The most annoying settlement

Harriet’s point of view 

The loading icon kept spinning endlessly, I pressed my lips together, willing it to stop. Come on...Come on.

For the past hour, we'd been trying to submit our proposal. Every time we thought it had gone through, the system crashed or froze before the confirmation page appeared. "Try my laptop." Mark slid his computer toward me. "It might work."

I didn't argue. At this point, I would have submitted it from a toaster if it gave us a chance. Jade stood behind me, chewing nervously on her thumbnail. "Eight minutes to go.".No one answered her, the room fell into another heavy silence, broken only by the frantic tapping of keyboards. 

I swallowed hard and glanced at the countdown clock in the corner of the screen. 07:36. The numbers seemed to mock me.

Three days of hard work and sleepless nights, everything rested on one submission. "Try another network," Mark muttered.

"It has to work." Jade whispered, but it didn't. Five minutes, four, three, the loading circle kept spinning as though time didn't exist. My chest tightened until breathing became difficult. "I can't watch this anymore."

I pushed my chair back so quickly it scraped against the floor, neither Mark nor Jade stopped me. They were too busy trying everything they could think of. I walked a few steps away, closed my eyes and pressed my palms together. Please, just this once…I'm not asking for a miracle. Just.. let this go through.

Behind me, keyboards continued clicking. Someone cursed, then…."Ma’am!" Mark's's voice exploded through the room. "It submitted!"

My eyes flew open. "What?"

"It went through!" Jade danced across the room. 

I spun around and ran back, there it was. Submission Successful. For a second, I couldn't move, I simply stared, then the air rushed back into my lungs. "It actually..." a shaky, breathless laugher escaped me. "It actually went through."

Jade threw her arms around me. "I told you!" she squealed. "The universe isn't done with us yet. We're going to win this." She pulled back, grinning from ear to ear. "I know we are."

I looked at the screen again. Fifty-eight seconds, we had submitted it with only two seconds left. My knees gave out and I slid onto the floor, laughing and crying at the same time while my heart hammered against my ribs.

Then Mark cleared his throat, neither Jade nor I looked up. "What?"

“We have another problem." That wiped the smiles off my face. "What problem?"

He folded his arms. "We'll need more equipment, better servers, we need capital to revive ‘The Cypher Empress.’

IMy stomach tightened as I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. There was only one place that money was supposed to come from. Randy. I hated the thought, every part of me rejected it. I didn't want anything from him, not his kindness, not his pity, not even his money. But this wasn't charity, thus was for every late night I spent writing code while he slept, every presentation I'd built that carried his company's name instead of mine and every idea he'd accepted without ever asking where it came from.

I had earned it, he called it a divorce settlement, I call it years of unpaid wages. If that money came… I'd pour every naira into this company, then the world would know exactly who the Cipher Empress was.

My phone vibrated, a message from Randy's lawyer popped up and I opened it immediately. The divorce has been finalized. All legal ties between you and Mr. Randy Provost has officially been dissolved.

The message didn't send any emotion through me, what did was the date that my phone didn't buzz with an alert notification. I waited ten minutes, then an hour. Every few minutes, I refreshed my banking app and checked my email. Nothing.

By evening, I was still staring at the same balance, I let out a long breath as I found Randy's number and pressed dial. The call rang once, then ended.

I frowned and I tried again. This time...the call connected. "Randy?"

Silence replied, then...a woman's soft moan drifted through the speaker, followed by a familiar laugh.I rolled my eyes..Seriously? I didn't need to ask who it was, he wanted me to hear them….How childish.

I pulled the phone away from my ear, five seconds, that was all the attention I was willing to give his little performance, then I ended the call.

A few minutes later, my phone rang. I stared at the screen until it stopped, then it rang again, I answered after the fourth ring. "What?" I said, my tone relaxed, calm ,like I had been having fun all day long.

"You called." His voice was calm too.

"I need my settlement." Silence stretched between us, then he said, "Come see me."

I frowned. "What for?"

"If you want your money..." His tone remained maddeningly even. "...we need to talk."

"There's nothing left to talk about…I was saying, but he cut me off, reading out an address like he was reading the news. 

I knew I should have ignored him, instead, the next afternoon, I found myself sitting across from him. He folded his hands on the desk. "The settlement is ready." 

Relief washed over me, until he continued. 

"But...it comes with one condition."

I crossed my arms. "I'm listening."

"You don't get to date."

I blinked. "What?"

"You must not see another man."

I stared at him, then laughed.."I'm sorry, I must have heard wrongly."

"You didn't."

The glare coming from my eyes should have been enough warning, but Randy was either too delusional or completely inhumane to have felt anything. 

"We're divorced, that means, you don't get to tell me who I spend my time with."

His eyes never left mine. "I don't want another man touching you."

I looked at him pitifully, clearly he had lost his mind. 

"I didn't divorce you so you could roam about the street, smiling and throwing yourself to all Jill and Jack. I may never have love you, but you can't deny we both have great chemistry on bed. I won't have another man touching your body!” His voice rose at the latter statement.

I stared at him for complete two seconds, then threw my head in a loud, cold laughter. “So, I'm not good enough to be your wife, but I'm certainly enough to be your mistress?"

He leaned back in his chair. "I'm giving you a choice to live a normal life Harriet, drop your pride and accept my conditions..." His gaze locked onto mine. "...or you have no one to protect you from your past!”