5. HOOK OR CROOK

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Dominic ended up passing out on the couch while Nicola got not a blink of sleep. It felt like her heart was being ripped apart when she entered the only place that held any kind of memory with the love of her life. She made a note to abuse her power and make her assistant pack her things for her because she did not want to revisit that space anymore.

She got ready for work in her casual attire - PaperCloud, her publishing company, had no dress code. She didn't try to wake Dominic nor did she care that he would be late for whatever disaster was waiting for him at the company after 'The Anniversary Mishap' and scandal.

She only cared about herself. Because honestly, there was nobody else out there to do that for her.

Stepping out of the elevator, she raised a brow as she looked up from her phone. The open space office was empty.

She checked the time. It was half past nine. She was half an hour late than her usual time. Had her people thought she would take a day off because of the scandal and decided to play hooky? 

What were they? Sixteen?

"Boss!"

She jumped, clutching her heart when her assistant, Blair, appeared out of nowhere.

"Where is everyone?" She asked, rubbing her chest from the scare.

"Umm... Conference room? We commenced the meeting because we thought you weren't coming."

Nicola's eyebrows pinched together. "What meeting?"

"'Our book is becoming a movie' meeting?" Blair shrugged as she air-quoted.

"Isn't that on Friday?"

"You moved it!" She chirped, holding the tab out for her to see the schedule. "Let's go."

Nicola was not one to mix things up or forget moving meetings. But maybe she had because she had the divorce on her mind. Well, soon it would be out of her way and she would get to concentrate on things that actually mattered to her.

The two climbed the spiral stairs that led to her office and the conference room. The smart glass panes of the conference room had been turned opaque. That was new.

Blair pushed open the door for her.

As Nicola stepped in, party poppers burst and confetti filled the air along with commotion and "Congratulations!"

The first thing her eyes focused on after recovering from the shock was the streamer that said, "YOU DESERVE ONLY THE BEST! LET HIM EAT SHIT!!"

Nicola took in her team of twenty-four, all wreaking havoc in the conference hall like teenagers as they blew whistles and party horns.

"Hit it, Calum!" Blair yelled and the senior editor turned on the music.

Woman by Kesha.

They started to dance around her.

"Buy my love!" They chorussed to the song.

George took hold of Nicola's hand and started to spin her around. It took her a moment but Nicola finally smiled, realizing she should be celebrating like her team was encouraging her to.

"I am a motherfucker!" She joined the howling and started to dance.

Jessica wheeled the cake which looked like an awful caricature of Dominic and passed her a butcher's knife.

"Cut him completely off your life!" She sang.

"Nah nah nah." Freddie appeared. "Smash his face right in!"

The rest of them howled as they agreed.

Nicola made a fist but hesitated. Dominic was not a bad human. Was this right?

"Come on, Boss!"

"Do it, Boss!"

"Ah, fuck it!" She flung her fist hard, her hand coming in contact with the exaggeratingly huge nose of her husband.

Her people cheered for her as she laughed, licking the chocolate off her knuckles.

She felt alive. And free.

And it finally felt like she was getting divorced.

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"You cannot get divorced right now," Benjamin stated.

"It is what she wants." Dominic sighed. He had had his realization last night. Nicola was just as unhappy in this marriage as he was. There was no use trying to drag it through for the sake of their grandfathers. 

"The stocks!" 

"Will go back up when all of this blows over." He told his father. 

"Think about it darling, Natasha and Dom's wedding will fix everything," Melanie spoke up. 

Dominic winced. It almost sounded like his mother was waiting for his marriage to end so that she could get him hitched again to her friend's daughter. 

"No one wanted this marriage except for your grandfather and Nicola's father. And Mathew only wanted it because his father left a clause in his will that his granddaughter must marry you for Mathew to get the company. He made a business deal out of his daughter. And even then, our first choice was Stacia but she bailed at the last moment and we had no choice but to accept Nicola as our daughter-in-law out of respect for Arnold and your grandfather's friendship." 

Dominic nodded along as his mother reminded him of how he got into this situation for the umpteenth time. But he could not help but feel sorry for Nicola now. Sure, she was impossible to live with but she was also a woman and she was being rejected left and right all her life. 

He pitied her. 

"If you want a divorce, make sure it is because Nicola did something wrong." Benjamin's words took him by surprise. "I will not let you face humiliation because of that girl." 

Girl. 

She was just a little girl. 

Twenty-two to his thirty-four. 

She was just starting her life but she was so mature. 

So boring. His mind chided. 

He needed to set her free. But not because he wanted to marry Natasha. He wanted to set her free because whatever the hell was that Nicola needed in her life, Dominic could not give her that. 

And he recognized that. 

"There will be no such planning or plotting." Dominic shook his head. "We are getting a divorce and that's final." 

His phone pinged just then. He looked at the notification on the lock screen to see that it was a message from Miles, his best friend since his diaper days. 

He unlocked his phone and checked. 

MILES: What the heck did you do while I was in France?

DOMINIC: Shit went down.

MILES: But is that really Nicola?

DOMINIC: I know. Even I was surprised she would say such a thing. 

MILES: Not say. DO! [LINK ATTACHED]

Dominic's eyes bulged out of their sockets as he took in the trending video of Nicola smashing a cake that looked like an orangutan with an unlikely resemblance to him. 

"She did not!" He muttered. 

But then his heart skipped a beat as she turned so that her face was to the camera. She looked happy? Positive elated? And she was laughing? Laughing as she licked the chocolate off her fist. 

He had not seen any of these emotions on her face in so long that he had forgotten how she looked showing it. 

And she had grown more beautiful so that smile had the wattage to light up his whole screen. 

The corners of his lips twitched. 

A message popped, breaking his bubble. 

MILES: I don't even like Mrs. Poker Face but I think I like her now that she does not have a poker face. Damn, that laugh is a heartstopper!

Any resemblance to a smile disappeared from Dominic's face and he felt a bitter, ugly feeling in his chest. Towards his best friend, not Nicola. It confused him. 

"Oh my god, I am going to kill this witch!" Melanie shrieked from across the room. "She is hell-bent on humiliating my son. It is like she is taking revenge on him or something!" 

The comments were brutal, bashing him and his supposed affair. People were making memes out of several paparazzi pictures of Natasha and Dominic. 

Benjamin and Melanie looked over at their son expectedly. 

It was up to him to make a decision. 

For a moment, he was ready to give her everything she wanted because he pitied her. But she was busy wreaking havoc in his life. And so now he did not want to think about her. 

He was going to think about his reputation, his company, his stock prices, and his little revenge. 

Did she want a divorce?

Too bad she would have to pay the price for it. 

He was going to make sure of it.

By hook. Or by crook.

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