifted toward us, as if she was taking a picture. That was strange. It had to be a coincidence. I couldn’t imagine that some stranger would care about our drama at all.
Logan didn’t seem to notice. He continued guiding me to the exit. We didn’t stop walking until we had reached the safety of Logan’s car. He opened the passenger door for me, then went around to the driver’s
side.
When he joined me in the car, for a moment, we just sat in silence.
We were married. We were going to stay married.
Those felt like good things.
But… we’d both lost Dylan as a friend. For Logan, he also lost a confidant, someone he trusted maybe more than anyone else. A friend like a brother.
“I can’t believe he lied about not being able to stop the divorce from going through,” I said. My empathy helped me see some of Dylan’s side. I could understand his hurt, for instance. But lying to me? To Logan? That felt like too much. It was so unnecessary.
1 knew he was lying about that,” Logan said. “Many of the other lawyers I talked to filled in some of those blanks. We just needed to file the right paperwork.” NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
I frowned. “Then why wait until today?”
Logan placed his hands on the wheel, tracing the curve from the top to the bottom. “Dylan’s been dodging all of my calls and attempts to see him. I knew he would have to be here today.”
“You wanted to speak to him…”
“I wanted to confront him,” Logan corrected. “If we could argue, maybe even fight, then we could clear the air and go back to how things were. But he was entirely unreceptive.”
He was more than unreceptive, I thought. He seemed downright cold–hearted.
“Maybe he’ll come around…” I said.
Maybe,” Logan said, and started the car. “His ego’s bruised. He’s not used to taking these kind of hits, especially from me.”
I curled my fingers together in my lap. “I hate that I came between the two of you. I swear that it was never my intention.”
The adult thing to do, perhaps, was to back off of both of them. But that seemed impossible now. For one, I was married to Logan. And two, I really wanted to be with him.
Logan reached over and placed his hand on top of mine on my lap.
“It’s not you,” he said.
I didn’t believe him, but the comfort was nice. I smiled softly at him. When he released my hands to drive, my smile fell away.
Guilt and uncertainty clawed at the inside of my chest
At the end of the day, I walked into Logan’s office to see if he needed anything else for the day. I stopped just inside the door, spotting him at his desk.
His face was so pale.
“Logan?”
“Close the door, Hazel. Then come here and look at this.”
I closed the door and then crossed the room to his side.
On the screen of his computer was a mock–up of a newspaper article. It was in an email, under brief text that said, “To be printed tomorrow.”
The article showed a picture of Logan and me from the courthouse, with Logan’s hand on my lower back. So that girl had been taking a picture, after all!
The headline of the article stood out in big bold letters.
Hatfield Heir Secretly Married To His Secretary!